WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 20: U.S. President Donald Trump talks to reporters while hosting Republican Congressional leaders and members of his cabinet in the Oval Office at the White House July 20, 2020 in Washington, DC. Trump and his guests talked about a proposed new round of financial stimulus to help the economy during the ongoing global coronavirus pandemic. (Photo by Doug Mills/Getty Images)
Donald Trump, the former US president, has been found guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records in the hush money trial he is facing.
The verdict was reached by a Manhattan jury on Thursday.
This makes Trump the first former president in US history to be convicted of a felony.
The verdicts read in the courtroom showed that the 34 counts stemmed from 11 invoices, 12 vouchers, and 11 from his former personal lawyer, who fronted the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels, an adult film star.
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Trump was charged with falsifying business records to conceal the payment to Daniels in exchange for her silence about a sexual encounter she claimed happened with the former president in 2006.
Trump had pleaded not guilty and denied having sex with Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.
Prosecutors also accused Trump of taking part in an illegal conspiracy to undermine the integrity of the 2016 election and an unlawful plan to suppress “negative information” revolving around the adult film star.
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Todd Blanche, the former president’s attorney, moved for an acquittal of the charges, but Juan Merchan, the presiding judge, denied the acquittal motion.
Trump called the hush money trial against him a “disgrace” and a “rigged trial”.
“We’ll keep fighting; we’ll fight til the end, and we’ll win because our country’s gone to hell,” Trump said.
“This was done by the Biden administration in order to wound or hurt an opponent, a political opponent.
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“We don’t have the same country anymore; we have a divided mess. We will fight for our Constitution. This is long from over.”
Merchan fixed a sentencing hearing for July 11.
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