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Journalism of Courage
Former US President Donald Trump, who got convicted in the hush money trial, said on Friday that he would appeal the conviction. “We’re going to be appealing this scam,” Trump told a crowd of reporters and supporters at Trump Tower in New York.
Reacting to the conviction in the hush money trial, Donald Trump claimed that his trial was “rigged”. Speaking to the press, he said, “We wanted a venue change, where we could have a fair trial. We didn’t get it. We wanted a judge change, we wanted a judge that wasn’t conflicted, and obviously he didn’t do that…nobody’s ever seen anything like it.”
In a major verdict by the US court which could have an effect on the US elections in November, the former US president launched into attacks on the judge in his criminal trial and continued to undermine New York’s criminal justice system, according to Associated Press. Trump spoke to reporters at his namesake tower in Manhattan, upon return to campaigning a day after he was convicted.
He argued that the verdict was illegitimate and driven by politics and sought to downplay the allegations underlying the case. “It’s not hush money. It’s a nondisclosure agreement, totally legal, totally common,” he said.
Trump, who had the right to testify, further stated that he wanted to do so but said the judge wanted to go into every detail. The Republican presidential candidate further tested the limits of the gag order that prohibited him from publicly critiquing witnesses including Michael Cohen, calling his former fixer and the star witness in the case, “a sleazebag.”
The 77-year-old, who has been denying all the charges, claimed that it was a tactic of the Democratic party to derail his electoral bid for the upcoming presidential elections. The 34 criminal charges of which Trump has been convicted carries a maximum prison sentence of four years.
The sentencing of the ex-President Trump in the hush money case will take place on July 11. It will be upon the judges whether Trump will be sent to jail or not. Though the judgment will not hamper the prospects of Trump campaigning for the November polls or even taking the office for that matter.
Trump was convicted after adult movie actress Stormy Daniels claimed that she was asked to keep quiet during the 2016 US Presidential polls, about a sexual encounter she had with Trump in 2006. Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen testified in the court that he was asked by the former president to pay $130,000 as hush money to Daniels in the run up to the 2016 presidential election, and that he would be repaid the amount.
Donald Trump will officially accept the Republican nominee at the Republican National Convention, which is scheduled to take place on July 15 in Milwaukee.
(With inputs from AP)
