Former President Donald Trump has been found guilty on all 34 counts in his New York criminal hush money trial, making him the first former US president to be convicted in the country’s history.
The case centred on allegations that he falsified business records to hide a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
Prosecutors initially charged the former president with falsifying business records, alleging that he falsified the records to conceal unlawfully interfering in the 2016 presidential election through the $130,000 hush money payment.
The trial lasted for over six weeks against the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. Trump’s conviction marks another historic moment, with an uncertain impact on the 2024 presidential election.
After the 12-member jury started deliberations on Wednesday, Donald Trump, while talking to the media, said, “Mother Teresa could not beat these charges. These charges are rigged. The whole country’s a mess between the borders and fake elections and you have a trial like this where the judge is so conflicted he can’t breathe.”
The 77-year-old said: “It’s a disgrace. And I mean that. Mother Teresa could not beat those charges. But we’ll see. We’ll see how we do.”
According to strategists, quoted by The Hill, said: “It is to Trump’s benefit to create a narrative that the case is stacked against him, lowering the bar in the event he is convicted or allowing him to declare victory against a rigged system in the event he is found not guilty.”
“So I’ll stay around here. This is five weeks and five weeks of really essentially not campaigning, although I took a big lead in the polls over the last few weeks,” he said.
“Something is going on. Because I think the people of this country see that this is a rigged deal.”
The business mogul is facing 34 criminal charges in the hush money case which alleged that Trump had paid 130,000 to Stormy Daniels in 2016.
