Donald Trump was found guilty on all 34 counts in his hush-money and election-interference trial, as a fast-moving Manhattan jury apparently was convinced by an overwhelming amount of documents and damning testimony from witnesses who once traveled in Trump’s inner circle.
The verdict — which came after just 9 1/2 hours of deliberation — proclaimed Trump as the first former U.S. president convicted of a crime.
Reaction exploded immediately from all corners of the nation — from Trump supporters who insist the charges were a politically motivated hit job that targeted the presumptive Republican presidential nominee to liberals and Never Trumpers who have waited for Trump to be held accountable for a slew of alleged crimes.
“This was a disgrace,” Trump said minutes after the verdict was read. “This was a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who is corrupt. A rigged trial. A disgrace. They wouldn’t give us a venue change. We were at 5% or 6% [Trump polling] in this district, in this area.
“This was a rigged, disgraceful trial. But the real verdict is going to be [election day] Nov. 5 by the people, and they know what happened here and everybody knows what happened here. ... We didn’t do anything wrong. I’m a very innocent man. It’s OK, I’m fighting for our country and fighting for our Constitution.
“Our whole country is being rigged right now. This was done by the Biden administration — a political opponent, and I think it’s a just a disgrace, and we’ll keep fighting or fight till the end and we’ll win because our country has gone to hell,” Trump added.
“We don’t have the same country anymore. We have a divided mess. We’re a nation in decline.”
Roughly four minutes after the verdict was read, the Trump campaign sent out a fundraising email:
Donald Trump Jr. tweeted: “Democrats have succeeded in their years long attempt to turn America into a Third World [expletive]. November 5 is our last chance to save it.”
Trump is expected to quickly appeal the verdict and will face an awkward dynamic as he seeks to return to the campaign trail as a convicted felon. There are no campaign rallies on the calendar for now, though he’s expected to hold fundraisers next week. It will likely take several months for Judge Juan Merchan, who oversaw the case, to decide whether to sentence Trump to prison.
Trump could face up to four years behind bars. Sentencing is currently set for July.
Trump faces three other felony counts, but the New York case may be the only one to reach a conclusion before the November election, adding to the significance of the outcome. Though the legal and historical implications of the verdict are readily apparent, the political consequences are less so given its potential to reinforce rather than reshape already-hardened opinions about Trump.
The case is the first of Trump’s four indictments to reach trial — and a verdict — and marked the first-ever criminal case against a former U.S. president.
“No matter what happens from here, this was a good day for America,” tweeted Ed Luce, associate editor of the Financial Times.
“Law and order!” tweeted former GOP campaign strategist Tim Miller, who is now a Never Trumper.
“As a convicted felon, Donald Trump is now prohibited from voting in his home state of Florida,” tweeted Mark Joseph Stern, a journalist at Slate.
At the heart of the charges were reimbursements paid to former Trump attorney Michael Cohen for a $130,000 hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels in exchange for not going public with her claim about a 2006 sexual encounter with Trump.
Prosecutors said the reimbursements were falsely logged as “legal expenses” to hide the true nature of the transactions.
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