Trump guilty on all 34 counts in hush money trial, historic first for a former U.S. president

A
New
York
jury
on
Thursday
found
former
President

Donald
Trump
guilty
of
all
34
felony
charges
of
falsifying
business
records
related
to
a

hush
money
payment
to

porn
star
Stormy
Daniels
by
his
then-personal
lawyer
Michael
Cohen
before
the
2016
election.

Trump,
77,
is
the

first
U.S.
president
to
be
convicted
of
any
crime.
He
faces
three
other
pending
criminal
cases.

His
sentencing
for
the
hush
money
case
was
scheduled
for
July
11
at
10
a.m.
ET
by
Manhattan
Supreme
Court
Judge
Juan
Merchan.

That
is
just
days
before
the
Republican
National
Convention
in
Milwaukee,
where
the
twice-impeached
Trump
is
set
to
be
formally
confirmed
as
the
GOP’s
presidential
nominee.

Trump,
who
remains
free
without
bail,
faces
a
maximum
possible
punishment
of
four
years
in
prison
for
each
count,
although
Merchan
is
not
bound
to
sentence
him
to
any
prison
time.
Trump
is
certain
to
appeal
the
verdict.

The
former
president
was
found
guilty
of
falsifying
business
records
that
purported
to
describe
legal
expenses
payments
by
him
and
the
Trump
Organization
to
Cohen
to
reimburse
the
former
fixer
for
the
$130,000
payment
Cohen
personally
gave
Daniels
before
the
2016
election.

Cohen
and
Daniels
both
testified
that
the
money
was
to
prevent
her
from
selling
to
media
outlets
her
story
of
having
sex
with
Trump
one
time
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
damaging
his
chance
of
winning
the
White
House
in
2016.
He
said
he
did
little
if
any
actual
legal
work
for
Trump
in
the
period
covered
by
the
business
records.

Trump’s
demeanor
did
not
change
during
the
reading
of
the
verdict,
which
came
at
about
5:05
p.m.
after
jurors
in
the
state
court
deliberated
for
fewer
than
10
hours
over
two
days.
His
son
Eric
Trump
looked
angry
after
the
jury
foreman
repeatedly
said
“guilty”
to
each
count
as
it
was
read.

“I
am
a
very
innocent
man,”
Trump
said
afterward.

“This
was
a
disgrace,”
he
said.
“This
was
a
rigged
trial
by
a
conflicted
judge
who
was
corrupt.”

“The
real
verdict
is
going
to
be
Nov.
5
by
the
people
and
they
know
what
happened
here
and
everybody
knows
what
happened
here,”
Trump
said.

The
campaign
of
President

Joe
Biden,
in
a
statement
minutes
after
the
verdict,
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
he
would
never
face
consequences
for
breaking
the
law
for
his
own
personal
gain.”

“But
today’s
verdict
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.”

Manhattan
District
Attorney
Alvin
Bragg
Jr.,
whose
office
prosecuted
Trump
called
the
jurors
“12
everyday
New
Yorkers”
who
heard
testimony
from
22
witnesses
over
weeks
of
the
trial,
and
reviewed
records,
checks
and
other
documents
before
convicting
Trump.

“While
this
defendant
may
be
unlike
any
other
in
American
history,
we
arrived
at
this
trial,
and
ultimately
today
at
this
verdict,
in
the
same
manner
as
every
other
case
that
comes,”
Bragg
said.

Merchan
told
the
jurors,
“I
want
to
thank
you
very
much
for
your
service.”

“That’s
a
long
time
to
be
away
from
your
job,
your
families,
your
other
responsibilities,”
the
judge
said.
“I
want
you
to
know
that
I
really
admire
your
dedication,
your
hard
work.”

The
verdict
came
hours
after
jurors
heard
readbacks
of
testimony
by
Cohen
and
former
National
Enquirer
publisher
David
Pecker,
as
well
as
portions
of
legal
instructions
they
received
Wednesday
from
Merchan.

Pecker
had
testified
about
a
2015
meeting
in
Trump
Tower
with
Trump
and
Cohen
in
which
he
promised
to
use
his
media
contacts
to
identify
people
who
were
offering
negative
stories
about
Trump
so
that
they
could
be
paid
off
for
their
silence.
Pecker’s
company
itself
paid
Karen
McDougal
$150,000
in
2016
to
keep
her
quiet
about
her
alleged
affair
with
Trump.

In
two
of
the
other
three
criminal
cases
Trump
faces,
he
is
charged
with
crimes
related
to
his
efforts
to
overturn
his
loss
in
the
2020
election
Biden. 

One
of
those
cases
is
in
federal
court
in
Washington,
D.C.,
and
the
other
is
in
Georgia
state
court
in
Atlanta.

Trump
is
charged
in
federal
court
in
Florida
with
crimes
related
to
his
retention
of
classified
government
records
after
he
left
the
White
House
in
January
2021,
and
to
his
attempts
to
prevent
those
documents
from
being
recovered
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
he
was
held
liable
for
business
fraud
involving
the
Trump
Organization
and
its
valuation
of
real
estate
assets.

He
also
faces
two
civil
defamation
verdicts
by
federal
juries
that
awarded
damages
of
nearly
$90
million
to
writer

E.
Jean
Carroll,
who
testified
that
Trump
raped
her
in
the
mid-1990s
in
a
dressing
room
of
a
Manhattan
department
store.

“Justice!!”
Carroll
wrote
Thursday
in
a
post
on
X,
which
also
featured
a
striking
photo
of
Daniels.

Trump
is
appealing
the
verdicts
in
the
three
civil
cases.

If
Trump
is
not
serving
his
sentence
in
a
prison
this
fall,
he
will
be
eligible
to
vote
in
the
election
in
either
New
York
or
Florida,
where
he
maintains
residences.