Becomes the first former U.S. President convicted of felony crimes; Sentencing on July 11

NEW YORK CITY (TIP): A New York jury convicted Donald Trump on all 34 charges in his hush money case on Thursday, May 30, in a seismic development barely five months ahead of the election where he seeks to recapture the White House.

The verdict makes Trump the first criminally convicted former U.S. President but does not prevent him from campaigning for another term.
The verdict is a stunning legal reckoning for Trump and exposes him to potential prison time in the city where his manipulations of the tabloid press helped catapult him from a real estate tycoon to reality television star and ultimately president, says an AP report.
As he seeks a return to the White House in this year’s election, the judgment presents voters with another test of their willingness to accept Trump’s boundary-breaking behavior, the AP report says.
Donald Trump’s sentencing for falsifying business records will take place on July 11, the judge who presided over the trial said.
Judge Juan Merchan set sentencing for 10:00 am (1400 GMT) on July 11, just days ahead of the Republican convention where Trump is expected to be named the party’s presidential nominee.
Judge Juan Merchan thanked the jury for their service and giving the case the “attention it deserved.”
“You were engaged in a difficult and stressful task,” Judge Juan Merchan said after the jury convicted the former U.S. President of 34 counts of falsifying business records. “You gave this matter the attention it deserved.”
Trump’s conviction drew quick reactions.
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who served as Donald Trump’s White House press secretary and has been considered a potential contender to be his running mate, shortly after the verdict called his hush money trial a “politically-motivated sham trial.”
U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, the leading Democratic candidate for Michigan’s U.S. Senate seat, said she first heard the news while looking at a garden on the island with other people around, describing the situation as a “weird experience.” She said felt sad because presidents “should be respectable, serious people that kids can look up to.”
Prosecutor Alvin Bragg said “the jury has spoken” after Trump was found guilty on all charges at his hush money trial.
“Our job is to follow the facts and the law without fear or favor,” Manhattan District Attorney Bragg told reporters.
“We did our job. (There are) many voices out there, the only voice that matters is the voice of the jury, and the jury has spoken.”
Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer who was a key prosecution witness in his trial, hailed the guilty verdict against the former President.
Major Republican donors say they are going to keep pumping cash into supporting Donald Trump’s presidential run, excited by polls showing him in the lead and fired up by his unprecedented criminal conviction, according to interviews with around a dozen donors and fundraisers.
“This was a rigged, disgraceful trial,” Trump told reporters after leaving the courtroom. “The real verdict is going to be November 5 by the people. They know what happened, and everyone knows what happened here.”
The White House said it respects the “rule of law” after Donald was convicted in a criminal trial.
“We respect the rule of law, and have no additional comment,” Ian Sams, White House Counsel’s Office spokesperson, said in a statement.
House of Representatives Committee Chairman Jim Jordan says “The verdict is a travesty of justice. The Manhattan kangaroo court shows what happens when our justice system is weaponized by partisan prosecutors in front of a biased judge with an unfair process, designed to keep President Trump off the campaign trail and avoid bringing attention to President Biden’s failing radical policies. Americans see through Democrats’ lawfare tactics and know President Trump will be vindicated on appeal.”
Donald Trump’s conviction shows that “no one is above the law”, his election rival President Joe Biden’s campaign said.
“In New York today, we saw that no one is above the law,” Biden-Harris campaign communications director Michael Tyler said in a statement.
“But today’s verdict does not change the fact that the American people face a simple reality. There is still only one way to keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office: at the ballot box.”
Republican U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson described Donald Trump’s conviction on all charges in his hush money case as “shameful.”
“Today is a shameful day in American history. Democrats cheered as they convicted the leader of the opposing party on ridiculous charges, predicated on the testimony of a disbarred, convicted felon. This was a purely political exercise, not a legal one,” he said in a statement.
Shares of Trump Media & Technology Group, the owner of social networking site Truth Social, slumped on Thursday, May 30. Trump Media’s stock was down about 9% in after-hours trading as news of the verdict emerged.
(With inputs from agencies)