WASHINGTON – President-elect Donald Trump was convicted Friday in his New York hush money trial, just days before his inauguration. This makes him the only former and future US president with a criminal record.
Trump has been prosecuted four times, but New York state’s case was the only one that went to trial. A jury sentenced him in May on 34 felony counts of falsifying invoices, checks and accounting entries that amounted to a $130,000 restitution to his lawyer for paying off a porn star before the 2016 presidential election.
New York Judge Juan Merchan sentenced the president-elect to an “unconditional discharge,” imposing no prison time or fines, but cemented Trump’s success 10 days before he takes the oath of office to become the 47th president.
During the virtual hearing at his Mar-a-Lago residence, Trump said he was “totally innocent” and defended the business filing’s description of his payments to his attorney as “legal fees.” As in the past, he accused the federal government of being involved in the New York state case.
“It was a political witch hunt aimed at damaging my reputation so that I would lose the election and it obviously didn’t work. And the people of our country saw it firsthand because they watched the case in your courtroom,” the president-elect said audio published by C-SPAN. Cameras were not allowed in the courtroom during the trial and verdict.
The courtroom has circumscribed space for the public and journalists.
Merchan called the case “extraordinary” but said “the same burden of proof was applied and a jury of ordinary citizens returned a verdict.”
After Merchan explained the phrase, he said to Trump: “Sir, I wish you success in your second term.”
Trump was represented Friday morning and in court by his personal attorney Todd Blanche, whom he has named as the country’s next deputy attorney general, the No. 2 person in the U.S. Justice Department.
Trump’s last minute attempt
After months of delays, the verdict was announced, although Trump asked the US Supreme Court at the last second to stop the proceedings. The judges disputed Trump’s request was filed slow Thursday, although the order noted that Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh had granted it.
ABC News reported Thursday that Trump had spoken to Alito by phone in the court’s emergency room just hours before the motion was filed. Alito told the network that the two had not discussed the proposal.
The verdict, which lasted less than 30 minutes, was a brief pause in Trump’s hectic preparations for his second presidency. The president-elect was scheduled to host members of the House Freedom Caucus, a group of far-right House Republicans, at his Florida estate later on Friday. Trump huddled together with Senate Republicans on Capitol Hill on Wednesday and with Republican governors on Thursday.
Trump called his verdict on his Truth Social platform a “fraud,” a “hoax” and a “despicable charade,” which he will appeal, a process that will likely drag on for years in New York.
“The true jury, the American people, have spoken by re-electing me with an overwhelming mandate in one of the most consequential elections in history,” Trump wrote.
The 12 jurors in New York who convicted Trump were also U.S. citizens, or “Americans,” as the law requires.
Immunity argument
Trump had challenged his New York conviction on the grounds that the Supreme Court heard the case last summer governed that former presidents enjoy criminal immunity for official acts while in office and enjoy presumptive immunity for acts in the course of their official duties.
Ultimately merchandising disputed Trump’s immunity argument that the trial and evidence “related solely to unofficial conduct that is not entitled to immunity protection.”
Trump has also been preoccupied with another legal battle in recent days as he cheered a court order block the release of Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith’s final report detailing federal criminal charges against Trump for misusing and hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate after he left office and for plotting to undermine the results of the 2020 presidential election be described.
Blacksmith ended Both cases follow Trump’s election victory, as the Justice Department has a long-standing record against prosecuting sitting presidents.
A federal appeals court on Friday disputed is calling for the report to be blocked entirely, leaving only the portion of the report dealing with the classified documents case protected, after Trump’s two co-defendants in the case appealed.
Last updated on January 10, 2025, 12:20 p.m
