Donald Trump's jury, made up of 12 members, declared this Thursday, May 30, the former president of the United States is guilty after being accused of altering financial records to cover up payments to Stormy Daniels, a porn actress who claimed to have had an alleged extramarital relationship with the Republican.
Donald Trump became the first former US president to be held responsible for serious crimes, after the jury found the former president guilty of all 34 charges he faced after deliberating for 9.5 hours.
The verdict exposes Trump faces possible prison time in the city, where the press helped catapult him from real estate mogul to television star and, finally, president. The verdict once again tests voters' willingness to accept Trump's transgressive behavior in a year when he tries return to the White House.
Trump, who has defended his innocence and on multiple occasions described this process as a witch hunt that seeks to interfere in his campaign to try to return to the Presidency, awaited the resolution with his arms crossed.
However, after hearing the verdict, the former US president insisted that he has not committed fraud and has not done anything wrong. “The true verdict will be that of the people on November 5, they know what happened here,” he assured.
Given this, Judge Juan Merchan scheduled the sentencing hearing against Trump for July 11.
The guilty verdict means a resounding legal blow to the presumptive Republican presidential candidate as he seeks return to the White House. While acquittal, on the other hand, would have been an important victory for Trump that would embolden him during his campaign.
Since the verdict had to be unanimous, there was also the possibility that a mistrial in case the jury could not have reached a consensus after several days of deliberations.
What crimes persecute Donald Trump?
Donald Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying records commercials at his company in connection with an alleged scheme to conceal potentially embarrassing stories about him during the 2016 presidential election campaign.
The allegation stems from refunds paid to Trump's then-lawyer Michael Cohen after he made a $130,000 payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels to silence her claims that she and Trump had sex in 2006.
Trump is accused of misrepresenting Cohen's reimbursements as legal expenses to hide that they were tied to a payment to buy Daniels' silence.
With information from EFE and AP
