Written by: Liu Honglin, Founder and Director of Shanghai Mankiw LLP
Today in 2024, the world is becoming more magical.
I woke up early in the morning and saw that Trump, the popular candidate in the US presidential election, was convicted.
According to CCTV.com, a jury in a New York court responsible for the "hush money" case of former US President Trump made a ruling yesterday, declaring that Trump was guilty of all 34 felony charges of falsifying business records in this case. Trump became the first former president of the United States to be convicted.
Image source: Foresight News
New York prosecutors said that during Trump's 2016 campaign for the US presidency, he commissioned Michael Cohen to pay $130,000 in "hush money" to porn star Stephanie Clifford to prevent her from releasing information about her 2006 affair with Trump that would affect his election. Trump subsequently falsified business records and returned Michael Cohen's advance payment in installments under the name of "lawyer fees" to cover up his violations of New York and federal election regulations.
Trump faces 34 felony charges, each of which carries a maximum sentence of four years in prison. The judge will sentence him on July 11.
This morning, an article written by attorney Mankiw titled "Legal Dilemma of Virtual Currency OTC Merchants" was featured on Foresight News, and was photographed with the US presidential campaign concept coin. It was somewhat comical.
Image source: Foresight News
In the US election, most candidates have clearly supported virtual currencies. Why do candidates including Trump use cryptocurrency as a signboard? The reason is simple: to win votes.
Image source: PANews
In March 2024, a poll showed that 69% of Americans were dissatisfied with the current financial system and 19% of registered U.S. voters had purchased cryptocurrencies.
According to a research report released by CouponBirds in March, 45.2% of American parents who own cryptocurrencies have already purchased some cryptocurrencies for their children, and 40.6% of parents plan to purchase cryptocurrencies specifically for their children in the future.
According to data disclosed by the listed exchange Coinbase in May, 52 million Americans will own cryptocurrencies in 2023, accounting for 20% of the adult population in the United States.
Therefore, the influence of the cryptocurrency crowd on the US election is increasing day by day. Given Comrade Trump's consistent style of being a fence-sitter, we can probably believe him: the promotion of virtual currency is really just for votes.
Although Trump is unreliable, his statement that "Bitcoin production is guaranteed in the United States" is still of great reference value. After all, whoever controls the supply controls the pricing. Perhaps China's regulatory authorities need to re-examine the mainland's regulatory policies on virtual currencies, especially Bitcoin mining.
01 If Trump is sentenced, can he still be president?
The Republican Convention will formally nominate the presidential candidate on July 15, and the second presidential debate will be on September 10. So the question is, if Trump is really sentenced, can he still be the president of the United States?
You should know that in China, if you have a criminal record, you and your immediate family members will basically have no chance of becoming a civil servant, because they will not be able to pass the most basic political review.
Interestingly, there is no clear federal law that prohibits someone who has been convicted of a crime from running for president. The U.S. Constitution clearly defines the qualifications for running for and serving as president. According to Article II, Section 1, Clause 5, a candidate for president must meet the following three requirements: be at least 35 years old, be a U.S. citizen by birth, and have resided in the United States for at least 14 years.
That is to say: the Constitution does not mention the impact of a criminal conviction on eligibility to run for office.
Trump's sentencing could lead to a reduction in support for him as a candidate within the party, and could even prompt other potential candidates within the party to seek to replace him. But even if he is sentenced, Trump can still theoretically run for and be elected president. This is largely because the U.S. legal system has a complex separation of powers between federal and state powers, and the presidential election is a federal matter that is protected by the Constitution.
Trump is not the only person who may run for president of the United States. During the 1920 presidential election, a prisoner serving time in prison ran for president. His name was Eugene V. Debs.
Debs was sentenced to 10 years in prison for his anti-war activities in 1918, and was then sent to Atlanta Federal Penitentiary in Georgia. In 1920, Debs ran for president of the United States as a prisoner, becoming the first prisoner in U.S. history to run for president.
Unlike ordinary presidential candidates, Debs was unable to campaign in the states, so he could only rely on writing columns in prison for the media that deeply criticized the prison system to increase his popularity. In the end, Debs received 3.4% of the total votes. Although he failed to enter the White House, the new President Warren Harding ordered Debs' release, and he was freed.
So, as a magical and entertaining country, from a legal perspective, Trump can still run for president of the United States even if he is convicted.
02 Talk about some irrelevant topics
There is another detail in Trump's case that is worth complaining about. Trump paid the lawyers to help him to make some connections and settle things. In fact, this is not only common in the United States, but also in China.
Especially in criminal cases, some people who left the system switched to become "lawyers" (quotation marks are used here because they feel that it is an insult to the identity of a serious lawyer), but they felt that serious work was tiring and unprofitable. So they had evil ideas and Le Zhong became a legal broker.
A common routine is that when a client comes to consult, the "lawyer" pats his chest and says that someone from a certain procuratorate, a certain police station, or a certain court is his current buddy, good friend, or old classmate, and that if the matter is entrusted to him, it will be fine. The former halo of the system instantly blinds the client's eyes, as if he has seen the "light of righteousness."
What's even more exciting is the PR fees that are demanded after the promises are made, ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions. No matter which party is involved in this matter, they are more or less confused. After all, this is true or false. You say he doesn't have such connections, but he does. You say he can really do it, but it's not written in the contract.
After much hesitation, I couldn't resist the advice of successful cases around me who had used connections to get things done. I thought that since I had to find a lawyer anyway, why not find one with "connections"? So I took the bait. After taking the bait, I found that this relationship arrangement is somewhat of a bottomless pit. The common routine is that after paying hundreds of thousands of dollars, they say that the arrangement is not in place, and there are new people who need to be arranged. In this case, the family members are in a dilemma. If they spend more money, they are afraid that it will be a bottomless pit. If they don't pay any more money, then the money they paid before will be wasted.
This mentality is well controlled by the judicial brokers. More importantly, for the "lawyer" who makes money, this business is a sure win. If the lawyer gets the case done, the family will be grateful to the lawyer and think the lawyer is awesome; if the lawyer fails to get the case done, the lawyer's standard words are "Look at how many connections we have made, but it's a pity that you didn't spend the money properly." You can't find any fault with this kind of free rein... In this case, the client or the family are just lambs to be slaughtered.
As ordinary people, we may be accustomed to being cheated by lawyers. As a former president of the United States, Trump is probably the first to be cheated by lawyers. Trump is worthy of being called Trump, who promotes the law for the benefit of the public.
