Trump trial: Kremlin claims U.S. is eliminating political rivals
- In the United States, political rivals are eliminated - announced Russian President Vladimir Putin's press secretary, Dmitry Peskov. He responded to a question about the Kremlin's opinion on former U.S. President Donald Trump, who the day before had been found guilty of falsifying documents by a jury.
Many of the reports presented by Russian state media or Kremlin officials are likely not true. Such reports may be elements of an information war by the Russian Federation.
On Thursday, a jury in the Manhattan state court in New York found former President Donald Trump guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection with concealing a payment for the silence of adult film actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election campaign. The court is set to issue the sentence in this case on July 11 at 10 AM ET.
Russian journalists asked Dmitry Peskov, Putin's spokesperson, for the Kremlin's opinion on this matter. He replied that the events in the United States are a domestic matter of that country. He added that the Kremlin strongly dislikes it when other countries comment on the decisions of Russian courts, so Moscow tries to avoid commenting on the rulings of third-party courts.
- In this case, the court's decision has not yet been announced, but in general, if we talk about the Trump case: what is happening there is simply the factual elimination of political rivals by all possible legal and illegal means, it is obvious - Peskov ultimately stated.
"Shameful decision"
The prosecution accused Trump of hiding a $130,000 payment to silence Daniels about their alleged affair, with the then-Republican candidate seeking to influence the election illegally.
The jurors agreed with investigators that by classifying the invoices to then-lawyer Michael Cohen, who facilitated the transaction, as payments for legal services, Trump broke the law with the intent to commit another crime, including violating campaign finance regulations. The verdict was reached after less than two days of jury deliberations and after a trial lasting more than a month.
Trump thus became the first U.S. president in history to be convicted in a criminal case.
Immediately after the verdict was announced, the former president declared the jury's decision as "shameful".
