EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — El Paso residents have divided feelings after hearing former President Donald Trump’s guilty verdict on 34 counts of falsifying business records on Thursday afternoon, May 30.

Trump’s scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election came through hush money payments to Stormy Daniels, an adult film star.

Some El Pasoans said the verdict was a step in the right direction and others said just how complicated the situation was.

“It’s a good thing but at the same time, it’s like, is it really a good thing because of the power that he holds? I mean, as a convicted felon, loses the right to vote, doesn’t lose the right to run for office. So, it’s like what’s really going to happen to him,” Jasmine Panduro said.

Dr. Todd Curry, a political science professor at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), said this is the first president in history of the United States to be convicted of a crime.

“In that essence, it’s unprecedented and it has not happened before. We simply don’t have historical facts to compare this to,” Curry said.

One El Pasoan told KTSM that with this being a complicated situation, there’s a lot of opinions whether people like Trump or not. Meanwhile, another said he feels good as it’s in the right direction for American politics.

“I feel like over the years, we’ve kind of lost our grit as a society, especially in the government where we don’t act on laws and enforce them on politicians. I think we should be as hard on our leaders as we are on our people. If we can’t even get that right, then, you know, who are we as a country?” Miguel Flores said.

Curry said that moving forward, Trump cannot pardon himself if elected for president again.

Curry also said that due to Trump’s age and lack of criminal history, it could potentially help him face the consequences during his sentencing on Thursday, July 11.

“I expect that a judge wouldn’t even give a prison sentence in a case like this that would probably be a shorter term, it’s most likely what will happen. No incarceration whatsoever,” Curry said.

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