Here’s what you should know about Donald Trump’s conviction in his hush money trial

Here’s what you should know about Donald Trump’s conviction in his hush money trial
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The verdict sheet in the hush money trial of former President Donald Trump is photographed. (AP Photo)
Here’s what you should know about Donald Trump’s conviction in his hush money trial
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The verdict sheet in the hush money trial of former President Donald Trump is photographed. (AP Photo)
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Updated 31 May 2024
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Here’s what you should know about Donald Trump’s conviction in his hush money trial

Here’s what you should know about Donald Trump’s conviction in his hush money trial
  • Judge Juan M. Merchan set sentencing for July 11, just days before Republicans are set to formally nominate him for president
  • After Trump is sentenced, he can challenge his conviction in an appellate division of the state’s trial court and possibly, the state’s highest court

NEW YORK: Donald Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts marks the end of the former president’s historic hush money trial but the fight over the case is far from over.
Now comes the sentencing and the prospect of a prison sentence. A lengthy appellate process. And all the while, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee still has to deal with three more criminal cases and a campaign that could see him return to the White House.
The Manhattan jury found Trump guilty of falsifying business records after more than nine hours of deliberations over two days in the case stemming from a hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels during his 2016 presidential campaign.
Trump angrily denounced the trial as a “disgrace,” telling reporters he’s an “innocent man.”
Some key takeaways from the jury’s decision:
Prison time?
The big question now is whether Trump could go to prison. The answer is uncertain. Judge Juan M. Merchan set sentencing for July 11, just days before Republicans are set to formally nominate him for president.
The charge of falsifying business records is a Class E felony in New York, the lowest tier of felony charges in the state. It is punishable by up to four years in prison, though the punishment would ultimately be up to the judge and there’s no guarantee he would give Trump time bars.
It’s unclear to what extent the judge may factor in the political and logistical complexities of jailing a former president who is running to reclaim the White House. Other punishments could include a fine or probation. And it’s possible the judge would allow Trump to avoid serving any punishment until after he exhausts his appeals.
The conviction doesn’t also bar Trump from continuing his campaign. Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump, who serves as co-chair of the Republican National Committee, said in a Fox News Channel interview on Thursday that if Trump is convicted and sentenced to home confinement, he would do virtual rallies and campaign events.
“We’ll have to play the hand that we’re dealt,” she said, according to an interview transcript.
Avenues for appeal

After Trump is sentenced, he can challenge his conviction in an appellate division of the state’s trial court and possibly, the state’s highest court. Trump’s lawyers have already been laying the groundwork for appeals with objections to the charges and rulings at trial.
The defense has accused the judge of bias, citing his daughter’s work heading a firm whose clients have included President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and other Democrats. The judge refused the defense’s request to remove himself from the case, saying he was certain of his “ability to be fair and impartial.”
Trump’s lawyers may also raise on appeal the judge’s ruling limiting the testimony of a potential defense expert witness. The defense wanted to call Bradley Smith, a Republican law professor who served on the Federal Election Commission, to rebut the prosecution’s contention that the hush money payments amounted to campaign-finance violations.
But the defense ended up not having him testify after the judge ruled he could give general background on the FEC but can’t interpret how federal campaign finance laws apply to the facts of Trump’s case or opine on whether Trump’s alleged actions violate those laws. There are often guardrails around expert testimony on legal matters, on the basis that it’s up to a judge — not an expert hired by one side or the other — to instruct jurors on applicable laws.
The defense may also argue that jurors were improperly allowed to hear sometimes graphic testimony from porn actor Stormy Daniels about her alleged sexual encounter with him in 2006. The defense unsuccessfully pushed for a mistrial over the tawdry details prosecutors elicited from Daniels. Defense lawyer Todd Blanche argued Daniels’ description of a power imbalance with the older, taller Trump, was a “dog whistle for rape,” irrelevant to the charges at hand, and “the kind of testimony that makes it impossible to come back from.”
A sparse defense
The former president’s lawyers called just two witnesses in a sparse defense case, including attorney and former federal prosecutor Robert Costello. The defense sought to use Costello to discredit prosecutors’ star witness, Michael Cohen, the Trump attorney-turned-adversary who directly implicated Trump in the hush money scheme. But the move may have backfired in devastating fashion because it opened the door for prosecutors to question Costello about a purported pressure campaign aimed at keeping Cohen loyal to Trump after the FBI raided Cohen’s property in April 2018.
While Costello buoyed the defense by testifying that Cohen denied to him that Trump knew anything about the $130,000 hush money payment to Daniels, Costello had few answers when prosecutor Susan Hoffinger confronted him with emails he sent to Cohen in which he repeatedly dangled his close ties to Trump-ally Rudy Giuliani. In one email, Costello told Cohen: “Sleep well tonight. you have friends in high places,” and relayed that there were “some very positive comments about you from the White House.”
Cohen largely kept his cool on the witness stand in the face of heated cross-examination by the defense, who tried to paint him as a liar with a vendetta against his former boss. The curt, pugnacious Costello, on the other hand, aggravated the judge — at times in view of the jury — but continuing to speak after objections and rolling his eyes. At one point, after sending the jury out of the room, the judge became enraged when he said Costello was staring him down. Merchan then briefly cleared the courtroom of reporters and scolded Costello, warning that if he acted out again, he’d be removed from the courtroom and his testimony would be stricken.
Laying the groundwork for a loss
While projecting confidence, Trump and his campaign also spent weeks trying to undermine the case ahead of a potential conviction. He repeatedly called the whole system “rigged” — a term he used to similarly used to falsely describe the election he lost to President Joe Biden in 2020.
“Mother Teresa could not beat these charge,” he said Wednesday, invoking the Catholic nun and saint as jury deliberations began.
Trump has lambasted the judge, insulted Bragg, and complained about members of the prosecution team. He has tried to paint the case as nothing more than a politically-motivated witch hunt.
Trump’s criticism also extended to choices seemingly made by his own legal team. He railed that “a lot of key witnesses were not called” by the prosecution — even though his side chose to call only two witnesses.
He has also complained about being restricted from speaking about aspects of the case by a gag order, but chose not to take the stand. Instead of testifying in the case — and subjecting himself to the inherent risks of perjury and cross examination, Trump has focused on the court of public opinion and the voters who will ultimately decide his fate.
What it means for the election
In a deeply divided America, it’s unclear whether Trump’s once-imaginable status as a person convicted of a felony will have any impact at all on the election.
Leading strategists in both parties believe that Trump still remains well-positioned to defeat Biden, even as he now faces the prospect of a prison sentence and three separate criminal cases still outstanding. In the short term, at least, there were immediate signs that the guilty verdict was helping to unify the Republican Party’s disparate factions as GOP officials across the political spectrum rallied behind their embattled presumptive presidential nominee and his campaign expected to benefit from a flood of fundraising dollars.
There has been some polling conducted on the prospect of a guilty verdict, although such hypothetical scenarios are notoriously difficult to predict. A recent ABC News/Ipsos poll found that only 4 percent of Trump’s supporters said they would withdraw their support if he’s convicted of a felony, though another 16 percent said they would reconsider it.


Cyprus is committed to expanding defense ties with the US, says president

US President Joe Biden shakes hands during a meeting with President of Cyprus Nikos Christodoulides, left.
US President Joe Biden shakes hands during a meeting with President of Cyprus Nikos Christodoulides, left.
Updated 03 November 2024
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Cyprus is committed to expanding defense ties with the US, says president

US President Joe Biden shakes hands during a meeting with President of Cyprus Nikos Christodoulides, left.
  • Centerpiece of security cooperation is the US-funded center for port and maritime security known by its acronym CYCLOPS
  • Officials from neighboring countries including Libya, Yemen, and Lebanon, receive key training ranging from cybersecurity to ship inspections

NICOSIA: The president of Cyprus said Sunday his administration is committed to expanding defense and security cooperation with the US, as his meeting with American President Joe Biden last week charted a course for the “next ambitious steps” in bilateral relations that are currently at a “historic high.”
President Nikos Christodoulides says his government’s “clear foreign policy orientation” has resulted in deepening the Cyprus-US strategic partnership over the first 18 months of his five-year term in fields including law enforcement cooperation on countering money laundering and sanctions evasion, as well as energy.
A centerpiece of that security cooperation is the US-funded center for port and maritime security known by its acronym CYCLOPS where officials from neighboring countries including Libya, Yemen and Lebanon, receive key training ranging from cybersecurity to ship inspections.
Christodoulides said his Oct. 30 visit to the White House “is proof and recognition of the geostrategic role of Cyprus and the country’s potential and capabilities.”
“Cyprus can be a reliable ‘port of stability’ and at the same time a country that has a vision to transform its immediate region, alongside its partners, into a region of promise, stability, cooperation and prosperity,” Christodoulides said in an email response to an Associated Press questionnaire.
The Cypriot president said his administration is “certainly considering” procuring US-made weapons following the 2020 lifting of a decades-long arms embargo. But what must precede such purchases is for the US Congress to lift its embargo for an extended period. Currently, that is renewed annually.
Christodoulides said Cyprus’ geostrategic role is highlighted by the fact that since Sept. 27, some 3,635 third-country nationals from 29 countries have been repatriated through the island nation following their evacuation from Lebanon. He said several countries consider Cyprus an “assisted departure hub and a Temporary Safe Location (TSL)” where the island’s ports, airports and designated temporary accommodations are used for civilian or military-led departures. He did not specify those countries.
He said Cyprus is ready to respond if and when a mass evacuation from Lebanon is set in motion.
Another key initiative for which Cyprus has gained international plaudits and was singled out by Biden is the so-called Amalthea plan that saw the establishment of the Cyprus-Gaza maritime corridor through which some 20,000 metric tons of aid flowed into the Palestinian territory earlier this year.
Most of that aid reached Gaza through a US-built, $230 million temporary pier project that lasted about four months after being beset by turbulent weather, security threats and sweeping personnel restrictions.
Christodoulides said work is underway in cooperation with the US, the UK, the United Arab Emirates, and the European Union, to re-activate the maritime route to Gaza through the Israeli port of Ashdod. Collected aid will be security-screened in Cyprus and shipped to Ashdod “for swift onward delivery to Gaza.”
“We maintain excellent, longstanding relations with our neighboring countries, underpinned by trust, and we have consistently acted as the region’s voice in the European Union, and as a reliable interlocutor and partner with all the states of the region,” Christodoulides said.
On his decision to invite FBI and US Department of Justice officials to help Cypriot law enforcement to halt Russian sanctions evasion through Cypriot lawyers and accountants, Christodoulides said, “we are strongly determined to clear our country’s name internationally and prove that Cyprus is a state fully aligned with the principles and values of the West.”
He said “several cases” of possible sanctions evasion are under investigation” and the aim is to bring them to justice as quickly as possible.”
Regarding energy cooperation, Christodoulides said the fact that both US energy giants ExxonMobil and Chevron are active in the search for hydrocarbons in Cyprus’ offshore economic zone is “a vote of confidence” in the island nation.
He said next year will be a “milestone” for both energy companies. ExxonMobil and partner QatarEnergy, which discovered a sizeable natural gas deposit in one of two areas, or blocks, they hold exploration licenses for, are scheduled to drill two additional wells in January of next year.
Chevron is expected to complete fine-tuning a revised development plan for its Aphrodite gas field, estimated to hold around 4.2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
“As the first gas from the Aphrodite is directed to the market, this automatically makes Cyprus a gas seller, which is extremely important not only in monetary terms but also for geopolitical reasons,” said Christodoulides.


With community meals, Indian village keeps loneliness away from its elderly

With community meals, Indian village keeps loneliness away from its elderly
Updated 03 November 2024
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With community meals, Indian village keeps loneliness away from its elderly

With community meals, Indian village keeps loneliness away from its elderly
  • Chandanki village’s community kitchen initiative was launched about 15 years ago
  • The initiative was a ‘lifeline’ that kept elderly connected with village, senior resident says

NEW DELHI: In Chandanki, a village tucked away in India’s Gujarat state, lunches and dinners are often a communal affair for its elderly population.

Every day, some 40 people gather in the community kitchen to share their meals, benefiting from an initiative that was designed to serve an aging group.

“It all started some 15 years ago,” Poonam Chunnilal Patel, the head of Chandanki village, told Arab News.

“Most people are old here. I am 60 years old, other people are 80, 90 and 95 years old,” he said.

“They were having problems arranging their lunches and dinners, so the villagers decided to do something about that. The kids who settled abroad or outside of the village decided to pitch in and open a community kitchen for these elderly people.”

Officially, Chandanki is a village of about 1,000 people, but most of the younger population reside in other parts of India or abroad, leaving behind their senior parents.

With two cooks on duty, the kitchen makes preparations for around 40 people every day and makes extra for the children who visit from time to time. They serve mainly Gujarati food, such as the Gujarati Thali, an assortment of dishes comprising rice, bread, fried snacks and vegetables.

“We take care of the cooks and we provide houses to them and give them good salaries,” Patel said.

The community kitchen has since served as a space to connect with others for many of the village’s elderly, like 86-year-old Raddilal Somnam Patel.

“The community kitchen is a lifeline for us. For people like us, it not only provides food but also keeps us connected with the people in the village,” Patel told Arab News.

Patel joined the community kitchen nearly a decade ago, not long after the death of his wife and only family. Since then, he has also been celebrating festivals and holidays with the rest of the village.

“It all started close to 15 years ago, and I really appreciate that this idea stuck with the people that time,” he said.

“By dining together, we remain connected, and the sense of loneliness does not impact us.”


London event to highlight religious tourism opportunities ‘beyond Umrah’

The holy Kaaba can be seen at the Grand Mosque in Makkah. (@AlharamainSA)
The holy Kaaba can be seen at the Grand Mosque in Makkah. (@AlharamainSA)
Updated 03 November 2024
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London event to highlight religious tourism opportunities ‘beyond Umrah’

The holy Kaaba can be seen at the Grand Mosque in Makkah. (@AlharamainSA)
  • Discussions to focus on significant religious sites for pilgrims to visit

LONDON: Religious tourism opportunities in Saudi Arabia for Hajj and Umrah pilgrims will be discussed at a London event for travel professionals and industry leaders on Monday.

The Umrah+ Connect business-to-business event will highlight significant religious sites that pilgrims can visit, and activities that promote understanding of the Kingdom’s cultural heritage.

Organized in association with Saudi Arabia’s Pilgrim Experience Program, the Visit Saudi platform, and the Umrah & Ziyarah Forum, the event aims to meet the expanding demand for religious tourism among British Muslims.

Rashid Mohammed, the organizer of Umrah+ Connect, said Monday’s event would focus on “inspiring a more immersive experience for pilgrims through a ‘beyond Umrah’ theme.”

Mohammed told Arab News: “Umrah+ Connect is more than an event: It’s a transformative opportunity for travel professionals to deepen their knowledge, connect with key partners, and discover innovative ways to serve pilgrims.

“We’re excited to bring the global Umrah community together in London to spark collaborations that enhance both the journey and experience for travelers worldwide.

“We aim to showcase the diverse religious tourism opportunities available, enriching each pilgrim’s journey and adding new dimensions to their visit.”

The annual event, which is in its fourth year, will feature presentations by industry leaders, workshops on religious tourism, and networking sessions with global industry professionals.

It is sponsored by Taiba Investments, Makkah Hotel & Towers, Al-Balad Hospitality by Al-Balad Development Company, Hajj and Umrah tour operator Mawasim, which is part of Almosafer, and ABT Hospitality. Aroya Cruises is an event partner. 


US congresswoman Rashida Tlaib declines to endorse Kamala Harris over Gaza stance

US congresswoman Rashida Tlaib declines to endorse Kamala Harris over Gaza stance
Updated 03 November 2024
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US congresswoman Rashida Tlaib declines to endorse Kamala Harris over Gaza stance

US congresswoman Rashida Tlaib declines to endorse Kamala Harris over Gaza stance
  • Tlaib’s non-endorsement on Friday marked notable departure in her progressive circle, known as the “Squad.”

LONDON: Rashida Tlaib, the first Palestinian American woman in the US Congress, chose not to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris at a recent United Auto Workers rally in Detroit.

The conflict in Gaza has become a major issue for the large Arab American voter base in Michigan, and Tlaib’s non-endorsement on Friday marked a notable departure in her progressive circle, known as the “Squad.”

The other members — Ayanna Pressley, Ilhan Omar and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — endorsed Harris in July, making Tlaib the sole holdout.

Addressing the rally, Tlaib encouraged those attending to mobilize against corporate interests.

“Don’t underestimate the power you all have,” she said. “More than those ads, those lawn signs, those billboards, you all have more power to turn out people that understand we’ve got to fight back against corporate greed in our country.”

Democrats are concerned about a potential replay of the 2016 election, in which third-party votes in Michigan and Wisconsin contributed to Hillary Clinton’s narrow loss.

Tlaib has expressed frustration with her party’s stance on the Gaza conflict. During a recent interview with Zeteo, Tlaib criticized the Democratic Party’s silence on Palestinian issues, saying: “Our trauma and pain feel unseen and ignored by both parties. One party uses our identity as a slur, and the other refuses to hear from us. Where is the shared humanity? Ignoring us won’t stop the genocide.”

Harris, meanwhile, has faced protests from activists calling for an arms embargo on Israel.

While expressing support for a ceasefire and an end to hostilities, Harris has stated that Israel “has a right to defend itself,” although she also underlined Palestinians’ right to “dignity, security.”

In her remarks at a recent Dearborn rally, Tlaib denounced Republican nominee Donald Trump and criticized the Biden administration’s policies.

“Trump is a proud Islamophobe + serial liar who doesn’t stand for peace,” she posted on X. “The reality is that the Biden admin’s unconditional support for genocide is what got us here.”

The stance of Michigan’s large Arab American population and Tlaib’s comments underscore the complexities the Democratic Party faces with its base as the 2024 election approaches.


Fading literature: Delhi’s famed Urdu Bazaar on last legs

Fading literature: Delhi’s famed Urdu Bazaar on last legs
Updated 03 November 2024
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Fading literature: Delhi’s famed Urdu Bazaar on last legs

Fading literature: Delhi’s famed Urdu Bazaar on last legs
  • Urdu, spoken by many millions, has rich past that reflects how cultures melded to forge India’s complex history
  • But its literature has been subsumed by the cultural domination of Hindi, struggling against false perceptions

New Delhi: In the bustling heart of Old Delhi, Indian bookseller Mohammed Mahfooz Alam sits forlorn in his quiet store, among the last few selling literature in a language beloved by poets for centuries.
Urdu, spoken by many millions today, has a rich past that reflects how cultures melded to forge India’s complex history.
But its literature has been subsumed by the cultural domination of Hindi, struggling against false perceptions that its elegant Perso-Arabic script makes it a foreign import and a language of Muslims in the Hindu-majority nation.
“There was a time when, in a year, we would see 100 books being published,” said 52-year-old Alam, lamenting the loss of the language and its readership.
The narrow streets of Urdu Bazaar, in the shadow of the 400-year-old Jama Masjid mosque, were once the core of the city’s Urdu literary community, a center of printing, publishing and writing.
Today, streets once crowded with Urdu bookstores abuzz with scholars debating literature are now thick with the aroma of sizzling kebabs from the restaurants that have replaced them.
Only half a dozen bookstores are left.
“Now, there are no takers,” Alam said, waving at the streets outside. “It is now a food market.”
Urdu, one of the 22 languages enshrined under India’s constitution, is the mother tongue of at least 50 million people in the world’s most populous country. Millions more speak it, as well as in neighboring Pakistan.
But while Urdu is largely understood by speakers of India’s most popular language Hindi, their scripts are entirely different.
Alam says he can see Urdu literature dying “day by day.”
The Maktaba Jamia bookshop he manages opened a century ago. Alam took over its running this year driven by his love for the language.
“I have been sitting since morning, and barely four people have come,” he said gloomily. “And even those were college or school-going children who want their study books.”
Urdu, sharing Hindi’s roots and mingled with words from Persian and Arabic, emerged as a hybrid speech between those who came to India through trade and conquest — and the people they settled down among.
But Urdu has faced challenges in being viewed as connected to Islamic culture, a popular perception that has grown since the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of Prime Minister Narendra Modi took power in 2014.
Hard-right Hindu nationalists seeking to diminish Islam’s place in India’s history have opposed its use: in the past decade, protests have ranged from the use of Urdu in clothing advertisements to even graffiti.
“Urdu has been associated with Muslims, and that has hit the language too,” said Alam.
“But it is not true. Everyone speaks Urdu. You go to villages, people speak Urdu. It is a very sweet language. There is peace in it.”
For centuries, Urdu was a key language of governance.
Sellers first set up stores in the Urdu Bazaar in the 1920s, selling stacks of books from literature to religion, politics and history — as well as texts in Arabic and Persian.
By the 1980s, more lucrative fast-food restaurants slowly moved in, but the trade dropped dramatically in the past decade, with more than a dozen bookshops shutting down.
“With the advent of the Internet, everything became easily available on the mobile phone,” said Sikander Mirza Changezi, who co-founded a library to promote Urdu in Old Delhi in 1993.
“People started thinking buying books is useless, and this hit the income of booksellers and publishers, and they switched to other businesses.”
The Hazrat Shah Waliullah Public Library, which Changezi helped create, houses thousands of books including rare manuscripts and dictionaries.
It is aimed at promoting the Urdu language.
Student Adeeba Tanveer, 27, who has a masters degree in Urdu, said the library provided a space for those wanting to learn.
“The love for Urdu is slowly coming back,” Tanveer told AFP, adding that her non-Muslim friends were also keen to learn.
“It is such a beautiful language,” she said. “You feel the beauty when you speak it.”