Donald Trump, the first former US president to face a felony conviction, has petitioned the US Supreme Court to overturn his guilty conviction in a hush-money trial.
The 2024 putative Republican contender submitted his plea in a characteristically florid post on his Truth Social page, emphasizing that a sentencing hearing scheduled for July 11 is just four days before the GOP’s national convention in Milwaukee, where his nomination is expected to become official.
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“The ‘Sentencing’ for not having done anything wrong will be four days before the Republican National Convention, conveniently for the Fascists,” said Trump. “A Radical Left Soros-backed D.A. who ran on a platform of ‘I will get Trump,’ reporting to a ‘Acting’ Local Judge, appointed by the Democrats, who is HIGHLY CONFLICTED, will make a decision that will determine the future of our nation.”
Last Thursday, a Manhattan jury found the former president guilty on all 34 counts of fabricating records to conceal a sexual relationship with Stormy Daniels, an adult film actress, in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election, which Trump won over Hillary Clinton.
The verdict, which Trump has pledged to challenge, intensified the tension in this year’s presidential campaign over five months prior to election day, with Republicans shifting their stances and Democrats seeking ways to leverage it.
In a disturbing indication for Trump, a new ABC/Ipsos survey found that 50% of voters thought the verdict was correct, nearly double the number (27% thought it was incorrect). Nearly half of those polled, 49%, believed he should quit his candidacy, a decision he is unlikely to make.
The findings were even starker among “double”haters”—voters who loathe both Trump and President Joe Biden—with 65% supporting the verdict and two-thirds believing the former president should cease his campaign. Pollsters estimate that the group will be a key component of the swing voter demographic that will decide the outcome in November.
By asking the Supreme Court to intervene in a case he claims is purely political, Trump is repeating the legal strategy he used to defend himself against special counsel Jack Smith’s charges related to the January 6, 2021, mob attack on the US Capitol in an attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election result in his favor.
The case is presently on hold as the nine justices weigh Trump’s lawyers’ assertions that he had complete immunity from prosecution for actions taken while president.
However, Trump’s judicial appointments while in office have given the court a six-to-three conservative majority. His invocation of the court comes at a time when questions about its political impartiality are at an all-time high, following revelations that Justice Samuel Alito’s home witnessed an upside-down US flag during the January 6 riot. Many of the attackers adopted the same gesture to protest Biden’s victory.
In an interview with Fox, Trump expressed indifference to the possibility of receiving a jail sentence from Judge Juan Merchan at his July 11 hearing, saying “it could happen” and that he would be “OK” with a correctional term or home confinement.
Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney who prosecuted Trump’s case, has apparently yet to decide whether to seek a prison sentence or leave the choice to Merchan.
Legal commentators have pointed out that Trump’s conviction is for a low-level crime, and he has no past convictions; therefore, probation is a more plausible penalty.
However, the former president’s unrelenting verbal attacks on both individuals may have jeopardized his chances of remaining free.
Previous attacks on Bragg, a Democrat, included posting a photo of himself brandishing a baseball bat with a photo of the prosecutor’s skull.
The first Republican attack ad aimed at exploiting the verdict has been posted by GOP Senate candidate Tim Sheehy in his campaign against a Democratic incumbent, Jon Tester, in which he links his opponent for a Montana seat to a prosecution that the ad calls “a state-sponsored political persecution led by Joe Biden and the radical left.”
“They want to throw Trump in jail, attempting to deprive Americans of their election choices,” the 30-second message reads.
It also accuses Tester of inciting political violence against Trump, showing video of the senator saying, “I think you need to go back and punch him in the face.”
