Former US President Donald Trump has been found guilty on all 34 felony counts in his hush money trial in New York.
Following the verdict, Trump said he was “a very innocent man”, and that the “disgraceful trial” was “rigged”.
“Everybody knows what happened here,” Trump told media gathered at the Manhattan Criminal Court.
The jury deliberated for about 9.5 hours total: about 4.5 hours Wednesday, and five hours Thursday (NZT Friday).
At the heart of the charges were reimbursements paid to Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen for a US$130,000 hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels in exchange for not going public with her claim about a 2006 sexual encounter with Trump.
Prosecutors said the reimbursements were falsely logged as “legal expenses” to hide the true nature of the transactions.
The charges Trump faced were punishable by up to four years in prison. He had denied all wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty.
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