Trump Convicted On All Charges In Hush Money Trial

A New York jury found Donald Trump guilty on all charges in his hush-money case on Thursday, a monumental event occurring just five months before the election in which he aims to regain the White House.

The historic first criminal trial of a former US president ended with the 77-year-old Trump found guilty on each of the 34 charges of falsifying business records to hide a payment meant to silence porn star Stormy Daniels.

Trump, who is all but certain to appeal, did not immediately react, but sat still, his shoulders dipping.

The conviction thrusts the United States into uncharted political territory but does not bar Trump from a White House run, even in the unlikely event that Judge Juan Merchan sentences him to prison time.

The verdict comes just weeks before the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where Trump is due to receive the party’s formal nomination to face Democratic President Joe Biden on November 5.

The 12-member jury deliberated for more than 11 hours over two days at the end of the extraordinary five-week trial held in a drab Manhattan courtroom.

Trump was convicted of falsifying business records to reimburse his lawyer, Michael Cohen, for a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels on the eve of the 2016 election, when her claim to have had sex with him could have proved politically fatal.

The trial featured lengthy testimony from the adult performer, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, and who described to the court in graphic detail what she says was a 2006 sexual encounter with the married Trump.

Prosecutors successfully laid out a case alleging that the hush money and the illegal covering up of the payment was part of a broader crime to prevent voters from knowing about Trump’s behavior.

Trump’s defense attorneys had countered that “trying to influence an election” was simply “democracy” and that the former president did nothing wrong.

The trial has distracted Trump from his campaign to unseat Biden.

However, he milked the media attention throughout, with daily speeches in front of the cameras outside the courtroom in which he complained about being a political victim.