Answers to your questions about Donald Trump's historic hush money trial conviction

NEW YORK (AP) — Will Donald Trump go to prison? Could he pardon himself? What about the election? The first criminal conviction of a former American president raises a host of legal and political questions.

Trump was convicted by a Manhattan jury Thursday of 34 felony counts related to a scheme during his 2016 presidential campaign to pay off a porn actor who said the two had sex. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee denies having sex with Stormy Daniels, has said he did nothing wrong and slammed the jury's verdict.

Here are answers to some of the biggest questions surrounding Trump's conviction:

Trump remains free on his own recognizance. He will have to be back in the Manhattan courtroom on July 11, when he is set to be sentenced. That is just days before the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where GOP leaders — who remain steadfast in their support of Trump — are expected to formally make him their nominee for the November election.

Before sentencing, Trump will be interviewed for a presentence report that Judge Juan M. Merchan will use to help decide his punishment. The report is typically prepared by a probation officer, a social worker or a psychologist working for the probation department who interviews the defendant and possibly that person's family and friends, as well as people affected by the crime. Presentence reports include a defendant’s personal history, criminal record and recommendations for sentencing. Trump has no prior convictions.

Trump is charged in three other criminal cases, but it's possible none of them will go to trial before the election. The 2020 election interference case in Washington, for example, remains on hold while the U.S. Supreme Court weighs Trump's claim that he is immune from prosecution for actions taken as commander in chief.

It's not clear. That will be up to the judge, who Trump has repeatedly accused of being biased against him. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who brought the case, refused to say Thursday whether prosecutors will seek prison time.

Each count of falsifying business records is punishable by up to four years behind bars, but it's possible that Trump will get only fines or probation. New York court records and newspaper archives show defendants convicted of the charge are seldom sentenced to prison for that offense alone. Often, the charge is coupled with more serious felonies such as grand larceny.

And even if the judge sentences him to time behind bars, his lawyers would almost certainly push the judge to allow the former president to remain free until he exhausts his appeals.

Trump faces the threat of more serious prison time in the three other cases. For example, the most serious charges in Trump’s Washington and Georgia election interference cases carry maximum 20-year sentences.

Yes. There's nothing barring Trump from continuing his bid to reclaim the White House or from becoming president. There are only three qualifications for president spelled out in the Constitution: Candidates must be at least 35 years old, be natural born citizens and must have lived in the U.S. for at least 14 years. There are no restrictions on his travel at this point either, so he can continue to campaign normally.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche said on the “Today” show Friday: “We’re going to appeal, and we’re going to win on appeal.” Trump's lawyers laid the groundwork throughout the trial to challenge the verdict on multiple issues.

Blanche suggested they will challenge the judge's decision not to recuse himself. Trump has repeatedly argued Merchan should not have presided over the case, citing cash he's given to Democrats and the fact that his daughter is a party consultant. Merchan has acknowledged making several small donations to Democratic causes during the 2020 campaign, including $15 to Trump’s Democratic rival, Joe Biden, but rejected Trump's claims he cannot fairly preside over the case.

Trump's lawyers may also challenge rulings from the judge they claim unfairly hampered his defense, including limiting the testimony of an expert witness they wanted to put on the stand.

No. It's a state conviction, so Trump would not be able to pardon himself if he were to become president again. Presidential pardons apply only to federal crimes. And it's a legally untested question as to whether Trump would even have the power to pardon himself if he's convicted in the federal cases. No president has attempted to do so while in office because no president before Trump had ever been charged or convicted.

He can, as long as he is not in prison. Trump's home state of Florida defers to other states’ disenfranchisement rules for residents convicted of out-of-state felonies. And New York law removes the right to vote for people convicted of felonies only while they’re incarcerated. Once they’re out of prison, their rights are automatically restored, even if they’re on parole, per a 2021 law passed by the state’s Democratic legislature.

Trump said Thursday that “the real verdict is going to be Nov. 5 by the people,” referring to Election Day.

It's unclear to what extent his guilty verdict will impact his bid to unseat Biden. The election is expected to be incredibly tight, and it’s not clear how voters who are on the fence — especially independents and other key voting blocs — will feel when they go to the polls.

Republican lawmakers who have been divided in the past over their support for Trump lined up behind him in the wake of the conviction, slamming the judge and prosecutors.

Trump's campaign hopes his supporters will be similarly galvanized by the case, which Trump has cast as an effort to tank his White House bid. His campaign immediately began fundraising off the conviction with messages such as: “I WAS JUST CONVICTED IN A RIGGED TRIAL!” Another message to supporters read: “If they can do this to me, they can do this to anyone.”

Trump’s campaign said Friday morning that it raised a record $34.8 million in small online contributions off his conviction — nearly double its previous largest haul.

Richer reported from Washington. Associated Press journalists Jill Colvin and Luke Sheridan in New York contributed to this report.

Former President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at Trump Tower, Friday, May 31, 2024, in New York. A day after a New York jury found Donald Trump guilty of 34 felony charges, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee addressed the conviction and likely attempt to cast his campaign in a new light. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

Former President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at Trump Tower, Friday, May 31, 2024, in New York. A day after a New York jury found Donald Trump guilty of 34 felony charges, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee addressed the conviction and likely attempt to cast his campaign in a new light. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

Former President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at Trump Tower, Friday, May 31, 2024, in New York. A day after a New York jury found Donald Trump guilty of 34 felony charges, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee addressed the conviction and likely attempt to cast his campaign in a new light. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

Answers to your questions about Donald Trump's historic hush money trial conviction

Former President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at Trump Tower, Friday, May 31, 2024, in New York. A day after a New York jury found Donald Trump guilty of 34 felony charges, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee addressed the conviction and likely attempt to cast his campaign in a new light. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

Answers to your questions about Donald Trump's historic hush money trial conviction

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s new tariffs threaten to push up prices on clothes, mobile phones, furniture and many other products in the coming months, possibly ending the era of cheap goods that Americans enjoyed for about a quarter-century before the pandemic.

In return, White House officials hope the import taxes create more high-paying manufacturing jobs by bringing production back to the United States. It is a politically risky trade-off that could take years to materialize, and it would have to overcome tall barriers, such as the automation of most modern factories.

Even after Trump's U-turn on Wednesday that paused steep new tariffs on about 60 nations for 90 days, average U.S. duties remain much higher than a couple of months ago.

Trump has imposed a 10% tariff on all imports, while goods from China — the United States' third-largest source of imports — face huge 145% duties. And there are 25% taxes on imports of steel, aluminum, cars and roughly half of goods from Canada and Mexico.

As a result, the average U.S. tariff has soared from below 3% before Trump's inauguration to roughly 20% now, economists calculate, the highest level since at least the 1940s.

Should they remain in place, such high duties would reverse decades of globalization that helped lower costs for American shoppers.

Other trends, including factory automation and technological innovation, particularly in electronics such as TVs, have also brought down prices. But imports help keep prices in check, economists say, partly because of lower labor costs overseas and because increased competition in the U.S. market forces American companies to be more efficient.

“Freer trade has helped moderate inflation over the long term,” said Scott Lincicome, a trade analyst at the libertarian Cato Institute. “If we are entering a more restricted supply side ... then you’re likely to see more expensive stuff," Lincicome said.

Bank of America estimates that the new duties could raise car prices an average of $4,500, even assuming that automakers absorb some of the tariffs’ impact. Such an increase would follow sharp price hikes of the past few years that have left the average price of a new car at a painful $48,000.

Aaron Rubin, CEO of ShipHero LLC, which provides software for merchants to help book shipments and track order deliveries, said his data indicates that retailers are already starting to raise prices to get ahead of the tariffs.

ShipHero's data captures prices on several million products equivalent to about 1% of overall U.S. e-commerce sales. Prices rose 3.9% on Sunday and Monday on a variety of goods compared with the week before Trump announced more tariffs, Rubin said.

If the tariffs hold, Apple is widely expected to raise the prices on iPhones and other popular products because the company’s supply chain is so heavily concentrated in China.

The iPhone 16 Pro Max could see one of the biggest sticker shocks, with its price potentially increasing by 29%. That could raise the starting price from $1,200 to $1,550, according to an estimate from UBS’s chief investment office.

After the double-digit inflation of the 1970s was defeated in the early 1980s, inflation still regularly topped 4% yearly until the mid-1990s, when freer trade and globalization began to intensify. From 1995 through 2020, it averaged less than 2.2%.

American shoppers reaped the benefits. Average clothing costs fell 8% from 1995 through 2020, at the same time that overall prices rose 74%, according to government data. Furniture costs were roughly unchanged. The average price of shoes rose just 10%.

Trump administration officials have at times acknowledged the prospect of higher prices from the tariffs.

In a speech last month to the Economic Club of New York, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said, “Access to cheap goods is not the essence of the American dream.”

The administration's willingness to downplay the allure of cheap goods is a risky move, coming after the worst inflation spike in four decades from 2021 to 2023. The jump in prices for essentials such as groceries, gas and housing soured many voters on the economy under former President Joe Biden, despite low unemployment.

According to AP VoteCast, a nationwide survey of voters last November, about half of Trump’s voters said the high price of gas, groceries and other goods was the single most important factor in their vote. Another 43% of Trump voters said it was an important factor, even if it was not the most important consideration.

Some consumers say they are willing to pay more for U.S. goods.

Alisha Sholtis, 38, a nurse-turned-social media influencer, used to shop heavily on China-founded fast-fashion e-commerce site Temu, scooping up polyester tops and dresses for $5 to $25 and grabbing cheap electronics and toys. Products from Temu will now face huge new tariffs.

Yet Sholtis, who lives in Davison, Michigan, said she got tired of the clothes that fell apart after one washing and the toys that broke easily. She now shops elsewhere.

She applauds Trump’s goal of bringing some manufacturing back to the U.S. because she feels the move will lead to better quality. And she said she wouldn’t mind paying higher prices as a result.

“I would buy less of more higher quality things,” she said.

Kevin Hassett, Trump’s top economic adviser, acknowledged Sunday that “there might be some increase in prices” from the president’s tariffs.

But he noted that there have been trade-offs from globalization: “We got the cheap goods at the grocery store, but then we had fewer jobs,” he said on ABC's “This Week.”

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick predicted tariffs would force a manufacturing shift.

“The army of millions and millions of human beings screwing in little screws to make iPhones, that kind of thing is going to come to America,” Lutnick said during an April 6 appearance on CBS.

Analysts doubt that Apple could build phones in the U.S.

“The concept of making iPhones in the U.S. is a non-starter,” asserted Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives, reflecting a widely held view in the investment community that tracks Apple’s every move. He estimated that the current $1,000 price tag for an iPhone made in China or India would soar to more than $3,000 if production shifted to the U.S.

Shannon Williams, CEO of the Home Furnishings Association, a furniture trade group, said it can take years to set up a factory in the U.S. It's not clear if there would be enough workers either, given the low U.S. unemployment rate of 4.2%.

The most innovative furniture makers in the U.S. are using technology to reduce their labor needs. “They're going through it and completely automating their assembly line,” she said.

China exported 1.2 billion pairs of shoes to the United States last year, according to the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America. About 26% of U.S. clothes were imported from China in 2023, one study found, and about 80% of U.S. toys.

Williams said furniture prices likely won't rise much anytime soon because most companies now import from other Asian nations, such as Vietnam or Malaysia.

Yet “globalization has definitely helped bring costs down,” she said. “There's a reason you could buy a $699 sofa in 1985 and buy a $699 sofa today."

D'Innocenzio reported from New York. Associated Press writers Michael Liedtke in San Francisco and Linley Sanders in Washington also contributed to this report.

People walk past an electronic board displaying Shanghai shares trading index at a brokerage house, in Beijing, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Boxes of party supplies imported from China are stacked outside a store in the Toy District of Los Angeles, Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

An aerial view of imported iron ore in a port in Yantai city in eastern China's Shandong province Sunday, March 30, 2025. (Chinatopix Via AP) CHINA OUT

An aerial view of new cars waiting for shipment at a pier for "roll-on/roll-off" ships in Yantai city in eastern China's Shandong province Sunday, March 30, 2025. (Chinatopix via AP)

A vendor of halloween costumes wait for customers at the Yiwu International Trade Market in Yiwu, eastern China's Zhejiang province, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Foreigners shop for fashion accessories at the Yiwu International Trade Market in Yiwu, eastern China's Zhejiang province, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

An aerial view of Xiasha Container Terminal on a canal in Hangzhou in east China's Zhejiang province Sunday, April 6, 2025. (Chinatopix Via AP)

U.S. flag themed wearables are displayed at the Yiwu International Trade Market in Yiwu, eastern China's Zhejiang province, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)