Many #Trump allies had been secretly rooting for an #acquittal. The talking points wrote themselves: It would have been yet more evidence that the #UnitedStates#justice system was rigged in favor of #Bidens & against Trumps. Tues’s #guilty#verdict was inconvenient to that narrative.
Even more valuable would have been the #fundraising potential.
Before last week’s #guilty#verdict on 34 #felony counts, #Trump was found by the court to have violated the #GagOrder 10 times, incurring fines & prompting an explicit warning from #NewYork Supreme Court Justice Juan #Merchan that the next violation would result in #incarceration. That never came to pass.
The gag order remained in effect after his conviction Thurs, & Trump has appeared to flirt w/several potential violations since then.
8 #Republican senators announced Fri they would boycott #Democratic#legislative priorities & nominations as payback for #Trump’s #guilty#verdict.
In a joint statement, the senators said they would not “allow any increase to non-security related funding for this administration, or any appropriations bill which funds partisan lawfare.”
#POTUS#Biden addressed #Trump’s #conviction & said “the American principle that no one is above the #law was reaffirmed.”
“The #justice system should be respected, & we should never allow anyone to tear it down. It’s as simple as that,” Biden said.
“It’s reckless, it’s dangerous & it’s irresponsible for anyone to say this was rigged just because they don’t like the #verdict,” Biden asserted. “Our justice system has endured for nearly 250 years, & it literally is the cornerstone of #America.”
But a few are suggesting abandoning Trump as the #GOP nom.
Surprisingly, fmr congressman #MoBrooks (R-AL), a once loyal Trump ally, posted after the #verdict Thurs that the GOP “faces [a] choice.”
“Keep Trump as nominee & gamble USA’s future,” Brooks said, or “replace Trump with a good character nominee & BEAT THE STEW OUT OF BIDEN!”
Each page yesterday took him just a little more than a minute, so this will take >30 mins.
Between that & the testimony readbacks, also expected to take >30 mins, there will likely be >1 hour this morning w/the jury in the courtroom, not actively deliberating.
The #verdict must be unanimous on the primary crime falsification of business records.
Once #jurors inform the court they have reached a verdict, Justice Juan #Merchan will summon the parties to the courtroom to hear it read by the foreperson.
Merchan must still affirm the verdict & enter a final judgment.
Before that is heard, Trump will be dealing w/ the #criminal#justice system.
Trump’s #sentencing is July 11.
He could be sentenced prison or probation.
A pre-sentencing report makes recommendations based on the defendant’s criminal record — Trump had none before this case — as well as his personal history & the crime itself.
My favorite bit → At the presentence interview, a #psychologist or #SocialWorker working for the #probation dept may also talk to #Trump, during which time the defendant can “try to make a good impression & explain why he or she deserves a lighter punishment,” acc/to the New York State Unified Court System.
The pre-sentencing report can also include submissions from the defense, & may describe whether “the defendant is in a counseling program or has a steady job”
Holy hell, #TuckerCarlson just said that #Trump would still win the election “if he’s not killed first,” & said that “anyone who defends this verdict is a danger to you & your family.”
#FoxNews pundits denounced the #verdict. “It’s inconceivable in New York that anyone else other than Donald Trump would be indicted in this way,” said Andy McCarthy, a legal analyst. Jeanine Pirro called the case “riddled with errors” & declared, “We have gone over a cliff in America.”
Just minutes after the verdict was announced, the Trump campaign sent out a fund-raising email in which #Trump said, in all capital letters, “I am a political prisoner!”
Fucking hell; he will make millions on this #verdict from the chumps, the white supremacists, the angry, criminal, violent & privileged.
The #Trump campaign’s fundraising site, hosted by Republican fundraising platform Winred, is now back online & soliciting donations after crashing just minutes after today’s verdict. It bears Trump’s mugshot over the text “Never Surrender” & solicits donations ranging from $20.24 all the way to $3,300.
The drawing on the cover of next week's issue of The New Yorker, titled "A Man of #Conviction" & created by the artist John Cuneo, shows Trump’s tiny hands being handcuffed, arms outstretched over his swollen figure, his trademark red tie draped over his belly.
#Trump has posted a photo on his social media w/o comment — the photo of the #UpsideDown American #flag that was hung outside the home of #SCOTUS justice Samuel #Alito after the Capitol riot in 2021. The upside down flag was a symbol of distress but is now a #RightWing symbol of #Jan6, Stop the Steal & support for Trump. It was posted by several other #Republicans as well.
#Trump released a new propaganda video describing this as “the final battle.” The spot, posted on his social media after today’s #verdict, shows him walking down a hallway, while promising in a voiceover to “expel the war mongers from our government,” [huh?] “throw off the sick political class that hates our country” [wha?] & “rout the fake news media” [Fox?] He concludes: “We will liberate America from these villains once & for all,” um yer the convicted [#criminal]. Then his donation link.
Best line of the day goes to Manhattan DA #AlvinBragg:
“The defendant, Donald J. Trump, is guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree to conceal a scheme to corrupt the 2016 election.”