A New York jury on Thursday found former President Donald Trump guilty of all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels by his then-personal attorney Michael Cohen before the 2016 election.
Trump, 77, is the first US president to be convicted of a crime. He faces three other pending criminal cases.
His sentencing in the hush money case was scheduled by Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan for July 11 at 10 a.m. ET.
That’s just a few days before the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where Trump’s lookalike is set to be officially confirmed as the Republican Party’s presidential nominee.
Former President Donald Trump appears in Manhattan Criminal Court on May 30, 2024.
Seth Little | Via Reuters
Trump, who remains free without bail, faces a maximum penalty of four years in prison on each count. He will certainly appeal the verdict.
The former president was convicted of falsifying business records representing legal fee payments from him and the Trump Organization to Cohen in order to reimburse that former fixer for the $130,000 payment Cohen made to Daniels before the election had done personally in 2016.
Read more on CNBC about Trump’s guilty verdict
Cohen and Daniels both testified that the money was intended to prevent them from selling to the media their story about having sex with Trump in 2006, months after his wife Melania Trump gave birth to their son Barron Trump. Cohen said Trump directed him to pay Daniels to prevent her from hurting his chance of winning the White House in 2016.
Trump’s demeanor did not change during the reading of the verdict, which came around 5:05 p.m. after jurors had deliberated for less than 10 hours over two days. His son Eric Trump looked angry after the jury foreman repeatedly said “guilty” as each count was read.
“I’m a very innocent man,” Trump said afterwards.
“That was a disgrace,” he said. “This was a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who was corrupt.”
“The real verdict will be made by the people on November 5th and they know what happened here and everyone knows what happened here,” Trump said.
A man holds a placard outside Manhattan criminal court following the verdict in former US President Donald Trump’s criminal trial on charges that he falsified business records to hide money paid to silence porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016 bring, in New York City, USA, May 30, 2024 .
Fresh Mike | Reuters
In a statement minutes after the verdict, President Joe Biden’s campaign said: “The threat Trump poses to our democracy has never been greater.”
“In New York today we saw that no one is above the law,” said Biden campaign spokesman Michael Tyler. “Donald Trump has always mistakenly believed that he would never face consequences for breaking the law for his personal gain.”
“But today’s ruling does not change the fact that the American people face a simple reality,” Tyler added. “There is still only one way to keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office: at the ballot box. Convicted felon or not, Trump will be the Republican nominee for president.”
Merchan told the jury: “I would like to thank you very much for your service.”
“It is a long time to be away from work, family and other responsibilities,” the judge said. “I want you to know that I truly admire your dedication and hard work.”
The verdict came hours after jurors reheard testimony from Cohen and former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker, as well as portions of the legal instructions they received from Merchan on Wednesday.
More news about Donald Trump
Two of the other three criminal cases Trump faces accuse him of crimes related to his efforts to overturn his loss in the 2020 election to President Joe Biden.
One of these cases is in federal court in Washington, DC, and the other is in Georgia State Court in Atlanta.
Trump is being charged in federal court in Florida with crimes related to his retention of secret government documents after his departure from the White House in January 2021 and his attempts to prevent the recovery of those documents by federal officials.
Trump also faces a civil judgment in Manhattan Supreme Court ordering him to pay more than $450 million in damages to the state of New York after being convicted of business fraud involving the Trump Organization and its valuation of real estate assets was held liable.
He also faces two civil libel verdicts from federal juries that awarded nearly $90 million in damages to writer E. Jean Carroll, who testified that Trump raped her in the dressing room of a Manhattan department store in the mid-1990s.
Trump is appealing the verdicts in the three civil cases.
This is developing news. Check back for updates.
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2024-05-30 22:10:14
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