Verdict Reached in Donald Trump’s Historic Hush Money Trial — Watch Livestream
A verdict has been reached in Donald Trump‘s hush money trial, the first criminal trial of a former president of the United States.
Watch the livestream above for updates, as the verdict is announced. (Update: Guilty, on all 34 counts.)
The verdict was arrived at 29 hours after the New York jury of 12 first began deliberating on 34 felony counts against Trump, after they’d heard five weeks of testimony from 22 witnesses and eight hours of closing arguments. All told, there were about nine hours of deliberation.
A felony conviction of a onetime POTUS and presumptive GOP nominee would be unprecedented.
Trump in this matter was arrested in April 2023 and charged with 34 felony counts — including a felony charge of falsifying business records — related to hush money payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, with whom he allegedly had sexual encounters in 2006. The charges brought by Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg stemmed from Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen testifying that he paid off Daniels in 2016 and declared it a legal expense, as Trump pursued his first White House bid. Former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker allegedly brokered the Daniels deal as well as used a “catch-and-kill” arrangement with Playboy model Karen McDougal to keep quiet her own 2006 affair with Trump.
For Trump to be found guilty of a felony charge of falsifying business records, jurors must decide that he not only “cause(d) a false entry in the business records of an enterprise” while acting “with intent to defraud,” but also that the “intent to defraud includes an intent to commit another crime or to aid or conceal the commission thereof.”
This was far from the onetime POTUS’ first scrape with the law. In June 2023, Trump was arrested and charged with 37 felony counts involving his alleged mishandling of classified documents after he left office in January 2021. That historic arraignment of a former president accused Trump of keeping classified documents in boxes stored at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, showing them to people without a security clearance, and not returning them when asked.
On Aug. 1, 2023, a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C. brought four charges against Trump, including conspiracy to defraud the United States and conspiracy against rights. The indictment alleged that Trump “pursued unlawful means of discounting legitimate votes and subverting the [2020] election results” in an effort to remain in the Oval Office, despite the fact that he lost said election. It also covered Trump’s alleged role in inciting the January 6th Capitol riot, where his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol, attacking police officers and vandalizing the building in an effort to keep Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s victory.
And on Aug. 14, 2023, Trump was indicted for a fourth time in five months, charged with 13 felonies for allegedly conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Eighteen of Trump’s allies, including Rudy Giuliani, Jenna Ellis and Mark Meadows, were also charged in the indictment. Those charges stemmed from Trump’s alleged attempts to claim victory in the state of Georgia in the 2020 election, despite the fact that he officially lost the state to Biden by 11,779 votes.
Trump is set to debate incumbent President of the United States Joe Biden on Thursday, June 27, at CNN’s Atlanta studios, with no audience present, and with CNN anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash serving as moderators. Both presumptive candidates have also agreed to a second debate, to be held Sept. 10 and air on ABC, with David Muir and Linsey Davis of ABC News as moderators.
Even if it’s guilty what does it change. He’ll never spend a day in jail and still run for President 🤷
It needed to be done. No one is above the law. Sure, I doubt he’ll ever see any jail time and sure he’ll still be able to run for president, even if he were jailed. Sure, it won’t change the hardcore cult’s mindset. It’s yet another stain on our history. A former president is now a convicted felon.
As an added note, he lost his right to vote.
But he did NOT loose his right to vote. New York does not bar a convicted felon who is not incarcerated from voting. Florida, his state of residence, defers to the state that convicted him. Thus, if he isn’t in jail, he can vote.
You are correct. It will depend on whether New York sends him to prison. Once he leaves prison, he is eligible to vote. So the only way he would not be allowed to vote if if he is in jail on election day.
Yeah, I get that it was necessary. But changes nothing. Well I guess the fighting will get louder.
I’m actually more interested in the racketeering case against Trump (et al) stemming from an alleged scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.
I feel this in my bones as well.🤢
I hope and pray that Hunter Biden gets the same treatment that President Trump has received No, he deserves much worse treatment. And I cannot wait for dementia ridden Joe Biden to be impeached because of all his corruption. Corruption like I’ve never seen in my lifetime.
PH,
Get over it!
Corrupt kids of Presidents? JAVANKA
Dem jury, Dem judge, Dem prosecutor convicted trump. New York is a blue state. It is run by Democrats. Trump was never going to get a fair trial and everyone knew. It doesn’t matter.
🙄 You keep telling
yourself that!
What concerns me is the message this sends to people. On one hand, a man can run for president and become president as a convicted felon – 34 felonies. What about the average guy who cannot get a job because he is a convicted felon – 1 drug charge. It sends a message the system is not fair so why play by the rules of law?? It also says something about the people who would vote for him knowing how this would affect the morale of the country. All the media time spent on his corruption could have better spent on other issues.
Kyle,
I agree with you!