Former President Donald Trump defiantly responded to his conviction in a politically motivated show trial brought on by Democrats, maintaining his innocence and vowing to fight the verdict.
“This is a rigged, disgraceful trial,” Trump said in a brief statement following the jury’s decision. “The real verdict is going to be November 5 by the people.”
The charges stemmed from a $130,000 hush money payment made by Trump’s then-personal attorney, Michael Cohen, to porn actress Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about an alleged affair with the former president. Prosecutors argued that Trump falsely marked the payments as legal expenses to cover up the settlement.
Trump accused the Biden administration of orchestrating the trial to harm a political opponent, claiming that the country has become a “divided mess” and has “gone to hell.”
“I’m fighting for our country. I’m fighting for our Constitution,” he said. “We’ll keep fighting; we’ll fight to the end, and we’ll win.”
Legal analyst Jonathan Turley expressed disappointment in the verdict but suggested that the case might eventually be reversed in either the state or federal court systems. He criticized the Manhattan trial as “the worst expectation” and lamented that the legal system had been “used for political purposes.”
The jury reached its decision after only two days of deliberations, delivering a historic conviction that marks the first time a former U.S. president has been found guilty of felony crimes. The outcome is expected to have significant ramifications for the 2024 presidential election, in which Trump is currently the front-runner for the Republican nomination.
