OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Former President Donald Trump has spoken about his plans after his guilty verdicts in Manhattan and how the trial affected his family.
“We’re going to be appealing this scam. We’re going to be appealing it on many different things. He [Judge Juan Merhcan] wouldn’t allow us to have witnesses, he wouldn’t allow us to talk, he wouldn’t allow us to do anything. The judge was a tyrant,” Trump declared.
“We’re going to fight. I’m wired in such a way that a lot of people would have gone away a long time ago. They would have gone away after impeachment hoaxes. It’s not that it’s pleasant — it’s very bad for family; it’s very bad for friends and businesses, but I’m honored to be involved in it because somebody has to do it, and I might as well keep going and be the one,” Trump added.
“I’m very honored to be involved because we’re fighting for our Constitution,” the former president said. “I don’t mind because I’m willing to do whatever I have to do to save our country and to save our Constitution. I don’t mind.”
“This can’t be allowed to happen to other presidents; it should never be allowed to happen in the future,” he said. “But this is far beyond me. This is bigger than Trump. This is bigger than me.”
“Make America great again,” he said. “Remember November 5.”
“That could happen,” the former president said of the prospect of him being sent to jail.
“I don’t know that the public would stand it, you know, I don’t. I’m not sure the public would stand for it with a I think I think it would be tough for the public to take, you know at a certain point, there’s a breaking point,” he said.
He also spoke about how the trial affected his family, including his wife, former First Lady Melania Trump.
“She’s fine, but I think it’s very hard for her. She has to read all this crap. I think it’s probably in many ways, it’s tougher on my family than it is on me,” Trump said.
WATCH:
Legal experts say Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case against Trump will have “reversible problems” if it is appealed following last week’s guilty verdict on all 34 counts.
The former president and presumptive 2024 GOP nominee was charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. Trump pleaded not guilty, but 12 jurors found him guilty on all counts.
Sentencing is scheduled for July 11, four days before the Republican National Convention. Each count carries a maximum prison sentence of four years. In total, Trump faces a maximum sentence of 136 years behind bars. But some legal experts say the trial is “a target-rich environment for appeal,” which Trump is expected to pursue.
“I believe that the case will be reversed eventually either in the state or federal systems,” Jonathan Turley, constitutional law attorney and Fox News contributor, told the network hours after Trump’s conviction.
“However, this was the worst expectation for a trial in Manhattan,” he said. “I had hoped that the jurors might redeem the integrity of a system that has been used for political purposes.”
“The trial is a target-rich environment for appeal. However, that appeal will stretch beyond the election. In the meantime, Democrats and President Biden can add ‘convicted felon’ to the political mantra,” he said.
John Malcolm, a former federal prosecutor, emphasized to Fox News Digital that he firmly believes the jury’s verdict clearly demonstrates their conviction based on the testimony of Trump’s ex-lawyer, Michael Cohen. Despite Trump’s defense labeling Cohen as a “GLOAT” or “greatest liar of all time,” the jury’s decision speaks volumes.
“The jury obviously ended up believing Michael Cohen, which is something I have a hard time conceiving since Michael Cohen has lied every time he has been under oath in the past and admitted that he hates Donald Trump, blaming him for all his problems, stole from him, and will profit from this conviction,” Malcolm said.
Fox News added: “Prosecutors needed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump falsified business records to conceal a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels, a former porn star, in the lead-up to the 2016 election – in an effort to silence her about an alleged affair with Trump in 2006. They were ultimately successful. Trump has denied the affair throughout the trial.”
Gregory Germain, a law professor at Syracuse University College of Law, observed that it was “a terribly risky strategy for Trump to focus on Michael Cohen’s credibility rather than focusing on the convoluted legal basis for the claims.”
“It’s not clear to me what they expected the jury to believe – that Michael Cohen paid $125,000 of his own money to Stormy Daniels without Trump’s knowledge and promise of reimbursement? They did not present an alternative theory that makes any sense, so of course they believed Cohen,” Germain told the outlet.
He went on to claim that “a much better argument” most likely would have been “that the records could not have been falsified to defraud the voters in the 2016 election because the records were falsified in 2017 after the election was over, and the records were not public or known by the public.”
“I don’t know how well the legal issues were preserved for appeal or why they didn’t focus on the legal issues. It may be that the judge wouldn’t let the defense make those points. But there are many issues for appeal,” he added.
