Former US President Donald Trump attends jury selection at Manhattan criminal court in New York, on Monday, April 15, 2024, for his trial over charges that he falsified business records to conceal money paid to silence porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016.
Eko Hot Blog reports that former President of the United States (US) President Donald Trump has been found guilty of all criminal counts in his Hush Money trial in New York.
The 12-person jury, in a verdict read late Thursday night, found Trump guilty of all 34 felonies brought against him by prosecutors.
The verdict made him the first president in US history to be convicted of a felony.
The jury concluded that he falsified business records in connection to a hush money paid to a adult film star, Stormy Daniels.
Trump, 77, was accused of concealing a payment to buy the former adult film star’s silence in the final days of his 2016 election campaign.
Former US President Donald Trump sits beside his lawyer Todd Blanche during jury selection. (Photo: Jane Rosenberg/Reuters)
The court heard from more than 20 witnesses over six weeks, including Daniels, whose alleged sexual encounter with the former president was at the centre of the case.
The presumptive Republican nominee for president had accused his chief rival, President Joe Biden, of orchestrating the case against him.
Reacting to his conviction, Trump said: “This was a disgrace, this was a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who was corrupt.”
He vowed to “keep fighting until the end”. As he spoke, hundreds of spectators gathered outside the court, with a helicopter circling overhead.
“This is long from over,” the former president said, before walking away from reporters without answering questions.
Meanwhile, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg thanked the jury for their service and for its “careful attention” it “paid to the evidence and the law.”
Bragg led the investigation into the former president’s involvement in the hush money payment — a yearslong probe he inherited from his predecessor, who began the investigation when Trump was still in the White House.
The conviction will not disqualify Trump from competing against Biden in the November 5 presidential election.
The presiding judge, Juan Merchan, is expected to sentence Trump on July 11, 2024.
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