Donald Trump found guilty on all 34 counts in historic hush money trial

30 May 2024, 21:50 | Updated: 31 May 2024, 05:05

By Kieran Kelly

@kellyjourno

Donald Trump has been found guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records in his historic hush money trial.

It means Trump has become the first US president in history to have been convicted in a criminal trial.

Trump stood accused of concealing a hush-money payment made to porn star Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 election.

He will be sentenced on July 11 at 10am.

Read More: Trump slams ‘rigged’ and ‘disgraceful’ hush money trial, insisting he is ‘very innocent’

Reacting to the result, Trump labelled the trial "rigged" and "corrupt".

He said the trial was manufactured by the Joe Biden administration and said the real trial will take place in the US election in November.

Biden's team says the verdict shows "no one is above the law" and highlighted the "threat" Trump poses to US democracy.

The former US President pleaded not guilty to all 34 counts, and denied any sexual encounter with Daniels.

It was the first ever criminal trial faced by a former or current US president.

Experts say the testimony of Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, will have been pivotal to the jury finding the former President on all counts.

Reacting to the verdict, Cohen said: "Today is an important day for accountability and the rule of law.

"While it has been a difficult journey for me and my family, the truth always matters. 

"I want to thank my attorneys Danya Perry and Joshua Kolb for their invaluable guidance and support throughout this process."

Trump's defence tried to convince they jury of 12 men and women that they could not trust Cohen, given that he is a convicted liar.

Read More: Can Donald Trump still stand for President? And could he go to jail? Hush money verdict explained

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg says the case was pursued "without fear or favour" after he thanked "12 every day New Yorkers" who fulfilled their "fundamental civic duty".

"By following the facts and the law and doing so without fear or favour," he said.

On Wednesday, the first day of deliberations, the jury asked to hear evidence and instructions again.

Jurors reached a verdict on day two of deliberations shortly after 4.30pm New York time (21:30, UK time).

The jury spent a total of 9.5 hours deliberating the charges over the course of the last two days before reaching its verdict.

US President Joe Biden's team has given its reaction after was Trump was found guilty, saying "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," Biden's campaign communications director Michael Tyler said.

"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," Tyler continued.

"The threat Trump poses to our democracy has never been greater.

"He is running an increasingly unhinged campaign of revenge and retribution, pledging to be a dictator 'on day one' and calling for our constitution to be 'terminated' so he can regain and keep power. 

"A second Trump term means chaos, ripping away Americans' freedoms and fomenting political violence – and the American people will reject it this November."

Back in the UK, reaction has been pouring in, including from Nigel Farage, who recently said he would not stand in the General Election in order to help his friend Trump.

"This verdict is a disgrace. Trump will now win big," Farage wrote on X.

How did the trial unfold?

The former president's lawyers called just two witnesses, including lawyer and former federal prosecutor Robert Costello.

The defence sought to use him to discredit prosecutors' star witness, Cohen, the Trump lawyer-turned-adversary who directly implicated the former president in the hush money scheme.

But the move may have backfired because it opened the door for prosecutors to question Mr Costello about a purported pressure campaign aimed at keeping Cohen loyal to Trump after the FBI raided Cohen's property in April 2018.

While Mr Costello buoyed the defence by saying Cohen denied to him that Trump knew anything about the 130,000-dollar (£100,000) hush money payment to Ms Daniels, Mr Costello had few answers when prosecutor Susan Hoffinger confronted him with emails he sent to Cohen in which he repeatedly dangled his close ties to Trump ally Rudy Giuliani.

In one email, Mr Costello told Cohen: "Sleep well tonight. you have friends in high places," and relayed that there were "some very positive comments about you from the White House".

Cohen largely kept his cool on the witness stand in the face of heated cross-examination by the defence, who tried to paint him as a liar with a vendetta against his former boss.

The curt, pugnacious Mr Costello, on the other hand, aggravated the judge - at times in view of the jury - but continued to speak after objections and rolling his eyes.

At one point, after sending the jury out of the room, the judge became enraged when he said Mr Costello was staring him down.

Judge Merchan then briefly cleared the courtroom of reporters and scolded Mr Costello, warning that if he misbehaved again, he would be removed from the courtroom and his evidence would be stricken.