Historic conviction but exemption from punishment for Donald Trump

(Keystone-ATS) Ten days before his entry into the White House, the Republican appeared remotely on a video screen, two American flags behind him, during this hearing which he sought to avoid by using all means.

Visibly irritated and impatient, he denounced a “disgrace for the system”, saying he was “totally innocent” and recalling that he had won the popular vote in the presidential election of November 5.

After thanking him, Judge Juan Merchan recalled the “unique and exceptional circumstances” of the situation. He then pronounced an exemption from sentence, “the only sentence” possible in his eyes, and wished Donald Trump: “good luck for your second term”.

“THERE IS NO DEAL, THERE HAS NEVER BEEN A DEAL,” Donald Trump then wrote in capital letters on his Truth Social network. His lawyers had already announced that he would appeal this sentence.

Supreme Court

Until the last day and even before the Supreme Court in Washington, the lawyers of the 45th and soon 47th American president increased their appeals by brandishing his past and future presidential immunity, in order to prevent the judge from sanctioning their client.

But Thursday evening, the highest court in the United States rejected a final request by five votes to four.

With the pronouncement of this sentence, the lowest possible, more than seven months after being declared guilty by a jury of 12 unanimous citizens before a Manhattan criminal court, Donald Trump will enter the House on January 20, at the age of 78. White with the label of a habitual criminal.

But the burden will be above all symbolic, for the one who escaped any legal consequences in the three other cases in which he had been indicted, including the most serious before the federal courts for his illegal attempts to reverse the results of the presidential election of 2020.

In this case, special prosecutor Jack Smith abandoned the prosecution after the election of Donald Trump on November 5, when the trial had not started.

“Middle finger”

“It’s a middle finger (from Donald Trump) to the judge, to the jury, and to justice,” the former New York prosecutor and professor of law at the university told AFP. Pace, Bennett Gershman.

Last spring, the man who was still a presidential candidate had to go almost every day for six weeks to a courtroom with the outdated and summary decor of the criminal court, and attend the debates in this case mixing politics, money and scandal sexual.

On Friday, outside the court, supporters of the Republican held a giant banner bearing the name of their idol, swept away by violent winds. There were also a handful of protesters hostile to the president-elect, holding a sign that read: “Trump is guilty.”

The jury found Donald Trump guilty of 34 crimes of accounting falsification to hide from voters the payment of $130,000 to porn star Stormy Daniels, at the end of his first victorious campaign in 2016 against Hillary Clinton, whose trial had revealed behind the scenes.

The money was paid to buy the actress’ silence about a sexual relationship she claimed to have had in 2006 with the former real estate mogul, a relationship he has always denied.

Assailed by lawyers’ appeals and following a major decision by the Supreme Court on July 1 on presidential immunity, Judge Merchan had to postpone sentencing several times, from July to September, then to November, after the presidential election.

Donald Trump’s victory triggered a new round of appeals from the defense, but Juan Merchan maintained the sentence.

As in the other cases in which he was prosecuted, Donald Trump presented himself as the victim of a “witch hunt” orchestrated by his political adversaries, a speech that he tirelessly made and of which his supporters were convinced, in a countries where polls show that trust in institutions has significantly eroded in recent years.