A verdict was reached in the trial of Former President Donald Trump on Thursday, with the Jury finding him guilty on all criminal counts of falsifying business records levied against him by the Manhattan District Attorney.
Each of the 34 criminal charges carries with it a maximum sentence of 4 years, which could result in the former President receiving a total of 136 years behind bars.
The sentencing is set to take place on July 11th, four days prior to the Republican National Convention, where Trump is set to become the official republican candidate for the 2024 Presidential election.
The trial was heavily criticized, with many declaring it to be another extreme example of the Democrat Party’s efforts to “silence dissent and crush their political opponents.”
The judge presiding over the trial, Juan Merchan, which President Trump referred to as “corrupt” and “conflicted,” was heavily scrutinized for political bias, having donated to the Biden campaign in 2020, which his daughter worked on as a political consultant.
During the trial, Merchan drew outrage by imposing gag orders, holding Trump in criminal contempt, as well as presenting “confusing” instructions to the Jury, which the former President called, “unfair, misleading, inaccurate, and unconstitutional.”
“Merchan delivered at least an hour’s worth of instructions to the Jury, which jurors had to request to hear a second time during deliberations due to the length,” S.A. McCarthy, writing for the Washington Stand, explained. “The judge reminded jurors that, in order to convict, they must unanimously agree that Trump either falsified business records or caused someone else to do so in order to cover up or facilitate a crime, although he told jurors that they did not need to agree on what that crime was or whether Trump was covering it up or facilitating it.”
The decision made Trump the first US President to be convicted of a crime and immediately sparked condemnation among many, who underscored the corruption and bias riddled throughout the trial.
“We already know that this trial has been anything but constitutional or normal,” Jack Hibbs, pastor of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills, wrote on Thursday. “If you remove Trump from the process of how this courtroom has performed, it is a harbinger for you and I to know that getting a fair trial is something that has died out with our constitution.”
Mike Pompeo, Former Secretary of State who served under the Trump Administration, responded to the trial verdict, writing on X, “The future of this country should — and will — be decided by the American people in an election, not by 12 New Yorkers in a travesty of a politicized courtroom.”
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson released a statement shortly following Thursday’s decision, calling the trial a “weaponization of our justice system.”
“Today is a shameful day in American history,” he stated. “Democrats cheered as they convicted the leader of the opposing party on ridiculous charges, predicated on the testimony of a disbarred, convicted felon. This was a purely political exercise, not a legal one.”
“The weaponization of our justice system has been a hallmark of the Biden Administration, and the decision today is further evidence that Democrats will stop at nothing to silence dissent and crush their political opponents,” Johnson warned. “The American people see this as lawfare, and they know it is wrong—and dangerous. President Trump will rightfully appeal this absurd verdict—and he WILL WIN!”
Franklin Graham, President of BGEA and Samaritan’s Purse, responded by asking the American people to join him in prayer for the nation.
“Our country is at a crossroads,” he stressed. “What we saw [on Thursday] has never happened before, and I think for the majority of Americans, it raises questions about whether our legal system can be trusted. Pray for our nation, for God‘s guiding hand that this republic will be one nation under God with liberty and justice for all.”
