Judge immediately sets Sentencing Hearing for Thursday, July 11th – just four days before Republican National Convention in Milwaukee
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Texas Insider Report) — After the jury began deliberating Wednesday morning following Judge Juan Merchan's delivering instructions on how to deliberate the relevant legal definitions and considerations of the trial, former President Donald Trump sat sullenly – looking down at the table before him – as the verdict was read Thursday afternoon bringing an end to a weeks-long trial that dominated headlines and led to a historic conviction that will be wielded against the presumptive GOP nominee throughout the rest of his 2024 campaign.
“We will fight for our constitution. This is far from over,” said Mr. Trump, addressing reporters outside the courthouse after the New York City jury handed down its decision Thursday afternoon on 34 felony charges related to falsifying business records – and making him the first former president in U.S. history to be convicted of a crime.Outside the courtroom, Trump called the proceedings “rigged,” and vowed to pursue an appeal to rectify what he characterized as a grave miscarriage of justice.
Mr. Trump faces up to four years in prison, though most legal observers agree he will more than likely be placed on probation.
Judge Merchan immediately set a sentencing hearing for Thursday, July 11th, just four days before the Republican National Convention is held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on July 15th-18th.
Merchan will be able to dictate the terms of Trump’s sentence, and his decision could have a major impact on Trump’s ability to campaign.
The ability to brand Trump a "convicted felon" will likely become a central feature of President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign, but it remains to be seen whether Trump’s charges will resonate deeply with voters across America.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and his team of prosecutors relied on an expansive legal theory to expand the business-records charges to felonies, and argued that falsifications were used to cover up alleged campaign-finance crimes, namely "capture and kill" payments designed to help Trump’s electoral prospects.
However, those federal campaign finance crimes are not being pursued by federal prosecutors, and the prosecution did not discuss the underlying crimes until the closing argument took place late Tuesday afternoon – causing many legal analysts to question Mr. Trump's ability to adequately rebut the case's allegations.
Bragg is an elected Democrat who ran on a platform of targeting Mr. Trump, and Merchan previously donated to the Joe Biden campaign. One of Bragg’s prosecutors recently left the Biden Deptartment of Justice to help prosecute the case, and had previously received payments from the Democrat National Committee. Another has donated to the Biden Campaign.Similarly, Merchan’s daughter is a well-known Democrat strategist whose clients have not only fundraised off the Trump prosecution – but also previously worked with clients that included Mr. Biden's Campaign, as well as those of Kamala Harris and current Democrat California Senate Candidate Adam Schiff.
Throughout the trial, Trump and his Republican allies accused Bragg and Merchan of waging a political prosecution against him to interfere in the 2024 presidential election. Merchan’s gag order on Mr. Trump limited his ability to criticize certain individuals connected to the criminal trial – while placing no such restrictions on his opponents inn the case.
