While Donald Trump has the option to delay and potentially overturn his conviction through appeals, his power to pardon himself, if elected as the next president, is limited. The Manhattan jury found him guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records, marking the first instance of a former president being convicted of a felony. These charges stem from disguising a hush money reimbursement as legal expenses to conceal the $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.
Scheduled for sentencing on July 11, Trump is expected to appeal the conviction, potentially delaying any repercussions. Even if he were to win the presidency, he cannot grant himself a pardon in this case, as presidential pardons only apply to federal, not state, cases. However, he could leverage his presidency to delay his confinement until after his term ends and postpone other pending legal proceedings, such as his Georgia election interference trial.
While Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani previously suggested that a president could potentially self-pardon, Trump himself has disavowed such action. Although a presidential pardon would not impact this conviction, Trump still faces three other cases, two of which are federal. However, the legality of a president pardoning themselves remains untested and contentious.
Trump’s guilt in this case is linked to falsifying 34 different business records, including checks paid to his former lawyer Michael Cohen and invoices from Cohen. The jury determined that Trump orchestrated a scheme to reimburse Cohen for the hush money payment to Stormy Daniels, disguising the transactions as legal expenses across 2017. Despite the guilty verdict, the resolution of Trump’s other legal battles before the upcoming election appears increasingly improbable.