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CWA # 1335, 31 May 2024
Global Politics Early Bird
The US: Jury finds Donald Trump Guilty on 34 counts. Five Takeaways of the verdict

  Dhriti Mukherjee

On 30 May, a New York jury found former US President Donald Trump guilty in a hush-money case, convicting him on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. The judge will announce the sentencing decision on 11 July. Trump is the first US President to be both criminally tried and convicted, in a case where he was accused of falsifying business records in relation to a hush-money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. 

While the payment of USD 130,000 made to Daniels is in itself not illegal, the case revolved around how Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, had recorded the reimbursement in Trump’s records. After that, Trump approved a scheme to disguise the reimbursement to Cohen as legal expenses to cover up the hush money. 

The following are five key takeaways from the trial and the verdict.

1. The long trial comes to an end
On 19 April 2024, lawyers for both sides finished choosing 12 jurors and six alternates to hear the case; subsequently, on 29 May, the jury began deliberations on the case. 
During the trial, there were 22 witnesses- prosecutors called 20 while the defence called only two. Of the 22 witnesses, Cohen and Daniels were the most important witnesses. Others included former Trump White House aide, Trump’s former assistant, and the former National Enquirer publisher. 

BBC cited former prosecutors who contended that Trump’s team lacked a counter-narrative and had a flawed strategy, meaning that the “defence never had a story that the jury could accept.” Further, Trump’s team failed to discredit Cohen, a star witness who had a history of lying to Congress. 

2. The unanimous verdict 
Following two days of deliberations, the 12-member jury unanimously found Trump guilty on all 34 felony counts. This included 11 charges of invoice for legal services, 11 charges for checks paid for legal services, and 12 charges for ledger entries for legal services. 

Following the six-week trial, the jury took two days to deliberate. During this time, they asked to rehear testimony from Cohen and David Pecker. Pecker is the former publisher of the National Enquirer tabloid and had told jurors that he had worked with Trump to suppress stories that could have affected his campaign. Additionally, they asked the judge to repeat directions regarding their deliberations. They were told that to find Trump guilty, they must determine that Trump “made or caused a false entry in the business records of an enterprise” with the intention to “defraud that included an intent to commit another crime or to aid or conceal the commission thereof.” Merchan instructed them to consider “all the evidence presented, whether by the people or by the defendant.”

3. The emphasis on key witnesses
Though there were 22 witnesses, there were three key individuals. The first was Cohen, the key witness of the prosecution who provided an insider’s view of the hush money scheme during his testimony. He claimed that Trump had told him to “just take care of it,” and recounted a meeting during which a plan was devised to have Cohen reimbursed in monthly instalments for legal services. In 2018, Cohen and Trump parted ways, after which the former began cooperating with prosecutors. When asked why he paid the money to Daniels by a prosecutor, he said it was to “ensure that the story did not come out, did not affect Mr Trump’s chances of becoming president.” He also said that he committed the crime “on behalf of” Trump. To prosecutors, Cohen was a flawed “tour guide” to a “mountain” of evidence against Trump; to the defence, Cohen was the “greatest liar of all time.” Although Cohen has been known to twist the truth in the past, jurors accepted much of what he had to say against Trump.

The second was Daniels, as a statement from her confirming that Trump paid her money in exchange for her silence would be central to the prosecutor’s claims. During her testimony, she shared alleged intimate details. The defence’s main objective was to try and convince the jury that her account of the affair was made up and untrue; however, Daniels remained unwavering from her stand, and accused the defence of trying to “trick” her “into saying something that’s not entirely true.” She added that if her story was fabricated, she would “have written it to be a lot better.” The reason why jurors found her testimony to be important was that the elaborate recollection of details proved the fact that Trump had reason to hide this from voters.

The third was Pecker, a longtime friend of Trump who told the jury that he had agreed to be the “eyes and ears” of Trump’s campaign. Pecker had told the editor-in-chief of American Media Inc, a company he was overseeing for more than two decades, that favours for Trump had to be kept “highly confidential.” He explained that the two had a “mutually beneficial” relationship, where Pecker would “publish positive stories” about Trump and “negative stories about his opponents,” and in turn received a boost in publication sales. His testimony, which the jury asked to rehear during deliberations, again provided a detailed insider account of measures taken by Trump to protect his campaign. 

4. Trump’s refusal to accept the verdict
Despite being found guilty on 34 counts, Trump’s remarks post the verdict showed his unwillingness to accept, or even acknowledge the implications. 

After leaving the courtroom, he asserted: “This was a rigged, disgraceful trial. The real verdict is going to be 5 November by the people. They know what happened, and everyone knows what happened here.” Trump used the trial to portray himself as a victim of the criminal justice system, insisting that it was politically motivated against him. He described Merchan as “conflicted and corrupt,” saying even “Mother Teresa could not beat these charges.” 

5. The unlikeliness of Trump to get a prison sentence 
Trump faces up to four years in prison for each felony count; however, it is widely expected that he will instead be placed under house arrest or have to pay a fine as he is a first-time offender and has been convicted for the lowest category of non-violent felony. As of now, he is free to keep running for president and still has a high chance of winning. Trump could receive a verbal warning, probation conditions, or serious prison time. 

Legal experts have explained that for people with histories like Trump, with charges relating solely to falsification of business records, receiving prison time in New York is not impossible but very unlikely. Even if he is sent to jail, he will be able to continue campaigning from there. The impact that his sentencing and the trial will have on his campaign and chances of victory is yet to be seen, but currently, it can be argued that even imprisonment would not do much to stop him from winning the elections

References
Michael R Sisak, Jennifer Peltz, Eric Tucker, Michelle L Price & Jill Colvin, “Guilty: Trump becomes first former US president convicted of felony crimes,” AP, 31 May 2024;

“Key moments in Donald Trump's trial that led to the guilty verdict,” Business Standard, 31 May 2024;

Luc Cohen, “Could Trump face time behind bars for his conviction on New York charges?” Reuters, 31 May 2024;

Kayla Epstein, “Hush-money trial was Trump's to lose. Here’s why he did,” BBC¸ 30 May 2024;

“New York jury resumes deliberations in Trump hush money trial,” Al Jazeera, 30 May 2024;

Ximena Bustillo & Hilary Fung, “Trump is found guilty on 34 felony counts. Read the counts here,” npr, 30 May 2024;

Laura Santhanam, “Guilty or not guilty, Trump verdict won’t sway most voters, poll shows,” PBS News Hour, 30 May 2024;

Graham Kates & Katrina Kaufman, “Trump trial jury continues deliberations in "hush money" case,” CBS News, 30 May 2024;

Jacob Knutson, “Trump's N.Y. criminal trial: Where it stands,” AXIOS, 30 May 2024;

Graham Kates, Katrina Kaufman & Olivia Rinaldi, “Trump trial ends first day of jury deliberations without a verdict,” CBS News¸ 29 May 2024;

Michael R Sisak, Jennifer Peltz & Jake Offenhartz, “Here’s what every key witness said at Trump’s hush money criminal trial,” PBS, 26 May 2024;

Madeline Halpert & Kayla Epstein, “Trump trial: What we learned from Stormy Daniels' testimony,” BBC, 10 May 2024;

Julia Reinstein, “Here's what legal experts say Stormy Daniels' testimony could mean for Trump,” ABC News, 9 May 2024;

Jonah E Bromwich, William K Rashbaum & Ben Protess, “Trump Loses His Third Try in a Week to Delay Manhattan Trial,” The New York Times¸ 2 May 2024;

Timothy L O’Brien, “Pecker’s Trump Trial Testimony Is a Lesson in Power Politics,” Bloomberg, 24 April 2024;

Michael R Sisak, Jennifer Peltz, Eric Tucker & Jake Offenhartz, “12 jurors have been picked for Donald Trump’s hush money trial. Selection of alternates is ongoing,” AP, 19 April 2024;

About the author

Dhriti Mukherjee is a Research Assistant at NIAS.

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