NEW YORK, USA — Thursday’s conviction of former President Donald J Trump, the first in the history of the American presidency, is not surprisingly supported by many Jamaicans here who say that “the US justice system works”, and that “no one is above the law”.

Since a jury of 12 New Yorkers unanimously found the controversial former president and presumptive presidential nominee for the Republican party guilty on all 34 felony counts, it has been difficult to find but two Jamaicans living here who are opposed.

Jamaicans are known to be traditionally supportive of the Democratic Party.

Many, whose views the Jamaica Observer sought, saw the conviction as an indication that powerful individuals can, and must be held accountable for their actions and that Trump was being held to the same standard as everyone else.

While describing the outcome of the case as sad, Florida-based attorney Wayne Golding said: “It shows that everybody falls under, and is subject to the law. It also shows that we can rely on the justice system, and that no one transcends the law in this country.”

Golding noted that “everyday people are subjected to similar situations on a daily basis, so this is not a result that anyone should rejoice about”.

Echoing similar sentiments, Patrick Callum, head of the New York chapter of G2K, an affiliate of the governing Jamaica Labour Party, said Trump had been dogged with allegations of underhandedness all his life.

Callum argued that the conviction sends a clear message that the American judicial system recognises that no one is above the law, adding: “Sad as the situation may seem, the former president will have to come to grips with this new reality.”

Also weighing in on the historic conviction, president of the 88-year-old Jamaica Progressive League, an affiliate of the People’s National Party, Sadie Campbell, said she agreed with the results of the case.

“I think it was a fair trial and that the jury was very attentive and deliberate in their duties. It [the trial] demonstrated there is one law for everyone in this country and that ought to be respected and cherished,” Campbell declared.

She believed that it is important to note that Trump did not testify in his own defence — possibly as a result of advice from his attorneys for fear that he could perjure himself.

He has maintained in out-of-court utterances that he was innocent of allegations of falsifying financial records to cover up a potentially damaging sexual affair with adult porn star Stormy Daniels, just ahead of his 2016 presidential win.

Campbell had high praise for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg who brought the case against Trump, saying that it would have been interesting to hear directly from the former president in court.

Rick Nugent, president of the Jamaica Association of Maryland, said: “While I am not a lawyer, I think the verdict was arrived at based on the evidence and the facts which were presented. I am proud that the world can see that the United States’ judicial system does work for all.

“Trump has had a long history of alleged wrongdoing, many of which have been settled out of court. To me, this trial was fair and honest,” said Nugent.

Meanwhile, Dwight P Bailey, a former member of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, said that given what he describes as the excellent case presented by the prosecution, “the guilty verdict was the only one that could have been been arrived at”.

A former member of the Department of Correctional Services, Leeford Daley, suggested that the former president was given a fair trial and he, too, regretted that “he did not take the stand and defend himself”.

Reacting to the guilty verdict, co-founder and former president of the Ex-Correctional Officers Association of Jamaica, Keith Smellie, said his concern is how Trump would still be able to run for president now that he had been convicted, and believed he probably should just be “left alone”, presumably for the elections to decide his fate.

Disagreeing with her fellow Jamaicans, New York-based Carlene McIntosh, though not a supporter of the ex-president, described the conviction as “unjustified”. She said that while she did not agree with Trump’s assertion that President Joe Biden is responsible for bringing the case, “politics may have played a role in the matter”.

Bronx resident Herold Prince was livid about the conviction when asked his views.

“It’s a shame and something that should not have happened,” he told the
Sunday Observer.

He described the whole thing as “politics plain and simple” and predicted that “this conviction will not prevent Trump from becoming president again”.

Prince believed that “the judge was biased in his summation to the jury”.

Trump is to be sentenced on July 11,2024 — four days before he is expected to be officially nominated as the Republican candidate at the party’s convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for the November 5, 2024 Presidential Election against the Democratic incumbent Biden.

The former president, who has been fund-raising heavily off the conviction, could face up to four years in prison. He has indicated that he will appeal the conviction.