Ex-President Donald Trump has been found guilty of falsifying business records.
A New York jury found Trump guilty of 34 counts preferred against him, on Thursday.
The American leader, who presided over the US between 2017 and 2021, is seeking to take on incumbent President Joe Biden in next year’s election.
The trial may have an impact on Trump’s chances to reclaim the White House. He is the first American president to become a felon.
“The defendant, in the County of New York and elsewhere, on or about February 14, 2017, with intent to defraud and intent to commit another crime and aid and conceal the commission thereof, made and caused a false entry in the business records of an enterprise, to wit, an invoice from Michael Cohen dated February 14, 2017, marked as a record of the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, and kept and maintained by the Trump Organization.” one of the charges read.
“The defendant, in the County of New York and elsewhere, on or about February 14, 2017, with intent to defraud and intent to commit another crime and aid and conceal the commission thereof, made and caused a false entry in the business records of an enterprise, to wit, an entry in the Detail General Ledger for the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, bearing voucher number 842457, and kept and maintained by the Trump Organization,” another charge read.
CNN reports that Trump’s legal team is likely going to make the argument that their client would have never been able to get a fair trial in Manhattan.
“They’re playing a long game here,” CNN’s chief legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid said of Trump’s legal team.
“And they’re thinking of every possible objection. The strategy was described to me as ‘death by a thousand cuts’ and they’ve been racking up every objecting, every possible constitutional question they can raise before an appeals court.”
In his response, Trump described the trial as a “disgrace”, saying he is a “very innocent man”
“We didn’t do a thing wrong. I’m a very innocent man,” Trump said after leaving the courtroom.
“The real verdict is going to be November 5 by the people… They know what happened here and everybody knows what happened here,” he said.
