The Republican Party will nominate Trump for the elections “blindly”
Photo: REUTERS.
New York District Court Judge Juan Merchán has postponed Donald Trump’s sentencing in the case of illegal payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels for keeping quiet about their relationship until September 18. According to Bloomberg, the decision was initially expected to be made at a meeting on July 11.
Merchán set a new date for the trial after the former US president’s lawyers, who are seeking to overturn the jury’s verdict, asked for a postponement. On May 30, a New York jury found Trump guilty of 34 charges and he faces a maximum sentence of 136 years in prison.
The 78-year-old Donald’s astute lawyers asked for the charges to be dismissed after the US Supreme Court ruled two days ago that “presidents are immune from prosecution in some cases.” In addition, the court returned to the lower court the case against Trump for trying to seize power after losing the 2020 election. For storming the Capitol in January 2021, the politician faces life in prison.
Now the former White House chief also insists that the US Supreme Court’s decision also applies to “certain evidence and testimony” in the business records falsification case. And a dissenting judge, Merchán, delayed the ruling by two months to “allow more time to consider how this ruling may affect the future course of the trial.”
Pavel Sharikov, a senior researcher at the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences, notes that if the New York court pronounces a verdict against Trump, this will happen seven weeks before the US presidential election, which will be held on November 5. In addition, the Republican Party will officially announce the name of its candidate for the US presidency on July 15-18 at a convention in Milwaukee.
To become the Republican candidate, it is necessary to obtain the support of more than half of the party’s delegates (1,215 seats). Thus, a thousand voters will vote “blindly” at the summer congress, without having in their hands the final verdict on the former leader of the country. In the history of American elections, such a decision will be one of the most responsible and at the same time adventurous, since after Trump is approved as a candidate, the law does not provide for the possibility of replacing him.
The US Constitution allows convicted persons to run for president. So if something happens, Trump will be able to invite voters to vote for him, even while in prison. However, this will ultimately turn the US election into a surreal event.
