Does this legal episode serve Donald Trump? “It gives him media coverage, it’s a godsend for him, it’s millions and billions of dollars not to spend on advertising,” adds the former diplomat. Furthermore, according to Gerald Loftus, justice will not stop the return of Donald Trump because it is slow: “the justice process is very slow, we do not know how far it can go for the other trials”. The former president must also be tried in three other cases.
Regarding the document falsification trial related to his affair with Stormy Daniels: “It was right before the 2016 election and following other revelations about Trump where he was accused of sexual touching… It would have been something that could have changed the results of the 2016 elections,” adds Gerald Loftus. Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer who became his worst enemy, declared that these embezzlements were current when his client was president of the United States.
Majority of first group of jurors in Trump trial say they are incapable of judging him
Is the looming presidential election between Biden and Trump more undecided than ever? “It’s unique! There has never been an American election where there was a candidate convicted in court. ‘Will it be difficult?’ It’s difficult to say since Trump himself said in 2016, ‘I could kill someone in the street in New York and people would vote for me,'” adds Gerald Lotfus before continuing, “we saw it in 2020, he had even more voters than in 2016 despite his defeat. Its base does not weaken.”
On November 5, Americans will return to the polls to elect their new president. Has this presidential election become a vote for or against American democracy? “Yes, President Biden said that from the start of his campaign. We know that there has already been a serious attempt to hijack democracy, as with the assault on the Capitol… But we must also think about everything that is happening at the state level where attempts to suppress the right to voting by several means have already taken place… Including the elimination of polling stations in African-American minority neighborhoods which normally vote Democratic.”
If Trump were re-elected as president of the United States, would the country still be a democracy? “There are a lot of Republicans who are leaving the party and who are worried about American democracy. There are people who reinforce the image of Trump in his antidemocratic side,” adds Gerald Loftus.
