After almost five weeks of court proceedings, Donald Trump has been found guilty on all counts in his hush money trial.
The 12-person jury found Trump guilty on Thursday, May 30, Judge Juan Merchan announced. A sentencing date has not yet been set. The jury reached the verdict after nine and a half hours of deliberations over the course of two days.
Trump faced a total of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection to his alleged affair with pornographic film actress Stormy Daniels. Prosecutors accused the former President of getting his former lawyer Michael Cohen to pay Daniels $130,000 in hush money during the 2016 election. He allegedly reimbursed Cohen but filed the charges as "legal expenses."
The 34 counts stemmed from 11 invoices, 12 vouchers and 11 checks that make up Trump’s monthly reimbursement payments to Cohen.
Trump reacted to the verdict, saying:
"This was a disgrace. This was a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who is corrupt. It's a rigged trial, a disgrace. This was a rigged, disgraceful trial. The real verdict is going to be November 5 by the people."
"We didn't do a thing wrong. I am a very innocent man. It's okay, I am fighting for our country, I'm fighting for our constitution. Our whole country is being rigged right now. This was done by the Biden Administration in order to wound or hurt a political opponent. I think it is a disgrace."
Defense lawyer Todd Blanche criticized Cohen, the trial's leading witness, in his closing arguments on Wednesday, May 29. Blanche described Cohen as the "MVP of liars" and "the GLOAT: the greatest liar of all time." Cohen testified that Trump directly told him to pay $130,000 to Daniels just weeks ahead of the election.
Daniels previously claimed she had an affair with Trump in 2006, which he denied. She filed a lawsuit against him in 2018 over a non-disclosure agreement she signed, but he allegedly did not.
Ahead of the jury decision, a former producer on The Apprentice accused Trump of using a racial slur in a recorded conversation when talking about Black finalist Kwame Jackson, per Slate. Trump spokesman Steven Chueng called the incident "a completely fabricated and bullshit story that was already peddled in 2016."
