Questions are being raised about the logistics of now-convicted felon former President Donald Trump’s political future.
Thursday, Trump became the first former president to be convicted in a criminal trial after 12 jurors found him guilty of falsifying business records. The jury deliberated for over 11 hours before unanimously reaching their verdict.
Here are your questions answered.
Trump was found guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
The business records were labeled as legal expenses when, in fact, they were hush money payments were made to his lawyer Michael Cohen to reimburse him for a payment he made to porn star Stormy Daniels.
The prosecution’s case centered on allegations that Trump made illegal payments to silence women who said they had affairs with Trump. Trump made the payments in the weeks ahead of the 2016 presidential election, allegedly influencing the election by ensuring damaging information about the Republican nominee would not be published.
Judge Juan Merchan, who presided over the case, will deliver Trump a sentence on July 11 at 10 a.m. New York law allows for offenders of Class-E felonies, like those that Trump committed, to serve time for multiple charges concurrently.
Following the sentencing, Trump’s team has said they will file an appeal, which they can do within 30 days of the sentencing.
If Trump is sentenced to prison, he would be entitled to Secret Service protections, as former presidents are given lifelong security. According to CBS News, the Secret Service has been in talks with New York officials about the logistics of a former president in prison. If put behind bars, correction officers would, in turn, be responsible for protecting the Secret Service agents.
Yes. The only requirements for someone running for president are that they must be 35 years of age, a natural-born citizen, and have been a resident of the United States for the last 14 years.
Trump will attend the Republican National Convention in Wisconsin, where he will become the Republican nominee four days after his sentencing date.
Depending on what he is sentenced to, Trump may still be able to vote.
In Florida, where Trump votes, a 2018 state law says felons who have been sentenced to prison can vote, but Republican lawmakers qualified that referendum, making it mandatory for a felon to pay all fines and fees in full before being allowed to register to vote. The crime was committed in New York, however.
“A felony conviction in another state makes a person ineligible to vote in Florida only if the conviction would make the person ineligible to vote in the state where the person was convicted,” the Florida Division of Elections says.
In New York, felons cannot vote if they are sentenced to prison time. If Trump is sentenced to prison time, Florida would honor that law from New York.
As a felon, he also can no longer own a firearm and could be subject to needing to get permission from a parole officer to leave the state of Florida or the country.
It’s unclear at the moment if Trump’s new status will affect his polling. A YouGov poll conducted the day after the verdict found that 27% of voters said the guilty conviction made them less likely to vote for Trump, but almost the same amount, 26%, said they were more likely to vote for him. It may not be a top-of-mind issue for many voters, as 39% said the verdict “makes no difference” in how they’ll vote.
The Trump campaign announced it had raised $34.5 million dollars so far following the verdict.
“From just minutes after the sham trial verdict was announced, our digital fundraising system was overwhelmed with support, and despite temporary delays online because of the amount of traffic, President Trump raised $34.8 million dollars from small dollar donors,” a statement from Trump campaign advisers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles said. “Not only was the amount historic, but 29.7% of yesterday’s donor’s were brand new donors to the WinRed platform.”
Trump’s legal team, as well as the prosecution, must submit sentencing memos to Merchan by June 13, when they will make their case for the preferred type or length of punishment.
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Merchan will sentence Trump in New York on July 11 at 10 a.m. The defense can begin appealing the case after sentencing.
The Republican National Convention will begin in Milwaukee on July 15.