The ink was barely dry on Donald Trump’s guilty verdicts on thirty four felonies before the Alabama Republican Party renewed its support for the former President. Trump faces sentencing in July for his felony convictions of falsifying business records prosecutors say were to conceal payments that he made to a former adult film star over an alleged sexual encounter.
Alabama Public Republican Party chairman John Wahl said in a statement…
"The Alabama Republican Party fully stands behind Donald Trump. The leftist-inspired court case against him is clearly politically motivated. The facts surrounding this entire situation date back to 2016,” said Wahl. “These Democrat elected officials had eight years to bring charges but chose to act only when Donald Trump started leading Joe Biden in the polls. The justice system should never be used as a political weapon, and we are deeply disappointed by what we have seen throughout this case.”
Donald Trump became the first former president to be convicted of felony crimes Thursday as a New York jury found him guilty of falsifying business records in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election through hush money payments to a porn actor who said the two had sex.
Jurors deliberated for 9.5 hours over two days before convicting Trump of all 34 counts he faced. Trump sat stone-faced while the verdict was read as cheering from the street below — where supporters and detractors of the former president were gathered — could be heard in the hallway on courthouse's 15th floor where the decision was revealed.
"This was a rigged, disgraceful trial," Trump told reporters after leaving the courtroom. "The real verdict is going to be Nov. 5 by the people. They know what happened, and everyone knows what happened here."
"It is crucial to recognize that one of the true enemies of democracy is the misuse of the justice system to target political opponents,” Alabama GOP Chair John Wahl continued in a news release. “With the conviction of Donald J. Trump, it is evident that our country is heading in a very dangerous direction. This is not how a republic or a democracy should be run. The conviction of a former president, especially one who is a current candidate for the presidency, sets a troubling precedent.”
The verdict is a stunning legal reckoning for Trump and exposes him to potential prison time in the city where his manipulations of the tabloid press helped catapult him from a real estate tycoon to reality television star and ultimately president. As he seeks to reclaim the White House in this year's election, the judgment presents voters with another test of their willingness to accept Trump's boundary-breaking behavior.
Trump is expected to quickly appeal the verdict and will face an awkward dynamic as he returns to the campaign trail as a convicted felon. There are no campaign rallies on the calendar for now, though he's expected to hold fundraisers next week. Judge Juan Merchan set sentencing for July 11, just days before the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where Republican leaders who remained resolute in their support in the immediate aftermath of the verdict are expected to formally make him their nominee.
The falsifying business records charges carry up to four years behind bars, though prosecutors have not said whether they intend to seek imprisonment, and it is not clear whether the judge — who earlier in the trial warned of jail time for gag order violations — would impose that punishment even if asked. The conviction, and even imprisonment, will not bar Trump from continuing his pursuit of the White House.
Trump faces three other felony indictments, but the New York case may be the only one to reach a conclusion before the November election, adding to the significance of the outcome. Though the legal and historical implications of the verdict are readily apparent, the political consequences are less so given its potential to reinforce rather than reshape already-hardened opinions about Trump.
