Guilty of 34 Counts In Hush-Money Case
Donald Trump has been found guilty in his Manhattan criminal hush money trial. After five weeks of testimony, a jury has found the former president of guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records.
Over the last five weeks of testimony the jury heard from a former tabloid publisher, a Hollywood fixer, the former president’s lawyer and a porn star. The former publisher of The National Enquirer, David Pecker, was the first witness and detailed a “catch and kill” scheme to influence the 2016 election that was hatched at a meeting at Trump Tower in August 2015.
Pecker testified that just months after Trump announced he was running for President he met with Trump’s lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen and Trump himself and said he would act as the campaign’s “eyes and ears” helping to identify negative stories about Trump while running negative stories on his rivals.
On Wednesday, Judge Juan Merchan instructed the jury that they needed to set aside bias or personal opinions about Trump in considering their verdict. Trump entered court yesterday accompanied by his son, Donald Trump Jr., and his longtime friend Steve Witkoff and spent most of the morning with his eyes closed shut.
“This case, at its core, is about a conspiracy and a cover-up,” prosecutor Joshua Steinglass told jurors during summations Tuesday, later adding: “We’ll never know if this effort to hoodwink voters made the difference in the 2016 election, but that’s not something we have to prove.”
The jury sat fixated as they listened to the judge explain the law and defined the crimes charged and then outlined the process of jury deliberations.
Trump, who could face four years in prison or probation, compared himself to Mother Teresa as he exited the courtroom Wednesday. “Mother Teresa could not beat these charges. The charges are rigged. The whole thing is rigged,” he told reporters.
“Mother Teresa could not beat these charges, but we’ll see,” he reiterated moments later.
