A New York jury unanimously convicted Donald Trump on all 34 counts in the criminal case against him on Thursday for falsifying business records to disguise a $130,000 hush money payment from Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen to porn star Stormy Daniels.
New York Judge Juan Merchan set a sentencing date for July 11.
Trump issued a series of posts on TruthSocial denouncing the outcome. One of them stated, “The Jury Instructions given by HIGHLY CONFLICTED Judge, Juan Merchan, were UNFAIR, MISLEADING, INACCURATE, AND UNCONSTITUTIONAL. They were also VERY CONFUSING (Just what the Judge wanted!), BECAUSE THERE WAS NO CRIME!”
“Although you must conclude unanimously that the defendant conspired to promote or prevent the election of any person to a public office by unlawful means, you need not be unanimous as to what those unlawful means were,” Merchan told the jury. The jurors were required to find that Trump falsified the 34 records with an intent to commit, aid or conceal another crime.
In an unusual twist taking advantage of an obscure New York Court of Appeals ruling, Judge Merchan chose to withhold his 55-page jury instructions. Jurors were only allowed to hear them read aloud – an exercise that took an hour and 40 minutes to complete.
Read the rest of the article at The Tennessee Star