Donald Trump experienced an uncomfortable moment from a distance on Friday, January 10. He watched from Mar-a-Lago, Florida, via video link, as Judge Juan Merchan upheld his conviction in Manhattan Criminal Court in New York. Meaning the president-elect will take office with a felony conviction. However, no prison sentences, restrictions or fines were handed down. This is a symbolic conviction, barely spoiling the euphoria of the moment, ten days ahead of his inauguration that will mark his return to the White House. While Trump is furious to see his record tarnished in this way, the justice system has won a Pyrrhic victory: Too late, cut short and hardly legible for the general public.

On May 30, 2024, Trump was found guilty by a jury of 34 counts of falsifying records. At the heart of the case are payments made to former X-rated actress Stormy Daniels to keep her silent in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election about her relationship with the businessman ten years earlier. The sentence was due to be handed down by Judge Merchan on July 11, a few days before the start of the Republican convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. But it was postponed several times due to the Supreme Court's ruling on Trump's presidential immunity, and then the election itself.

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