Donald Trump on Thursday was found guilty on charges related to a coverup of hush money paid on his behalf to a porn star ahead of the 2016 election, making him the first former U.S. president to be convicted in a criminal case.
The 77-year-old, set to be nominated as the Republican presidential candidate for the Nov. 5 election at the party's national convention in July, was found guilty on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the trial at a court in New York.
The jury reached the verdict through two days of closed-door deliberations following weeks of hearings in the first of four cases in which the former president has been indicted.
"This was a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who was corrupt," Trump told reporters at the court after the verdict. He has maintained that all the indictments against him are groundless.
"The real verdict is going to be November 5 by the people," he said, referring to the upcoming election, adding, "We didn't do a thing wrong -- I'm a very innocent man."
Trump's sentencing date of July 11 falls just days ahead of the Republican national convention, set to begin on July 15 in Wisconsin.
President Joe Biden's campaign team said the United States has seen that "no one is above the law" in a statement released in reaction to the verdict.
"Donald Trump has always mistakenly believed he would never face consequences for breaking the law for his own personal gain," it said.
"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," the statement added.
Trump was indicted in March last year in the hush money case stemming from a payment of $130,000 to the porn star Stormy Daniels, with whom he was believed to have had an affair, to suppress the story before the 2016 election.
The charges were related to falsifying business records to mask reimbursement for the payment, made by his one-time close aide and lawyer Michael Cohen, as legal fees.
Prosecutors said the actions constituted a bid to conceal information that could have affected his chances in the election, in which he beat Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
Cohen admitted in a hearing for the case that he paid Daniels the hush money at Trump's direction.
The former U.S. president has also been indicted over accusations that he mishandled classified documents at his residence in Florida as well as in two cases related to attempting to overturn his 2020 election loss -- a federal case over actions that led to the fatal Capitol riot in January 2021, and another in Georgia for efforts to undermine that state's election processes.
But it appears unlikely that verdicts will be forthcoming in any of the other three cases before the Nov. 5 election, as there appear to be no signs of trial dates being set in the near future.
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