May 30th, 2024 was a historical day for the United States, as it marked the first time in history a former President was formally charged as a felon. Donald Trump was found guilty on all counts, but what exactly does this mean?
The 34 felony charges brought against the former president relate to falsifying business records to cover up Trump’s affair with adult film star Stormy Daniels. After deliberating for two days, the jury returned with a conclusive decision, ultimately finding him guilty.
The meaning of “on all counts”
Although it may seem self explanatory, the U.S. criminal justice system can be a little bit confusing. Donald Trump’s trial was to determine whether he had in fact had a part in falsifying business records relating to the hush money that was paid to Daniels. There were 34 different counts that related to this crime, and it was up to the prosecution to prove that he was indeed guilty of committing all of them.
As we all know by now, he was in fact found guilty of all 34. To be found guilty on all counts simply means that Trump was determined by the jury to have committed every felony that was brought against him during the trial. According to an article from NPR.org, the felonies include falsifying invoices for legal services, checks paid for legal services, and ledger entries for legal services made out to Michael Cohen, who then paid Stormy Daniels. To be convicted of a few would have been bad, but all of them is certainly a whole lot worse for the businessman.
Does this increase Donald Trump’s chances of serving prison time?
It’s not entirely clear right now; while he could serve up to four years in prison, it seems unlikely that will happen. Speaking to NBC News former prosecutor, Chuck Rosenburg stated: “I’d be very surprised if there’s any sentence of incarceration at all.” However, putting Trump behind bars isn’t off the table, we’ll just have to wait until Judge Juan Merchan comes back with a sentence.