Donald Trump has become the first former US president to be criminally convicted after being found guilty on all counts in his hush-money trial.
The jury returned its verdict today (30 May) in the Manhattan trial, finding Trump guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records.
The former president had previously denied that he falsified records related to a hush money payment made by his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, to adult film star Stormy Daniels in the days before the 2016 election.
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Even after the jury returned its verdict, Trump left the courthouse today still insisting he was not guilty.
He described the verdict as a 'disgrace', and said he was an 'innocent man'.
"This was a rigged, disgraceful trial," Trump claimed, before going on to refer to the upcoming presidential election in November as he said: "The real verdict is going to be November 5, by the people. They know what happened here, and everybody knows what happened here."
“Our whole country is being rigged right now,” Trump further claimed.
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"We’ll keep fighting. We’ll fight till the end, and we’ll win because our country’s gone to hell. This is long from over."
A statement from the Biden-Harris campaign shared the current president's thoughts on the verdict, saying: "No one is above the law."
"Donald Trump has always mistakenly believed he would never face consequences for breaking the law for his own personal gain," the statement said.
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"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."
Mike Johnson, the Republican speaker of the House, said the verdict marked what he described as a 'shameful day in American history'.
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Penalties for Trump's conviction range from a fine to four years in prison on each count.
The former president is set to be sentenced on 11 July.
Topics: Donald Trump, US News
Emily Brown