A New York jury has found former US President Donald Trump guilty of falsifying business records to commit election fraud.
The unprecedented and historic verdict makes Trump the first former president in American history to be criminally convicted.
The verdict in the hush money trial was announced after jurors deliberated for nearly 12 hours over two days.
He was found guilty of all 34 counts he faced. Unanimity was required for any verdict.
Trump will now be sentenced on July 11.
Speaking outside the court, Trump claimed that the conviction was a “disgrace” and that he is “a very innocent man.”
He also insisted the trial was “rigged” and that the judge was “conflicted” and “should never have been allowed to try this case.”
Trump was at the centre of a scheme to cover up “hush money” payments to buy the silence of an adult film star Stormy Daniels in the days before the 2016 election.
Throughout the seven-week trial, the district attorney’s office brought in 20 witnesses to illustrate to jurors how the hush-money payment to Daniels was part of a pattern of payoffs to keep negative stories about Trump out of view before the election, and how Trump was concerned about the impact to the campaign when the payment was made in October 2016.
Cohen was the prosecution’s key witness, describing how Trump directed him to pay Daniels and then approved the scheme to repay him in $35,000 monthly installments in 2017, an amount that was “grossed up” in part to account for taxes Cohen would have to pay.
Judge Juan Merchan set Trump’s sentencing date for July 11, 2024, at 10 a.m, just days before the start of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee
