A jury of 12 New Yorkers on Thursday evening found Trump guilty of all 34 counts of falsifying business records surrounding hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Trump stood as jurors filed out of Manhattan Criminal Court, a frown on his face, according to The New York Times. His eyes were cloudy.
The former president and 2024 Republican candidate was considered ‘red in the face’ and he and his son Eric Trump, who sat behind him in the courtroom, looked upset, CNN reported. Trump frowned and took his son’s hand in a quick shake, then they walked out of the courtroom.
“Our whole country is being hijacked right now,” Trump told reporters as he left the courtroom, where he spent seven weeks attending the historic trial.
‘This was done by the Biden administration in order to injure or harm the enemy, the political opponent.’
The jury deliberated for more than 11 hours, starting Wednesday morning and reaching its verdict at the end of the second day.
On Thursday afternoon, Justice Juan Merchan said he had received a note from the jury committee at 4.20pm saying they had reached a verdict.
Trump ‘smiled a few minutes ago’ before the judge’s announcement and became ‘suddenly serious’, The Times reported.
He crossed his arms over his chest and whispered to the lawyers, the paper reported.
Trump leaned back in his chair as the judge entered, and remained straight.
“I hope there is no reaction, no explosion of any kind,” Merchan said, according to the report CNN.
Trump’s second eldest son, Eric Trump, sat behind him in the courtroom.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg entered the courtroom and sat behind the prosecutor who tried the case on his behalf.
The jury requested an additional 30 minutes to fill out the verdict sheet.
The courtroom scene was tense and Trump sat ‘silently’ with his head tilted slightly to the right as he waited for the jury to enter, according to The Times.
How long it took for the jury to reach a verdict was initially unknown, as deliberations throughout the trial could take hours, days, and even weeks.
Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records to hide a $130,000 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels to silence her during the 2016 campaign over alleged sexual relations.
The former president has refused to reimburse his former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, for hush money, as well as having a sexual relationship with Daniels.
Trump faces a sentence ranging from probation to four years behind bars if convicted.
Shortly after the jury began deliberations on Wednesday, Trump told reporters outside the courtroom that the charges against him and the entire trial were “rigged” and compared himself to a Roman Catholic saint.
‘And we have trials like this where the judges are so conflicted, they can’t breathe. He had to do his job. This is a disgrace,” Trump said.
‘Mother Teresa could not defeat the accusations. But we will see. We will see how it goes. This is a very rude situation.’
Also on the first day, the former president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr, shared a TikTok video showing him looking light and writing ‘tweets’ at a table with junk food including candy and Diet Coke.
This is a developing news story, more to come… Check back soon for more updates.
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