Donald Trump convicted of crime after unprecedented trial
Siobhan Kennedy
Washington Correspondent
A jury in Manhattan found that the 45th president deliberately falsified business records as part of a cover-up to influence the outcome of the 2016 election.
Donald Trump has become the first President in US history to be convicted of a crime. So what did he do? pic.twitter.com/YnxibYhwcC
— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) May 30, 2024
Donald Trump has become the first US president in history to be convicted of a crime.
After an unprecedented trial, a jury of 12 of his Manhattan peers found that the 45th president deliberately falsified business records as part of a cover-up to influence the outcome of the 2016 election.
So what did he do?
Trump paid his former lawyer and fixer $130,000 in a series of payments to buy the silence of Stormy Daniels, who claims she had sex with Mr Trump in a hotel suite in Nevada in 2006.
So far, so sleazy. But paying hush money isn’t illegal.
To win the conviction, prosecutors had to prove that Mr Trump paid the money with the intention of stopping voters from finding out about the alleged affair.
Money spent on election campaigns is strictly regulated, and this $130,000 was disguised in Trump’s business records to make it look like other legal spending.
The jury accepted this argument, and now he stands convicted. But as a first time offender, Trump is highly unlikely to go to jail.
But he does now face a fresh reckoning in another court. The court of public opinion as Trump runs to become president in November.