New York state justice Juan Merchan issued a ruling a couple of weeks back that Trump cannot claim presidential immunity to overturn a jury’s guilty verdict on 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal a $130,000 hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels. Trump and his legal team say the verdict should be dismissed after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a separate case that presidents have immunity for official acts they undertake while in office.
A New York City jury, on May 30, 2024, had found Donald Trump guilty on several counts of falsifying business records to conceal hush money payments ahead of the 2016 election, that is before Trump was elected president the first time. Presidential immunity for “official” bribery acts by a non-president?
The historic decision represents the first time a panel of jurors determined the guilt of a former president on criminal charges. Trump maintained his innocence throughout the six-week trial that saw a former fixer, adult film star, and ex-tabloid publisher take the stand to testify about catch-and-kill schemes linked to salacious stories and six-figure payments made in secret. Trump’s sentencing on the guilty verdicts was originally set for July 2024 but now has been delayed pending further appeals and the “immunity” decision. But that hasn’t stopped Trump from issuing personal attacks against Judge Merchan and threatening “trouble for an incompetent, imbecile judge” after Trump resumes office on Jan. 20. Does that mean Trump will take revenge on the judge?
Trump has already begun what many are calling his “revenge tour.” Trump promised retribution against his political enemies throughout the 2024 campaign cycle. The threat of that retribution has already begun against Judge Merchan and many more. On Wednesday, Dec. 18, Trump posted on his social media account, “Truth Social,” that one of his most vocal Republican critics, former GOP congresswoman Liz Cheney, could be in a lot of trouble because “numerous federal laws were likely broken by Liz Cheney, and these violations should be investigated by the FBI.” The president-elect recently escalated his attacks on another favorite target, the media, by filing a lawsuit against the Des Moines Register and its longtime pollster, accusing them of “election interference” for publishing a poll three days before the election that showed Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris winning Iowa. Hmm, I guess he doesn’t think the 1st Amendment applies for Freedom of the Press that he doesn’t like (and that didn’t cost him the election, anyway.)
Trump has gone back and forth between suggesting his retribution will be “through success” and saying he “could or should investigate, prosecute or jail a wide range of people.” Trump’s recent remarks have made critics think the latter is a likelier strategy, especially since he has announced his plans to nominate Kash Patel to serve as director of the FBI. Patel has promised to make “conspirators” in government face consequences, even going so far as to assemble a 60-person list of “Members of the Executive Branch Deep State.”
Legal experts say it’s unlikely the Trump administration could successfully prosecute critics, but that successful prosecution isn’t really the point: having to spend time and money to fight legal cases is its own form of punishment. Trump’s goal here is simple: it is to create a climate of intimidation so that potential opponents will bow down and bend their knees in worship of him.
Jeanné Schulte Matthews is a resident of Oak Park.
