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Former US President Donald Trump will be sentenced today on 34 charges, including paying to silence a porn star. He was declared guilty in these cases by the Manhattan court in May last year.
After this, Trump became the first former President to be found guilty in a criminal case in American history. Now he will also become the first President to be punished.
According to American media house NYT, Trump will appear before the court through video conferencing. Four big screens have been installed in the courtroom, Trump will be seen on these during the sentencing.
Trump will be sentenced just 10 days before his inauguration. He was to be sentenced in July last year, due to which he would have to suffer the consequences in the elections. Due to this, he kept postponing the punishment again and again.
Trump won the US presidential election held on November 6 and is scheduled to take oath on January 20. Trump had appealed to the Supreme Court to avoid punishment. However, the court had rejected his application on Thursday.
Trump and Stormi photographed at Wicked Pictures studios in 2006. Trump was then 60 years old and Stormi was 27. (courtesy stormydaniels.com)
Why did the court decide to sentence Trump 10 days before the oath taking ceremony? According to media reports, Judge Juan Marchen has said that Donald Trump will take the oath of office on January 20. After this, Trump can take advantage of the legal exemptions available to the President. For this reason, it is necessary to announce Trump’s punishment before taking the oath of office.
According to Section 4 of Article 2 of the US Constitution, the President cannot be punished in any criminal case while in office. However, this does not mean that the President is above the legal process, rather he cannot be convicted of any criminal case while in office.
If the President is held responsible for any kind of criminal activity, he can be removed from office only through impeachment. If they are removed from office, they may have to face the normal legal process like ordinary people. This includes prosecution, sentencing and other legal actions.
How will a conviction in the hush money case affect Trump’s presidency? Retired JNU professor and foreign affairs expert AK Pasha says that as soon as Donald Trump takes oath as President on January 20, he will become America’s first convicted president. No president before Trump faced criminal charges. In such a situation, there will be no legal harm to Trump if he is punished, but his political image may be tarnished.
In May 2023, when the court declared Trump guilty, he heard the verdict with his eyes closed. The sketch artist of the Manhattan Court had made a sketch of Trump with closed eyes.
Which 34 allegations were made against Trump?
- Trump was charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records. All these charges were related to giving 1 lakh 30 thousand dollars (about 1 crore 7 lakh rupees) to porn star Stormy Daniels to remain silent before the 2016 presidential election.
- 11 charges were related to check signing. Another 11 charges were related to false invoices Cohen submitted to the company and the remaining 12 charges were related to providing false information in records.
- Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen had alleged that he had given money to Stormy at Trump’s behest, so that she would not say anything about the affair with Trump before the 2016 election.
- The allegation was that Trump returned the money to Cohen after becoming President. For this he gave several checks to Cohen for 10 months. They showed it in the records as legal fees, which was actually a payment made to hide a crime.
- The document related to the allegations said that Trump continuously gave false information to New York Business Records, so that he could hide his crime and give him an advantage in the election.
- On April 5, 2023, 34 charges were framed against Trump in Manhattan court.
Government lawyer who got the American President punished – Alvin Bragg According to NYT, for the first time in history, Prosecutor Alvin Bragg has achieved the feat of convicting an American President. The prosecutor is a government lawyer, who presents the case on behalf of the government. It is the responsibility of the prosecutor to frame charges against the suspected criminal (who in this case was Trump).
When the case reaches the court, the prosecutor has to prove that a crime has been committed by arguing in favor of the charges. According to the New York Times, due to this case, Alvin Bragg’s credibility as a government lawyer was at stake. Some people were considering it as a zombie i.e. dead case.
By bringing the case to its conclusion, Alvin has registered his name in American history. He is the first prosecutor whose arguments not only resulted in the conviction of an American President but also resulted in his conviction. After the hearing, Bragg said, ‘I just did my job.’
In Touch magazine published this famous story of Stormy Daniels in 2018. Famous cover of the same edition of the magazine.
Understand the whole issue of paying money to porn stars in 5 points
1. The case of paying money to silence a porn star dates back to 2006. Donald Trump was then a real estate businessman. Porn star Stormy Daniels was then 27 years old and Trump was 60 years old. The two met during a golf tournament in July 2006.
2. Stormi has mentioned this meeting in her book ‘Full Disclosure’. He told that when he met Trump, his third wife Melania had given birth to son Barron. Only 4 months had passed since Baron was born.
3. In her book, Stormy told that Trump’s bodyguards had invited her for dinner at the penthouse of a new star. In the book, he also mentioned his relationship with Trump and his physical appearance. After this an affair started between the two.
4. There are allegations that Trump paid Stormi to keep quiet just before the 2016 presidential election. Trump’s lawyer had also admitted that he had given 1 lakh 30 thousand dollars (about Rs 1 crore 7 lakh) to the porn star on Trump’s behalf.
5. The payment given by Trump to the porn star was revealed by the Wall Street Journal in January 2018. On this basis, it was decided to file a criminal case against Trump. He is the first American President to face criminal trial.