Will Donald Trump go to prison? Could he pardon himself? What about the election? The first criminal conviction of a former American president raises a host of legal and political questions. Trump was convicted by a Manhattan jury Thursday of 34 felony counts related to a scheme during his 2016 presidential campaign to pay off a porn actor who said the two had sex.
It's not clear. That will be up to the judge, who Trump has repeatedly accused of being biased against him. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who brought the case, refused to say Thursday whether prosecutors will seek prison time. Each count of falsifying business records is punishable by up to four years behind bars, but it's possible that Trump will get only fines or probation.
No. It's a state conviction, so Trump would not be able to pardon himself if he were to become president again. Presidential pardons apply only to federal crimes. And it's a legally untested question as to whether Trump would even have the power to pardon himself if he's convicted in the federal cases. No president has attempted to do so while in office because no president before Trump had ever been charged or convicted.
Trump said Thursday that “the real verdict is going to be Nov. 5 by the people,” referring to Election Day. It's unclear to what extent his guilty verdict will impact his bid to unseat Biden. The election is expected to be incredibly tight, and it’s not clear how voters who are on the fence — especially independents and other key voting blocs — will feel when they go to the polls.
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