By Ishaya Ibrahim
World richest man Elon Musk has frowned at the New York jury that convicted ex-U.S. President Donald Trump of all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
Elon Musk, the owner of social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, faulted the U.S. court while reacting to a post on his platform that Pooh poohed the conviction.
The post from @Geiger_Capital reads: “The first felony conviction of a former US President wasn’t for the Iraq or Afghanistan wars, illegal CIA coups, drone striking weddings, or spying on Americans… It was because Trump misclassified a $130,000 payment for a porn star’s NDA (Non Disclosure Agreement). Tells you everything you need to know.
Elon Musk, reacting via his handle @elonmusk said: “Indeed, great damage was done today (yesterday) to the public’s faith in the American legal system. If a former President can be criminally convicted over such a trivial matter – motivated by politics, rather than justice – then anyone is at risk of a similar fate.”
Trump will be sentenced on July 11, four days before the Republican National Convention.
He faces penalties ranging from a fine to four years in prison on each count, although it’s expected he would be sentenced for the offenses concurrently, and not consecutively.
Shortly after the sentencing, Donald Trump posted on his Truth Social platform: “VICTORY ON NOVEMBER 5TH. SAVE AMERICA!!!”
He earlier told reporters after the ruling. “This was a disgrace. This was a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who was corrupt.”
The verdict was read in the Manhattan courtroom where Trump has been on trial since April 15. He had pleaded not guilty to all 34 counts of falsifying business records related to a hush money payment made by his former lawyer Michael Cohen to adult film star Stormy Daniels in the final weeks of the 2016 presidential election.