Outside the City of Phoenix government offices last May, people scattered to catch the verdict on their phones.
As the “guilty, guilty, guilty,” words were uttered through various live news sources, clusters of people were overwhelmingly pleased and some outwardly celebratory with the verdict’s final calculation of “guilty on all 34 counts.”
Closing out the Memorial Day weekend break was the news of the never before verdict of a former U.S. president.
Donald J. Trump had become a felon— found guilty by a jury of his peers.
The mere definition of a “jury of one’s peers” or, American jurors that are to include a broad spectrum of the population, particularly of race, national origin and gender was enough to send a strong message.
But what is the message now— a month away from the Nov. 5 election that will decide if America will elect a felon?
One woman who asked not to be identified told Northeast Valley News, “I only pray that I can finally see that man behind bars.”
Whether or not that will happen remains to be seen.
But the jurors who deliberated on that day, did so for 12 hours and found Trump guilty on a total of 34 counts of lying and falsifying business records and were unanimous in their decision— all but eliminating the possibility of a hung jury.
Trump will go down in history as the first former president to be convicted of a felony and the verdict as well as the very public hush money trial dominated the headlines in the U.S. and across the globe.
That was then—now, no one can predict, most have stopped trying.
“Donald Trump doesn’t care if he commits criminal acts, he gets away with it, all he cares about are the MAGA flies that gather on him wherever he goes,” said Phoenix resident Dan Holt an insurance broker and registered Republican who says he will not be voting for Trump.
During the trial, evidence was presented that Trump’s ex “fixer” Michael Cohen made the hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election in order to keep secret her alleged affair with Trump a decade prior and until the votes were cast—his testimony was key in the trial.
Trump consistently denied the affair but the jury—based on the evidenced presented—saw differently.
After the verdict came down, Trump pledged to “keep fighting,” and claimed that the trial was “rigged.”
“He’s (Trump) just an embarrassment to our country, he will keep up the lies and conspiracy theories, but he’s an embarrassment…pathetic,” said Ansley Michaels of Los Angeles who was in Phoenix for a business trip. “I wonder how he can still run for office, most felons can’t even get normal jobs, so how can he be president, right?”
Republicans wasted little time blasting the verdict after a jury found Trump guilty on all 34 counts. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) who is looking to succeed Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) called on Republicans to support Trump.
Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), reportedly accused the Biden administration of “weaponizing” the judicial system against the presumptive GOP presidential nominee.
Trump’s sentencing after his guilty verdict has been scheduled for after the election. Which for many Arizonans is “absurd” and has set up another historic scenario. What happens if Trump is elected and then sentenced to prison?
Donald J. Trump is the Republican nominee for president, but last spring he also became a felon—a fact that Americans may or may not take into consideration on their Nov. 5 ballots.
