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The historic verdict, the first adjudication and conviction of a former US president, was reached shortly before 4:30 p.m. Thursday, May 30, after around 10 hours of deliberation.
Seven men and five women on the jury unanimously found Trump guilty on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree that were filed by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office in April 2023.
Sentencing is scheduled for Thursday, July 11, just four days before the Republican convention.
The Case Against Trump
Prosecutors argued that Trump directed his former lawyer and their star witness, Michael Cohen, to wire $130,000 to Stormy Daniels' lawyer shortly before the 2016 election “to prevent her from publicizing a sexual encounter with the defendant.”
Daniels has claimed that she slept with Trump in 2006, while he was married to his current wife and former first lady, Melania Trump. Trump, however, has denied having a sexual relationship with Daniels and denied any wrongdoing in the case.
Cohen reportedly paid through a shell corporation he set up and funded through a bank in Manhattan. Trump then reimbursed him for the payment through a series of monthly checks that were processed by the Trump Organization and disguised as payments for legal services, prosecutors alleged.
While on the stand, Cohen testified that he made the $130,000 payment with Trump’s approval and that he was promised reimbursement, CNN reports. Cohen pleaded guilty to making an illegal campaign contribution and was sentenced to three years in federal prison in December 2018.
Trump has acknowledged reimbursing Cohen, but has claimed he didn’t know what Cohen was doing, according to NBC News. The former president notably did not testify in his own defense, despite repeatedly teasing that he may do so.
What's Next?
His conviction forces the country into an unprecedented scenario in which a former president, and the Republican Party’s presumptive nominee for 2024, finds himself facing possible prison time. Each of the 34 felony counts carries a sentence of up to four years behind bars and a $5,000 fine.
However, former Manhattan prosecutor Duncan Levin told CBS News that Trump is unlikely to see a jail cell, with house arrest or probation the more likely sentence.
Reaction to the Verdict
Trump blasted the verdict as a "disgrace" in a post on Truth Social, calling it "a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who is corrupt." He went on to say, "We will fight for our constitution. This is long from over!"
He later announced that he plans to hold a news conference at 11 a.m. Friday, May 31, in the atrium of Trump Tower in Manhattan.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg thanked the jury for its service in a press conference hours after the verdict.
"Twelve New Yorkers heard witness testimony and reviewed evidence," he said. "Our job is to follow the facts and the law without fear or favor, and that's exactly what we did here."
Social media was flooded with reactions to the historic verdict, including from political heavyweights on both sides of the aisle.
President Biden’s campaign communications director, Michael Tyler, issued the following statement:
“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. 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."
House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, decried the jury’s decision as “a shameful day in American history” and a “weaponization” of the justice system in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
“This was a purely political exercise, not a legal one,” Johnson said. “The American people see this as lawfare, and they know it is wrong—and dangerous. President Trump will rightfully appeal this absurd verdict—and he WILL WIN!"
Click here to view the complete criminal indictment against Trump.
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