Former President Donald Trump has been found guilty of 34 felonies in his “hush money” trial in New York, becoming the first former president in U.S. history to be convicted of a crime.
Donald Trump, courtesy of The Library of Congress
Original post of CBS News
Former President Donald Trump was found guilty of 34 felonies by the jury in his “hush money” trial in New York on Thursday, making him the first former president in U.S. history to be convicted of a crime.
The jury, composed of 12 Manhattan residents, found that Trump illegally falsified business records to cover up a $130,000 payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. They found him guilty on all counts on their second day of deliberations.
The presumptive Republican nominee for president is now also a convicted felon, a label that will reverberate across the electorate in the months between now and Election Day in November.
Trump spoke about the verdict at Trump Tower in New York on Friday, calling the trial “very unfair,” a “scam” and “rigged.”
The verdict was handed down in the same Manhattan courtroom where Trump has been on trial for the past six weeks. Trump stared at each juror as they confirmed their vote to convict and angrily denounced the decision in the hallway outside the courtroom, vowing to fight the conviction.
Jurors sided with prosecutors who said that Trump authorized the plan to falsify checks and related records in an effort to prevent voters from learning of an alleged sexual encounter with Daniels. Prosecutors from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office said the conspiracy spanned his 2016 campaign and continued well into his first year in the White House. Trump denied having sex with Daniels and pleaded not guilty.
Justice Juan Merchan set a sentencing date of July 11, just four days before the start of the Republican National Convention, where Trump will be formally nominated as the party’s standard-bearer. He could face up to four years in prison and a $5,000 fine for each count, but Merchan has broad discretion when imposing a sentence, and could limit the punishment to a fine, probation, home confinement or other options.
The jury asked to review several portions of testimony and the judge’s instructions Thursday morning before they deliberated behind closed doors for several hours. Here’s how the historic day at the courthouse unfolded, from the time the jurors alerted the court that they had reached a verdict: 4:48 PM / MAY 30, 2024
What is Trump charged with?
Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsification of business records in the first degree, which is a felony in New York state.
Each charge corresponds to a document that was created to pay Michael Cohen $35,000 a month in 2017: the checks themselves, the invoices Cohen sent to get reimbursed and the vouchers the Trump Organization used to record the payment.
Prosecutors say those checks were meant to reimburse Cohen for the $130,000 “hush money” payment that he made to adult film star Stormy Daniels in 2016 in exchange for her silence about an alleged sexual encounter she said she had with Trump years earlier. Trump’s defense said the payments to Cohen were to pay for his legal services.
Trump pleaded not guilty to all counts and denied all wrongdoing.
BY STEFAN BECKET
Jurors tell judge they have reached a verdict
In a note to the judge at 4:20 p.m., the jurors said they had reached a verdict, and asked for 30 minutes to fill out the verdict form.
BY GRAHAM KATES
#DonaldTrump #Conviction #HushMoneyTrial #Felonies #StormyDaniels #ManhattanJury #Guilty #UShistory #Coverup #BusinessRecords #Election2016 #Scandal #BreakingNews #LegalNews #FormerPresident
