Minutes after Donald Trump was found guilty on all 34 counts in his criminal hush-money and election-interference trial in Manhattan on Thursday, the Biden campaign issued a statement.
It said the first former president in history to be a convicted of a felon and the presumptive Republican nominee received the accountability he’s been avoiding for years.
“In New York today, we saw that no one is above the law,” the statement read.
“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. 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.
“The threat Trump poses to our democracy has never been greater. He is running an increasingly unhinged campaign of revenge and retribution, pledging to be a dictator “on day one,” and calling for our constitution to be “terminated” so he can regain and keep power. A second Trump term means chaos, ripping away Americans freedoms and fomenting political violence. And the American people will reject it this November.”
Trump could face up to four years behind bars. Sentencing is currently set for July.
It was the second day of deliberations Thursday after the panel began the weighty task a day before. The jury deliberated for about 9 1/2 hours total: about 4 1/2 hours Wednesday and five hours Thursday.
Minutes before the jury was to be sent home, it transmitted the news that it reached a verdict by note to Judge Juan M. Merchan at 4:20 p.m, just few minutes after he’d announced to the courtroom — minus the jury — that court would adjourn at 4:30 p.m., barring a verdict.
Trump sat in the courtroom with his arms folded across his chest as he awaited the reading of the verdict in his hush money trial. When the verdicts were announced, Trump had a frown on his face. Trump lead lawyer Todd Blanche looked away from his client with his left hand to his temple.
Minutes earlier, Trump and Blanche had entered the courtroom exuberant, believing that the jury had failed to reach a verdict in the second day of deliberations — a sign that maybe the trial was headed for a hung jury. But their moods quickly changed when Merchan announced a verdict had been reached.
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 and the presumptive Republican nominee to face incumbent President Joe Biden, a Democrat.
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