The Presidential campaign of former U.S. President and Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump has reportedly raised a record $34.8 million amidst felony charge convictions.
The campaign team disclosed that it raised the amount from small donors with 30% of those being new members, who sent funds in the hours after he was convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records related to a 2016 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels by his fixer Michael Cohen.
Recall that on 30, May 2024, a jury in Manhattan New York, found former President Donald Trump guilty on all 34 counts in the hush money trial, a historic first for a former U.S. president.
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The former president was found guilty of falsifying business records that purported to describe legal expenses payments by him and the Trump Organization to Cohen to reimburse the former fixer for the $130,000 payment Cohen personally gave Daniels before the 2016 election.
Cohen and Daniels both testified that the money was to prevent her from selling to media outlets her story of having sex with Trump one time in 2006, months after his wife Melania Trump gave birth to their son Barron Trump.
Cohen said Trump directed him to pay Daniels to prevent her from damaging his chance of winning the White House in 2016. He said he did little if any actual legal work for Trump in the period covered by the business records.
Trump’s sentencing for the hush money case is scheduled for July 11, 2024, which is days before the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where Trump is set to be formally confirmed as the GOP’s presidential nominee.
The former U.S. leader who remains free without bail, faces a maximum possible punishment of four years in prison for each count, although Merchan is not bound to sentence him to any prison time.
Reacting to the criminal hush money trial, Trump described it as rigged, disgraceful”. Speaking to reporters outside the courtroom in Manhattan Supreme Court.
He said,
“‘I’m a very innocent man, And it’s OK, I’m fighting for our country, I’m fighting for our Constitution. Our whole country is being rigged right now.
The real verdict is going to be November 5, by the people”, Trump said, referring to the day of the presidential election. “They know what happened here, and everybody knows what happened here.”
Also commenting on Trump’s felony case, the campaign of President Joe Biden said,
“The threat Trump poses to our democracy has never been greater. In New York today, we saw that no one is above the law. Donald Trump has always mistakenly believed he would never face consequences for breaking the law for his gain.
“But today’s verdict does not change the fact that the American people face a simple reality. There is still only one way to keep Donald
Trump out of the Oval Office: at the ballot box. Convicted felon or not, Trump will be the Republican nominee for president.”
Trump is expected to appeal his historic verdict after he is sentenced on July
11, but legal experts say there is no chance he will overturn his conviction prior
to Election Day.
The charges against Trump are Class E felonies, the least serious category under New York law. Each count carries a maximum sentence of four years in prison. Trump’s sentence could include fines and restitution, probation, or other conditions, but a sentence of imprisonment is not on the table.