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TRUMP Found GUILTY of ALL 34 CRIMINAL Charges in Historic Hush Money Trial
BREAKING: Donald TRUMP Found GUILTY of ALL 34 CRIMINAL Charges in Historic Hush Money Trial
The jury in Donald Trumps' historic criminal trial has reached a verdict after deliberating for 10 hours
TRUMP is First President to be Convicted in History - Will Be Sentenced on 11 July
MailOnline 30 MAY 2024
BEFORE The Verdict
TRUMP has been found GUILTY in his FIRST criminal trial.
The jury of seven men and five women made their decision as the former President faced 34 counts of falsifying business records.
It comes after five weeks of dramatic evidence and 22 witnesses being quizzed on the stand.
The case is the first time a former U.S. President has faced a criminal trial.
Trump is the presumptive Republican presidential candidate and is set to take on Joe Biden in November's election.
The verdict could upend the 2024 White House race and prove a pivotal moment in the history of the United States.
The charges Trump faced each carried a maximum potential sentence of up to four years in prison.
Jurors had the option of convicting Trump of all counts, acquitting him of all counts, or delivering a mixed verdict in which he was found guilty of some charges and not others.
If they were deadlocked then Judge Juan Merchan was able to declare a mistrial.
The 12 jurors have sat silently in a New York courtroom as prosecutors made their case and Trump's lawyers tried to discredit it
Prosecutors told of a plot by Trump to 'corrupt' the 2016 election by hiding a $130,000 hush money payment by his 'fixer' Michael Cohen to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Daniels alleged that she and Trump had sex a decade earlier, which he has denied.
The case featured explosive evidence by Daniels and lifted the lid on the 'catch and kill' practices of the National Enquirer tabloid, which bought stories that could be damaging to Trump and suppressed them.
But the actual criminal charges concern something more prosaic - the reimbursements Trump signed for Cohen for the payment.
The reimbursements, paid by Trump in monthly installments, were recorded as being for legal expenses.
Prosecutors say that was a fraudulent label designed to conceal the purpose of the hush money transaction and to illicitly interfere in the 2016 election.
Defense lawyers argued that Cohen actually did substantive legal work for Trump and his family and was paid for it.
In a marathon day of closing arguments on Tuesday prosecutors and defense lawyers had one final chance to score points with jurors as they embarked on their momentous task.
The two sides offered wildly different accounts of Trump's culpability, the strength of the evidence, and the credibility of witnesses.
Had the Daniels story emerged in the aftermath of the 'Access Hollywood' scandal it would have further damaged his campaign, the court heard.
Steinglass told jurors: 'It's not about whether you like Michael Cohen. It's not about whether you want to go into business with Michael Cohen.
'It's whether he has useful, reliable information to give you about what went down in this case, and the truth is that he was in the best position to know.'
AFTER The Verdict
CROWDS Cheer outside courthouse after Trumps' guilty verdict
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