Donald Trump has been convicted at trial in the Stormy Daniels porn payments case. But he won't go to prison or pay fines.
Judge Juan Merchan said this, explaining immediately after the reading of the sentence that the decision was determined by his imminent return to the White House . "It was the citizens of this nation who decided that you should enjoy protections such as the supremacy clause and presidential immunity ," the judge added, wishing him "good luck in your second term."
A conviction that in any case stains the criminal record of the president-elect, who takes office in the White House in ten days as the first “felon”, criminal president.
The jury found him guilty on all 34 counts . The tycoon, who attended the sentencing hearing via video link, alongside his lawyer Todd Blanche, is accused of falsifying company accounts to conceal a hush money payment to Stormy Daniels for a night of sex.
"This case was a bad experience and a failure of the New York justice system," Trump said. " I am innocent, it was a political witch hunt to damage my reputation. I will appeal ."
The case
Stormy Daniels, stage name of Stephanie Clifford, is the porn star at the center of Trump's conviction who, despite not going to prison and without paying any fine, will find himself entering the White House for the second time with a criminal record. The president-elect was convicted last May 30th unanimously by the 12 members of the jury of the New York court for paying Stormy Daniels $130,000 to keep her quiet about their relationship.
Trump was found guilty of all 34 charges against him, all of which had one goal: conspiracy to conceal information that would compromise his 2016 presidential campaign, thereby undermining the integrity of the election. Clifford met Trump in 2006, when the tycoon, real estate giant and TV star of The Apprentice, had recently married Melania and become a father to Barron. The two began a relationship that continued for a while.
Trump called her on several occasions, calling her “Honeybunch,” and repeatedly promised to put her on The Apprentice. After months, Clifford cut ties, no longer returning her calls. In 2016, after Trump ran for the White House, the porn star tried to sell the story of her relationship to several media outlets, initially without success. But the publication of Access Hollywood off-camera clips in which the presidential candidate described his views on sex and women in vulgar language made the story much more appealing to the tabloids.
It was then that Trump's former all-purpose lawyer, Michael Cohen, offered Clifford $130,000 in exchange for silence, which the woman accepted by signing the agreement on the set of her latest porn star film . The money was paid by the lawyer and then reimbursed as fictitious legal fees, also violating the law on campaign finance and therefore the integrity of the vote. Among the 34 charges was also having falsified accounting documents of his holding company to hide the $130,000 paid to the porn star.
(Online Union)