Source: David Dee Delgado / Getty
After seven weeks in a lower Manhattan courtroom, Donald Trump has made history again.
In what’s been a historic near-decade for the twice impeached former president, he’s got another badge of honor now: the first president to be a convicted felon.
The New York jury found him guilty on all 34 charges associated with his scheme to influence the 2016 election by paying off porn actress Stormy Daniels with hush money not to reveal that they’d slept together.
Reporters there say he was joking with his attorney, thinking Judge Juan M. Merchan would dismiss the jury for another day because it was already past 4 p.m.
However, the jury instead said that after nine hours spread out over two days of deliberating, they’d come to a conclusion, and Trump reportedly sat stone-faced as the word guilty was read 34 times.
Once he emerged from the courtroom and returned to the streets of New York, in typical Trump fashion, he immediately played the victim card, turning the verdict into a campaign opportunity.
“This was a rigged, disgraceful trial,” an angry Trump told reporters, detractors, and supporters. “The real verdict is going to be Nov. 5 by the people. They know what happened, and everyone knows what happened here.”
On July 11, a little over a month away, Trump will be sentenced by Judge Merchan. Although experts say it’s unlikely for him to actually serve jail time, he’ll likely have to pay a hefty fine or be forced to do community service.
Then, just days later, on July 15, the Republican National Convention takes place in Milwaukee, where the party is expected to nominate Trump as its front-runner.
Plus, with the debate opposite President Biden coming up on June 27, this is only the beginning of what’s sure to be a critique-filled and public-facing summer for Trump.
Speaking of the Biden administration, they also took Trump’s verdict as an opportunity to campaign, urging the public that voting for Trump in November is dangerous.
“In New York today, we saw that no one is above the law.
“Donald Trump has always mistakenly believed he would never face consequences for breaking the law for his own personal gain. But today’s verdict does not change the fact that the American people face a simple reality. There is still only one way to keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office: at the ballot box. Convicted felon or not, Trump will be the Republican nominee for president,” read the statement released by Communications director Michael Tyler.
“The threat Trump poses to our democracy has never been greater. He is running an increasingly unhinged campaign of revenge and retribution, pledging to be a dictator ‘on day one’ and calling for our Constitution to be ‘terminated’ so he can regain and keep power. A second Trump term means chaos, ripping away Americans’ freedoms and fomenting political violence – and the American people will reject it this November.”
Despite the seriousness of the situation, social media had the jokes ready as soon as the gavel slammed. See the hilarity that ensued below.
