But did this trial affect his chances of winning the presidency? The truth is that, despite more than 6 weeks of countless testimonies, inconsequential counterclaims and even unseemly recounts, Trump’s presidential campaign did not seem to falter and is even continuing its course to select the next vice president.
If Trump is acquitted of the 34 charges of corporate fraud, we will have to be alert to the increase in his chances of becoming the next president of the United States.
If he were found guilty of some or all of the charges, months of delays would follow while the parties agree on an appropriate sentence and he may only receive a fine, and in any case an appeal would likely take months, at which point he could have regained the White House.
The damage to his campaign would be marginal, although it would give President Joe Biden ammunition to remind the country that the Republican candidate is a convicted transgressor.
As for the third option, under New York law, criminal trials require the jury to return a unanimous verdict, failing which a mistrial is declared.
Regardless of what the jury thinks, it is difficult to conclude that the Prosecutor’s Office presented a solid case against the former president, given that there was too much circumstantial evidence with little evidence.
For example, the prosecution’s main witness, former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, had little credibility after he served prison time for pleading guilty to lying to the Senate and House Intelligence Committees in 2017. , about the construction of Trump Tower in Moscow.
So it may well be that, later this week, Trump walks free from the Manhattan courthouse.
This will be a serious blow to the Prosecutor’s Office and the Department of Justice, which are pursuing the most serious case against the former president, related to the accusation that he conspired to reverse his 2020 electoral defeat.
This trial has no chance of starting before the presidential elections, so it could have little impact on voting intentions.
In fact, many people, polls show, are bored with the court case, suggesting they may not care how the trial ends.
None of the other three trials he faces will be held before November due to the greater complexity of the charges, so an acquittal in the business fraud case could literally launch him back to the presidency.
The jury made up of seven men and five women are already part of history because it is the first time that a former president faces a criminal trial.
In the past, others have had legal problems, but nothing like this.
Andrew Johnson (1865-1869), who, during the years after the Civil War, repeatedly clashed over the issue of Reconstruction with the Republican-controlled Congress, faced impeachment but was exonerated.
More recently, a federal grand jury recommended charges against Richard Nixon (1969-1974) for his role in the Watergate scandal; He was also pardoned.
The impeachment of President Bill Clinton (1993-2001) arose from an investigation that originally focused on financial transactions that occurred years before he arrived at the White House, related to the “Whitewater” real estate development when he served as attorney general and later as governor of Arkansas, according to Cornell Law School.
However, although the majority of Americans gave Clinton low marks for his honesty, they recognized his good government performance, which is why they sought to publicly censure him for his conduct, but they did not want his removal.
Now, because Trump has repeatedly cited being the victim of a political witch hunt, the historic nature of this Manhattan court trial will be lost in the public hysteria that will follow, whether he wins or loses.
