Fraud, hush money, insurrection, mishandling classified documents; these are just a few of the controversial acts committed by ex-president Donald Trump. But with all the bad things he’s done, have any of these led to an actual conviction?
The majority of Donald Trump’s presidency was marred with controversy, although the end of his time in office was when we really saw all the drama start kicking off. Honestly, he was incredibly lucky not to face any consequences on January 6th for his part in the riots. But that was a long time ago, and yes, he got away with a lot of things whilst he was leading the country — but he hasn’t been the president for over three years. Surely, you’d think his luck must have run out by now?
Has Donald Trump been convicted for anything?
Surprisingly the business mogul has yet to face consequences for anything he did whilst in office; as of right now he is not a convicted felon. However, that could change very soon. You see, Trump is currently on trial for paying Stormy Daniels, an adult film star, $130,000 in hush money in order for her to keep quiet about their affair in the run-up to the 2016 election. Technically paying someone to keep quite isn’t a crime, but Trump is instead facing charges of fraud for falsifying records and claiming the payments were for legal fees.
Overall, there is quite the case against Trump with 34 counts of fraud being brought against him in total, he has pleaded “not guilty” to all of them. In February he was ordered to pay a $464 million bond for inflating his net worth and value of his assets for years in order to receive favorable loans. If he failed to pay then his assets would be seized, and whilst it did look like he was not going to be able to pay, the bond has now been reduced to $175 million, according to CNBC.
His appearance in court today will decide whether he goes on criminal trial for fraud or not, although this is just one of four potential criminal trials he could be facing in the near future. Right now he’s in court trying to delay the criminal trial for fraud, but he’s also been indicted for mishandling classified documents, interfering with the election in Georgia, as well as his interfering with the election, which led to the Jan 6th riots. Right now, his fraud case looks to be most likely to get a conviction, with the Jan 6th trial being postponed indefinitely, and the other two set to begin later this year.
So whilst he isn’t an official felon at the moment, it’s very possible that at least one of these trials could result in Trump actually being convicted. It’s more likely that he will receive a fine rather than any prison time though. Oh, and it’s still possible for him to run for president, even with a conviction.