Moscow: After the cluttered political drama that followed the conviction of former US President Donald Trump in the “money silence” case, Russia reacted sharply to the situation, claiming that the United States is using all illegal and illegal means “to get rid of political rivals” . This came after Trump on Thursday became the first US president to be convicted of a crime when a Novel York court found him guilty of falsifying business records to conceal secret payments to an adult film actor ahead of the 2016 election.
“If we are talking about Trump, the fact that we are simply dealing with the elimination of political rivals by all possible means, legal and illegal, is obvious,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at a press conference on Friday after the landmark decision. Tensions between the U.S. and Russia have worsened significantly over the past two years following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Trump was found guilty of all 34 felonies for falsifying business records in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 presidential election and paying hidden payments to porn star Stormy Daniels. The verdict will be handed down at a hearing scheduled for July 11, which is unlikely to prevent him from running for president. US President Joe Biden’s campaign said the verdict would do little to change the dynamics of the November election.
International reaction to Trump’s conviction
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called it an “unprecedented situation” but said he respected the Court’s process and there was still work to be done. Nigel Farage, a prominent British leader who campaigned with Trump, called the verdict “a disgrace” and said Trump would “now win a great victory.”
Republicans support Trump
As Trump denounced the trial as “rigged” and said the case is far from over, Republicans are increasingly rallying behind Trump, denouncing the former president’s “political persecution” and asserting that the verdict will improve his chances of securing the White House a second time . They also repeated allegations that Democrats are using the criminal justice system to crush political opponents.
Republican donors have given millions of dollars to Trump’s campaign after his conviction, increasing their support as he returns to the campaign as a convicted felon. Like his supporters, many conservative donors already saw the Novel York “silence money” scandal as political persecution. Megadonors including casino billionaire Miriam Adelson and hotelier Robert Bigelow lined up behind Trump, their contributions aimed at boosting a wave of pro-Trump advertising, door-knocking and phone banking in battleground states.
After a 12-person jury on Thursday returned a verdict finding Trump guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records he faced, Judge Juan Merchan set the former US president’s sentencing for July 11. Jail time for people convicted in Novel York State is scarce. a felony count of falsifying business records, a charge that Trump, a businessman-turned-politician, faced during his six-week trial.
The case is widely seen as less significant than the other three criminal cases Trump faces in connection with efforts to patch up his 2020 election loss to Democratic President Joe Biden and his withholding of sensitive government documents after he leaves the White House in 2021 .Trump has declared not guilty in the remaining three cases, which are unlikely to reach a jury before his rematch with Biden in the November 5 election.
(with Reuters data)
