Former President Donald Trump was stoic as Judge Juan Merchan read out the jury’s convictions on all 34 counts in his New York criminal trial Thursday.
The jury handed down the conviction after roughly two days of deliberation. Fox News contributor and GWU professor Jonthan Turley described the former President as “expressionless” during the proceedings.
“The judge is thanking the jury. There is zero response from Trump. Merchan is also lifting any further limits on the jurors,” Turley described from inside the courthouse. “Trump is expressionless.”
Moments after the verdict was delivered by the jury, the former president spoke to reporters in the hallway outside the courtroom.
“This was a disgrace. This was a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who was corrupt as a rigged trial and disgrace. It wouldn’t give us a venue change,” Trump said. “We were at five percent or 6% in this district, in this area. This was a rigged, disgraceful trial.”
Trump said “the real verdict is going to be Nov. 5 by the people.”
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Turley went on to say that he expects the conviction to be overturned on appeal.
“I obviously disagree with this verdict as do many others. I believe that the case will be reversed eventually either in the state or federal systems. However, this was the worst expectation for a trial in Manhattan. I am saddened by the result more for the New York legal system than the former president,” Turley said.
“I had hoped that the jurors might redeem the integrity of a system that has been used for political purposes. It will not rest with others to address the myriad of constitutional and procedural issues in this case. The trial is a target rich environment for appeal. However, that appeal will stretch beyond the election. In the meantime, Democrats and President Biden can add ‘convicted felon’ to the political mantra,” he added.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged former President Donald Trump with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree.
Each count carries a maximum prison sentence of 4 years. In total, Trump faces a maximum sentence of 136 years.
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Sentencing for the former president will be July 11 at 10 a.m – just four days before the start of the Republican National Convention, where he is expected to be formally nominated as the 2024 Republican presidential nominee.
Prosecutors needed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump falsified those records to conceal a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels, a pornographic performer, in the lead-up to the 2016 election to silence her about an alleged affair with Trump in 2006.
Fox News’ Brooke Singman contributed to this report
