Jurors in former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial in New York on Thursday convicted him on 34 charges. The New York TimesHe is the first U.S. president to be convicted of a felony. The jury of 12 Manhattan residents reached its verdict after two days of deliberations.
“This is a disgrace. This is a rigged trial with a conflict of interest, a corrupt judge,” Trump said on national television after the verdict. “The real verdict will be made by the people by November 5th. The people know what happened here, everybody knows what happened here.”
Trump was charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records related to reimbursements for “hush money” payments made by his lawyer, Michael Cohen, to adult film star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. Prosecutors alleged that Trump tried to conceal the payments by disguising the purpose of those payments. After his guilty verdict, Trump was reported to have sat expressionless and unresponsive at his defense table.
“Today in New York, we saw firsthand that no one is above the law,” the Biden-Harris 2024 campaign said. statement. “Donald Trump has always mistakenly believed that he could break the law for his own self-interest and not face punishment. But today’s verdict does not change the simple reality facing the American people: The only way to keep Donald Trump from the Oval Office is through the ballot box. With or without a conviction, Trump will be the Republican nominee for president.”
Judge Juan Marchand, who is presiding over the case, will decide what punishment Trump will receive for the 34 charges. The verdict is scheduled to be handed down in New York at 10 a.m. on July 11. Following the verdict, Trump’s lawyer, Todd Blanche, called for an acquittal.
Just before the verdict was handed down, Trump posted to Truth Social, saying his “civil rights have been completely violated by this highly political, unconstitutional, election interference witch hunt.”
Following the verdict, Trump returned to Truth Social and quickly began fundraising. He posted: Campaign Video and Here are some links to his website An hour after his conviction, he posted a message soliciting donations for his campaign, and also posted, “WIN November 5th. SAVE AMERICA!!!”
Jurors on Wednesday asked to hear testimony again from two witnesses in the case: Cohen and David Pecker, CEO of American Media Corp., which owns the National Enquirer. According to CBS NewsProsecutors alleged the pair engaged in a “capture and kill” plot with the former president to cover up negative reporting about Trump.
In his testimony, Pecker described a series of phone calls he had with Trump and Cohen in 2015 over a former Playboy model who claimed to have had sex with Trump. The model, Karen McDougal, was trying to sell her story at the time. Cohen eventually asked Pecker to buy the lifetime rights to the story, suggesting that the Trump Organization would pay him if he covered up the story.
Trump Media shares fell 15% in after-hours trading after the former president was convicted, but have since recovered slightly and are down 8% from the previous day as of 5:35 p.m.
To be clear, this is one of four criminal cases currently involving Trump — the others are the classified documents case, the Georgia election interference case, and the federal election interference case — and we’ll have to wait and see what happens with the rest.
