New York: Former US President Donald Trump has been convicted on all 34 counts of falsifying business records in a historic criminal trial in New York. Joe Biden’s campaign said “no one is above the law” immediately after.
It is the first time a former or serving US president has been convicted of a crime. Trump will be sentenced on July 11. The former president could face prison, however legal experts told the media a fine could be a more likely outcome.
Trump called the verdict a “disgrace” and attacks the judge who presided over the case.
“This was a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who was corrupt,” Trump said at the courthouse after the verdict was read. “This was a rigged trial, a disgrace.”
Shares in Trump Media & Technology Group fell by more than 6% to $48.66 each in extended trading following the events in court.
The verdict comes as Trump campaigns to defeat Joe Biden in November’s election and return to the White House.
The court heard from 22 witnesses over six weeks, including Stormy Daniels, whose alleged sexual encounter with Trump was at the centre of this case, a BBC report said.
Trump stood accused of concealing a payment made by his former lawyer to buy the former adult film star’s silence shortly before the 2016 elections.
The 12 jurors deliberated for two days before reaching the unanimous verdict.
One of Trump’s top lawyers has told Fox News that former president’s legal team is “considering all options” for appeal.
“Every aspect of this case is ripe for appeal,” said Will Scharf. “We are going to appeal as quickly as we can.”
Joe Biden’s campaign said “no one is above the law” in an email sent soon after the verdict, the Guardian reported.
“In New York today, we saw that no one is above the law. Donald Trump has always mistakenly believed he would never face consequences for breaking the law for his own personal gain,” wrote Michael Tyler, Biden’s communications director.
“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. Convicted felon or not, Trump will be the Republican nominee for president.”
In the Trump case, the Manhattan district attorney’s office alleged Trump falsely recorded the reimbursements he made to his former lawyer Michael Cohen, who paid the adult film star Stormy Daniels $130,000 for her silence about her affair with Trump, as “legal expenses”.
The prosecution alleged the falsifications were made to conceal Trump’s violation of New York state election law, which makes it a crime to promote the election of any person to office through unlawful means.
Prosecutors argued, in part, that those unlawful means were the $130,000 payment to Daniels, which was in effect an illegal campaign contribution, because it was done solely for the benefit of his 2016 campaign and exceeded the $2,700 individual contribution cap, the Guardian said.
