The former president has been found guilty of all counts. (Getty)
The jury has come to a verdict on Donald Trump’s “hush money” trial. The former US president has been found guilty of all 34 counts of falsifying business records, which has been dubbed the “hush money” trial.
On 30 May, a jury found Trump – who is currently rallying for a second, non-consecutive term in office – paid adult film star Stormy Daniels and falsified business records to hide the payment during his 2016 election campaign.
This makes Trump the first former president of the US with a criminal conviction.
Daniels claimed in her Peacock documentary Stormy that Trump’s previous lawyer Michael Cohen made the payment on the former president’s behalf to keep quiet about an alleged 2006 sexual encounter with Trump. Trump has vehemently denied the allegations.
His sentencing hearing is set to take place on 11 July, just four days before the Republican National Convention, in which the party will officially nominate him for President.
Trump is facing a maximum of up to four years imprisonment, and probation at a minimum – though prosecutors have not said what penalty they will award.
If Trump decides to appeal the ruling, experts say the process could take at least one year, meaning he would likely remain free during the decision time, as per the New York Post.
Following the trial, the former president claimed that the trial was “rigged” and a “disgrace”.
He said: “This was a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who is corrupt. The real verdict is going to be November 5 by the people and they know what happened here and everybody knows what happened here.”
He added: “We didn’t do anything wrong.”
Trump alleged that the trial was set up by current president Joe Biden and his “administration”, adding that the country “has gone to hell”.
He said: “I’m a very innocent man and it’s okay, I’m fighting for our country, I’m fighting for our Constitution.
“This was done by the Biden administration in order to wound or hurt an opponent, a political opponent, and I think it’s just a disgrace and we’ll keep fighting. We’ll fight to the end and we’ll win.”
He continued: “We don’t have the same country any more. We have a divided mess. We are a nation in decline, serious decline.
“Millions and millions of people pouring into our country right now from prisons and from mental institutions, terrorists,” he alleged. “They are taking over our country. We have a country that’s in big trouble.
“But this was a rigged decision, right from day one with a conflicted judge who should have never been allowed to try this case. Never. And we will fight for our Constitution. This is long from over. Thank you very much.”