Former President Donald Trump was convicted in a Manhattan courthouse on Thursday of all 34 charges of falsifying business records in connection with a payout to porn actress Stormy Daniels on the eve of the 2016 election.
Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, is now the first former president ever convicted of a crime. He could face up to four years in prison at sentencing on July 11, though probation is also a possible sentence. The verdict will be appealed.
Outside the courtroom, Trump proclaimed himself a “very innocent man.”
“This was a disgrace,” he said. “This was a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who is corrupt. This was a rigged, disgraceful trial. The real verdict will be Nov. 5 by the people… Our country’s gone to hell. We’re a nation in decline — serious decline.”
Trump was accused of conspiring to cover up a 2006 sexual liaison with Daniels by paying her $130,000, and later falsifying records to claim it as a legal expense. He faced 34 felony counts related to false invoices, checks and ledger entries.
The jury deliberated for about 10 hours before informing the judge Thursday afternoon that it had reached a verdict.
The jurors spent more than four weeks listening to testimony, including from Daniels and from Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer who made the payoff.
Trump has regularly denounced the proceedings outside the courtroom.
“The whole thing is rigged,” he said Wednesday.
Trump’s defense team, led by Todd Blanche, argued that Cohen was a convicted perjurer whose testimony could not be trusted.
Prosecutors argued that Trump sought to illegally influence the outcome of the 2016 election by paying off Daniels to keep quiet.
The jury also heard testimony from David Pecker, the former publisher of the National Enquirer, who testified that the outlet made a decision in 2015 to help Trump’s campaign. The Enquirer paid $150,000 to Karen McDougal to keep her from going public about a yearlong affair she had with Trump, Pecker testified.
On Tuesday, Robert De Niro showed up outside the courthouse at a press conference organized by the Biden campaign to denounce the former president.
This is the first of four criminal trials the former president is facing, though it may be the only one to take place before the November election. Trump is also accused of illegally retaining classified documents, and in two cases of attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
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