Trump found guilty in the ‘Hush Money’ Trial: How Does it affect his 2024 election run?

The first criminal trial of a former US president has come to an end, with a jury finding Donald Trump guilty on all 34 charges. After weeks of hearing, the jury began deliberations in the case ‘hush money’ earlier this week to decide whether the former president falsified business records and committed campaign finance violations.

How will Trump voters respond?

It is hard to tell how this will impact his re-election bid. For those who support Donald Trump and plan to vote for him, this will do very little to convince them to vote for another candidate. Some may believe that the trial is a way to silence their favorite candidate, while others on the Trump train may believe that the charges do not merit changing their votes.

Largely, polling shows that most voters have already made up their minds about Donald Trump, meaning that though this is a historic moment for the country, there are not likely to be many electoral consequences for either major party.

At a party level, Trump seems to have much of the GOP behind him, and there is very little evidence to show that some members of the party will use this to discredit their 2024 candidate and attempt to replace him with someone else. Those who challenged Trump in the Republican primaries found out how solid his support is within the GOP base, and turning on those voters could hurt the party greatly in November.

Could Donald Trump go to prison?

Though the jury has found Mr. Trump guilty, the sentencing hearing, during which the punishment will be announced, will not occur for a few weeks. And before thinking that this could land Mr. Trump behind bars, keep in mind that he will likely appeal the ruling.

Falsifying business records in the first degree is considered a class E felony in the United States. According to the law, each count carries a maximum prison sentence of four years, a fine of up to $100,000, or both, in addition to prosecution costs.“Any person who wilfully attempts in any manner to evade or defeat any tax imposed by this title or the payment thereof shall, in addition to other penalties provided by law, be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $100,000 ($500,000 in the case of a corporation), or imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both, together with the costs of prosecution,” states Internal Revenue Code § 7201.

If Trump is found guilty, he could face up to four years in prison, although he might avoid jail time and be required to pay a fine, if he loses the appeals that he plans to file.

The facts of the case

The charges were the result of an alleged payment of $130,000, made by Trump’s then-lawyer, Michael Cohen, to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to cover up a love affair of more than a decade ago between Daniels and Trump and thus avoid damaging the Republican’s former presidential campaign.

In this case, the Republican leader was charged in March 2023 and arrested just a month later. However, the former president declared himself innocent of the charges, triggering a criminal trial to prove his innocence.