WORLD NEWS UPDATE: US ELECTION STUMBLES INTO NEW TERRITORY AFTER TRUMP’S VERDICT
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With everyone’s attention focused on how the two major protagonists handle the risks as the 2024 presidential campaign enters unknown territory on Friday, it has been completely upended and rewired by Donald Trump’s historic criminal conviction.
Trump transitioned from the courtroom to campaign mode without any delay.
“I am a political prisoner!” he announced immediately after the guilty verdicts landed Thursday on all 34 charges in his New York hush-money trial.
The Republican was supposed to address the public early on Friday from Trump Tower, his iconic New York home.
He is facing three much more serious criminal indictments in addition to the New York case because of his attempts to overturn his defeat to Joe Biden in the 2020 election and his stockpiling of top-secret papers at his Florida residence.
It is unlikely that those charges will get to trial before the election in November, though.
In any case, Trump has made a badge of honor out of what would have instantly destroyed a normal political career by drawing comparisons to political prisoners like Nelson Mandela and informing followers that the scandals validate his conspiracy theory about the “deep state” denying him freedom.
Biden, by contrast, has so far avoided making Trump’s multiple legal difficulties an issue. As president, he is keen to avoid giving ammunition to Republicans who claim he is meddling in the justice system.
Now he will have to decide whether Trump’s conviction changes the calculus.
Biden himself said nothing about the momentous events in New York.
On Friday, he has a busy public schedule, including talks with the Belgian prime minister and a celebration for NFL Super Bowl champions the Kansas City Chiefs, which will offer frequent opportunities for him to make remarks to journalists.
As of right now, Trump is the first former US president to be found guilty of a felony. If he prevails on November 5 and unseats Biden as president, he will be creating an even more astounding record.
The jury returned a guilty verdict, finding him guilty of fabricating financial documents to conceal a payment intended to quiet porn star Stormy Daniels and keep her quiet about a sex-related incident that may have destroyed his chances of winning the presidency in 2016.
In a compelling case, prosecutors said that the use of hush money and the unlawful concealment of the payment were part of a larger scheme to keep voters ignorant of Trump’s actions right before his contest against Hillary Clinton.
He could in theory be sentenced to four years behind bars for each count but is more likely to receive probation.
Judge Juan Merchan set sentencing for July 11 — four days before the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where Trump is due to receive the party’s formal nomination.
Robert F. Kennedy, who is running as an independent in the presidential race, predicted on X that the New York trial would “backfire.”
But Keith Gaddie, a political analyst and professor at Texas Christian University, said the political impact of the shocking events has yet to be determined.
“It probably doesn’t move a lot of votes, but in particular states with particular swing votes, it could matter around the margins. So in particularly tight races, it can tip things back from one direction to the other,” he said.
AFP
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