WEB DESK: The Former President Donald Trump has been found guilty on all 34 counts in his New York criminal hush money trial, making him the first former US president to be convicted in the country’s history
Donald Trump has been found guilty on all counts in his historic New York criminal trial, becoming the first former or sitting president to be convicted of a crime as he makes a bid to return to the White House.
A panel of 12 Manhattan jurors unanimously convicted him on 34 counts of falsifying business records on Thursday, with sentencing now set for 11 July.
Over a six-week trial, the court heard from 22 witnesses, including Stormy Daniels, whose alleged sexual encounter with the former president was at the center of the case.
Trump called the verdict a “disgrace”, adding: “We’ll fight to the end.”
The former president was accused of having concealed a payment to buy the silence of Ms Daniels, a former adult-film star, in the final days of his 2016 election campaign.
Prosecutors had argued that, by approving a scheme to disguise the money as legal expenses, Trump broke elections law.
After the 12-member jury started deliberations on Wednesday, Donald Trump, while talking to the media, said, “Mother Teresa could not beat these charges. These charges are rigged. The whole country’s a mess between the borders and fake elections and you have a trial like this where the judge is so conflicted he can’t breathe.”
The 77-year-old said: “It’s a disgrace. And I mean that. Mother Teresa could not beat those charges. But we’ll see. We’ll see how we do.”
