The 12-person New York City jury found Donald Trump guilty on all 34 counts in the “hush money” case Thursday evening on the second day of deliberations.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged the former president with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in relation to a payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels through his then-personal attorney Michael Cohen before the 2016 presidential election.
The jury indicated to Judge Juan Merchan that they had reached their verdict shortly after 4:30 p.m. ET.
The jury had requested testimony from publishing executive David Pecker be read back to them, as well as testimony from Cohen.
The jurors also wanted portions of their instructions read back to them on Thursday by the judge.
VERDICT REACHED: The jury has come to a unanimous decision after hours of deliberations. The latest on the developing story: https://t.co/IUA5EZhrrd pic.twitter.com/3TvkdnimS1
— Fox News (@FoxNews) May 30, 2024
Trump is expected to immediately appeal the verdict, with his attorneys citing multiple issues concerning rulings Merchan made that they argued unfairly prejudiced the trial.
One was denying testimony from former Federal Election Commission Chairman Bradley Smith, who said he would have testified that the payments to Daniels did not qualify as campaign expenses or donations.
Another decision legal experts have honed in on was Merchan’s instructions to the jury that they did not have to agree on what crime Trump committed in relation to allegedly falsifying business records.
Trump has consistently asserted his innocence.
Following the verdict Trump told reporters, “This was a disgrace. This was a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who was corrupt.”
🚨🚨BREAKING: Donald Trump reacts to the Manhattan jury’s guilty verdict:
“The real verdict will be November 5th by the people.”
“The whole country is being rigged right now. This is being done by the Biden Administration in order to hurt or wound a political opponent.”
“We’ll… pic.twitter.com/fhsRrnd1zE
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) May 30, 2024
“The real verdict is going to be November 5th by the people,” he added.
“It’s okay. I’m fighting for our country. I’m fighting for our Constitution,” Trump said. “This is long from over.”
