Trump trial live: Jury finds returns guilty verdict on all counts in hush money case

Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former fixer-turned key witness in the historic trial, has celebrated the news of his ex-boss’ historic conviction.

Cohen gave testimony in the Manhattan trial alongside adult film star Stormy Daniels, who he paid $130,000 in hush money payments to conceal stories about an alleged affair she had had with Trump.

The Biden-Harris campaign released a statement following Donald Trump’s historic guilty verdict, saying that the convicted former president must now be defeated “at the ballot box”.

The statement from comms director Michael Tyler read: “In New York today, we saw that no one is above the law.

“Donald Trump has always mistakenly believed he would never face consequences for breaking the law for his own personal gain. 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.

“Convicted felon or not, Trump will be the Republican nominee for president. The threat Trump poses to our democracy has never been greater. He is running an increasingly unhinged campaign of revenge and retribution, pledging to be a dictator ‘on day one’ and calling for our Constitution to be ‘terminated’ so he can regain and keep power.

“A second Trump term means chaos, ripping away Americans’ freedoms and fomenting political violence – and the American people will reject it this November.”

Rudy Giuliani has been quick to enter the fray, telling viewers of a livestreaming: “[The verdict] is not a surprise to me”.

“This city has been politically corrupt for most of the past 150 years… You knew on day one Trump was going to be convicted.”

Giuliani himself was United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 1983 until 1989.

On his livestream he also claimed that Steve Bannon is going to be “framed” next.

“With today’s ruling, Trump is a convicted criminal who’s running for President to roll back individual rights and wreck our democracy.

Sadly, Trump can’t be shamed into doing the right thing by stepping away from the nomination, while his MAGA sycophants care so little for the rule of law that they will join him in his quest for power no matter what laws he breaks or norms he destroys.

The Lincoln Project always maintained that no matter the outcome of the trial, Trump is a danger to democracy and must be defeated at the ballot box. Now, Americans need to ask themselves, do they really think that if this dangerous criminal is elected, he will defend the nation and protect their interests?”

Speaking outside court in New York after a jury found him guilty of all charges, Donald Trump called the trial “rigged and disgrace” and maintained that he was a “very innocent man”.

The former president, who has made history with his conviction, was already looking ahead to the presidential election in November.

“This was a disgrace, this was a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who was corrupt … They wouldn’t give us a venue change,” he said.

“The real verdict is going to be November 5 by the people and they know what happened here and everybody knows what happened here… I’m a very innocent man.”

He continued: “I’m fighting for our country. I’m fighting for our Constitution. Our whole country is being rigged right now. This was done by the Biden administration in order to wound or hurt a political opponent. And I think it’s a just a disgrace.

“We’ll keep fighting, we’ll fight till the end and we’ll win because our country has gone to hell.

“We have a country that’s in big trouble, but this was a rigged decision right from day one, with a conflicted judge who should have never been allowed to try this case. Never. And we will fight for our Constitution.”

Donald Trump, the first convicted former or sitting president, will be sentenced at 10am on July 11.

Justice Juan Merchan will determine what punishment, if any, Trump will face after being convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records.

Justice Juan Merchan denied defense attorney Todd Blanche’s motion to reject the verdict.