A New York jury on Thursday found former President Donald Trump guilty of all 34 felony charges of falsifying business records related to a hush money payment to porn star stormy Daniels by his then-personal lawyer Michael Cohen before the 2016 election.
Trump, 77, is the first U.S. president to be convicted of any crime. He faces three other pending criminal cases.
His sentencing for the hush money case was scheduled by Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan for July 11 at 10 a.m. ET.
That is just days before the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where the twice-i Trump is set to be formally confirmed as the GOP’s presidential nominee.
Trump, who remains free without bail, faces a maximum possible sentence of four years in prison for each count. He is certain to appeal the verdict.
The former president was found guilty of falsifying business records which described as legal expenses payments by him and the Trump Organization to Cohen to reimburse that former fixer for the $130,000 payment Cohen personally gave Daniels before the 2016 election.
Cohen and Daniels both testified that the money was to prevent her from selling to media outlets her story of having sex with Trump one time in 2006, months after his wife Melania Trump gave birth to their son Barron Trump. Cohen said Trump directed him to pay Daniels to prevent her from damaging his chance of winning the White House in 2016.
Trump’s demeanor did not change during the reading of the verdict, which came at about 5:05 p.m., after jurors deliberated for fewer than 10 hours over two days. His son Eric Trump looked angry after the jury foreman repeatedly said “guilty” to each count as it was read.
“I am a very innocent man,” Trump said afterward.
“This was a disgrace,” he said. “This was a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who was corrupt.”
“The real verdict is going to be Nov. 5 by the people and they know what happened here and everybody knows what happened here,” Trump said.
