It’s Friday, May 31st, A.D. 2024. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard at www.TheWorldview.com. I’m Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com)
By Adam McManus
Trump found guilty in hush money trial
On Thursday, a Manhattan jury took fewer than 12 hours to return a guilty verdict in former President Donald Trump’s New York criminal trial. The jurors found him guilty of 34 counts of falsification of business records with the intent to conceal another crime, reports The Epoch Times.
The former president’s conviction makes him the first U.S. president to be convicted of a crime. Short of a successful appeal, he could now be facing such penalties as jail time, probation, or fines.
Ultimately, his sentence will be up to the presiding judge, Justice Juan Merchan. The judge has set the sentencing hearing for July 11 at 10:00 a.m.
The six-week trial revolved around $130,000 in payments that Trump’s former attorney, Michael Cohen, paid disreputable film actress Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg claimed that Cohen made the payments on Trump’s behalf to buy Clifford’s silence over an alleged affair that the former president denies took place. The district attorney further charged that Trump mislabeled his reimbursements to Cohen to conceal another crime, constituting felony-level falsification of business records.
Bragg spoke to the press after the guilty verdict.
BRAGG: “Their deliberations led them to make a decision based on the evidence and the law and the evidence and the law alone. Their deliberations led them to a unanimous conclusion, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the defendant, Donald J. Trump, is guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records, in the first degree, to conceal a scheme to corrupt the 2016 election.”
As for what the underlying crime was, the prosecution was vague, identifying tax fraud, violations of federal election law, or the falsification of additional business records as possibilities.
Notably, to return a guilty verdict, Judge Merchan explained that the jury was not required to agree on what the underlying crime was—just that there was one.
In Job 42:2, Job made this statement to God: “I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted.”
Trump: “This was a rigged decision right from day one.”
After the guilty verdict, Trump made a statement.
TRUMP: “This was a disgrace. This was a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who was corrupt. They wouldn’t give us a venue change. We were at 5% or 6% in this district, in this area. The real verdict is going to be November 5 by the people. And they know what happened here. And everybody knows what happened here. We have a Soros-backed D.A. I’m a very innocent man, and fighting for our country and fighting for our Constitution.
“Our whole country is being rigged right now. This was done by the Biden administration in order to wound or hurt an opponent, a political opponent. We will keep fighting or we’ll fight till the end and will win.
“We don’t have the same country anymore. We have a divided mess. We’re a nation to decline, serious decline. Millions and millions of people pouring into our country right now from prisons and from mental institutions, terrorists, and they’re taking over our country. We have a country that’s in big trouble. This was a rigged decision right from day one with a conflicted judge who should have never been allowed to try this case. Never. This is long from over. Thank you very much.”
Biden Campaign: “No one is above the law.”
Michael Tyler, the communications director for President Joe Biden’s campaign, said, “In New York today, we saw that no one is above the law. Donald Trump has always mistakenly believed he would never face consequences for breaking the law for his own personal gain.
“Convicted felon or not, Trump will be the Republican nominee for president. He is running an increasingly unhinged campaign of revenge and retribution. … A second Trump term means chaos, ripping away Americans’ freedoms, and fomenting political violence – and the American people will reject it this November.”
Laura Ingraham: “This will be the new normal.”
Fox News host Laura Ingraham, host of “The Ingraham Angle,” sounded off on the Trump guilty verdict.
INGRAHAM: “Think about this. Donald Trump gave up fame, fortune, and a very comfortable life to try to save America from the forces that are trying to tear it down right now. And if they can do this to someone like Donald Trump with his means, it will be very difficult to ever turn this around. So, are we going to establish a precedent where the President can put his political opponent in jail? Because if they can do this now, this will, I promise you, this will be the new normal.”
Firefighter sues over being ordered to raise homosexual pride flag
And finally, in March 2023, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution requiring that all county-operated facilities fly the homosexual/transgender Progress Pride Flag for the month of June, reports LifeSiteNews.com.
In June 2023, Captain Jeffrey Little requested a religious accommodation that would exempt him from personally participating in the required raising of the Progress Pride Flag.
On June 19, 2023, the Los Angeles County Fire Department initially granted Little’s request and promised him that he would neither have to raise the Progress Pride Flag himself nor personally ensure that the flag was raised at his station.
However, Little’s religious accommodation was rescinded two days later on June 21, 2023. Then, the following day, June 22, 2023, Division Chief Fernando Boiteux issued a direct order to Little to raise the Progress Pride Flag. He said, “You are an L.A. County employee. That’s the only thing that matters. Your religious beliefs do not matter.”
Thomas More Society attorneys are representing Captain Little in a federal lawsuit against the Los Angeles County Fire Department, which has illegally threatened Little with dismissal over his refusal to raise the homosexual/transgender “Progress Pride Flag.”
The case, filed on May 24, 2024, in United States District Court for the Central District of California, charges the fire department with violating Little’s rights under the First Amendment, federal law, and state law. Little’s sincere and deeply held religious beliefs prohibit his participation in raising the so-called Progress Pride Flag. For that, he has suffered religious discrimination, harassment, and retaliation at the hands of the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
The department revealed to unauthorized persons that Little had requested a religious accommodation. Following that disclosure, Little received a death threat that also targeted his daughters.
Psalm 34:19 says, “The righteous man may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all.”
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And that’s The Worldview on this Friday, May 31st in the year of our Lord 2024. Subscribe by iTunes or email to our unique Christian newscast at www.TheWorldview.com. Or get the Generations app through Google Play or The App Store. I’m Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com). Seize the day for Jesus Christ.