What you need to know
- A Manhattan jury found Donald Trump guilty on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in his New York hush money criminal trial. Judge Juan Merchan set a sentencing hearing for July 11.
- Prosecutors accused Trump of taking part in an illegal conspiracy to undermine the integrity of the 2016 presidential election and an unlawful plan to suppress negative information, which included concealing a hush money payment to an adult film star.
- A felony conviction of a former president or party frontrunner is unprecedented, but Trump, who is the 2024 presumptive GOP nominee, can still run for office.
- Trump called the jury’s decision a “disgrace” and said the “real verdict” will come during the presidential election on November 5. President Joe Biden said on social media that his 2024 rival can only be defeated at the ballot box.
What it was like inside the New York courtroom when Trump was found guilty of 34 felonies
Before the historic and unprecedented guilty verdict was delivered against Donald Trump on Thursday afternoon, the former president appeared to be the most relaxed he’d been since his hush money trial began in April.
Trump was smiling and laughing with his attorney, Todd Blanche, as they waited for Judge Juan Merchan to announce the jury was heading home for the day.
With Trump and prosecutors assembled, Merchan returned to the bench at 4:13 p.m. ET to let the parties know that he planned to send the jury home for the day in about 15 minutes. The judge left the courtroom, and Trump, his lawyers and the prosecutors remained behind to wait for the end of the day.
But everything changed when the judge re-entered the courtroom at 4:36 p.m. ET with a stunning note: The jury had reached a verdict.
The jury needed 30 minutes to fill out the forms, leaving Trump and the attorneys sitting in the courtroom until the judge and jury returned. They mostly sat still while waiting, occasionally making small talk amongst themselves.
When the judge returned to the bench, he warned the parties and the audience against “reactions” or “outbursts of any kind” before the jury entered.
The six alternates entered and sat in the first row of the gallery, behind prosecutors. The 12 jurors took their seats in the jury box. A clerk prompted the jury foreman with each of the 34 counts. He answered “guilty” 34 times.
The attorneys were silent and serious as the verdict was read. Only the sound of feverish typing could be heard from the galley filled with press and several members of the public as the foreman delivered Trump’s fate.
Reporters could not initially see Trump’s facial reaction when the first guilty verdict was read – the courthouse had the video screen off while the foreman read most of the verdict, as the court turned off video whenever jurors were moving.
Keep reading about how the moment unfolded.
