Former President Donald Trump was convicted in a Manhattan courthouse on Thursday of all 34 charges of falsifying business records in connection with a payout to porn actress Stormy Daniels on the eve of the 2016 election. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, is now the first former president ever convicted of a crime. He could face up to four years in prison at sentencing on July 11, though probation is also a possible sentence.
The verdict will be appealed. Outside the courtroom, Trump proclaimed himself a “very innocent man.” “This was a disgrace,” he said.
“This was a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who is corrupt. This was a rigged, disgraceful trial. The real verdict will be Nov.
5 by the people...
Our country’s gone to hell. We’re a nation in decline — serious decline.” A spokesman for President Biden’s re-election campaign released a statement after the verdict.
“In New York today, we saw that no one is above the law,” said the spokesman, Michael Tyler. “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.” Trump was accused of conspiring to cover up a 2006 sexual liaison with Daniels by paying her $130,000, and later falsifying records to claim it as a legal expe.
