Donald Trump has become the first former US president to be criminally convicted.
In a historic decision, a New York jury has found him guilty of falsifying business records to commit election fraud.
He was found guilty of all 34 counts he faced. Unanimity was required for any verdict.
The former president is set to be sentenced on 11 July – days before the start of the Republican National Convention on 15 July where Trump is expected to be formally nominated for president.
The verdicts plunge the country into unexplored territory ahead of the election on 5 November as opinion polls show Trump and Joe Biden locked in a tight race for the White House.
Trump faces a maximum sentence of four years in prison, though others convicted of the same crime often receive shorter sentences, fines or probation.
Speaking outside the court, Trump said the conviction was a “disgrace” and that he is “a very innocent man”.
He said the trial was “rigged” and that the judge was “conflicted” and “should never have been allowed to try this case”.
“This is long from over,” Trump added.
After the conviction he travelled in a convoy of black jeeps to dinner in New York City.
Meanwhile, Joe Biden’s press secretary said in a statement that “no one is above the law,” and that “Donald Trump has always mistakenly believed that he would not face any punishment for breaking the law to serve his own interests,” said Tyler, communications director for the Biden-Harris campaign.
“The threat Trump poses to our democracy has never been greater. He has waged an increasingly insane campaign of revenge and retaliation, has pledged to be a dictator ‘from day one,’ and has sought to ‘nullify’ the Constitution so he can regain and retain power,” he added.
“A second term for President Trump will mean chaos, the restriction of American freedoms, and incitement to political violence. And the American people will fight back in November.”
Alvin Bragg, the New York District Attorney who filed the lawsuit against Trump, said in a press conference after the verdict that Trump’s team “followed the facts and the law without fear or favor.”
He thanked the New York Police Department, court staff and the jurors, who he said were “attentive and attentive.” “I feel deeply grateful to have worked with them and to be a part of this system,” he said.
“This defendant may be different from any other in American history, but like any other case, today we have reached this trial, and ultimately this verdict,” Bragg added. Meanwhile, Michael Cohen, Trump’s former fixer and a key witness in the trial, said, “Today is an important day for accountability and the rule of law. The truth will always matter, even if it has been a difficult journey for my family and me.” He also posted a message to X celebrating the verdict.
Lawsuits Against Trump
Trump was at the center of a hush-money cover-up conspiracy aimed at buying the silence of porn stars days before the 2016 election.
When revelations by Stormy Daniels about her sexual relationship with Trump threatened to jeopardize his presidential campaign, he ordered his lawyers to pay $130,000 (£102,000) in hush money.
Rumors of the payment spread, and Trump was later elected the 45th President of the United States.
President Trump looked on calmly as the jury was questioned to confirm the guilty verdict. They deliberated for nine and a half hours.
Judge Juan Merchan thanked the jurors for their service, saying “you can’t force anyone to do something they don’t want to do”. The decision is yours.” Jurors are now free to speak out about the trial.
Both supporters and protesters gathered outside and could be heard in the 15th floor hallway of the courthouse where the case was being heard.
The five-week trial in the Manhattan Criminal Court heard how the backdrop to the crime was a scandal in the Trump campaign a month before the 2016 election.
A video tape from the TV show Access Hollywood was made public, in which Trump was caught on a microphone talking in lewd terms about groping women (“When you’re a star they let you do it, grab them by the p***y. You can do anything.”)
The trial heard how it was viewed as a “crisis” within Team Trump and that the campaign was soon facing another.
Ms Daniels, an adult film actor, claimed she had a sexual encounter with Trump in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, in 2006.
Fast-forward 10 years and, as he ran for office, she was hawking her story.
The details, as heard in this trial, were that she had met Trump at a golf tournament, and he had invited her to dinner.
She arrived at his hotel suite to find him dressed in satin pyjamas, until she asked him to change.
At one point, he produced a magazine, and she told the court she spanked him “right on the butt”.
Later, she emerged from the bathroom to find him lying on the bed in a T-shirt and boxer shorts, and they ended up having sex.
Trump denies the liaison took place.
‘Catch and kill’
Her plan to sell her story was communicated to Trump by David Pecker, former publisher of the National Enquirer magazine.
He was a friend of Trump and operated a “catch and kill” scheme on his behalf, to catch negative stories and kill them before they could be published.
He’d already paid $150,000 (£117,000) to silence Karen McDougal, a Playboy model with a story of a 10-month affair with Trump.
Trump also denies that affair ever took place.
Mr Pecker told the court he’d attended a meeting at Trump Tower, New York, in August 2015 with Trump and Michael Cohen, Trump’s lawyer and fixer.
At the meeting, Mr Pecker told Trump he’d be his “eyes and ears”.
Michael Cohen testified that, upon learning that Ms Daniels planned to sell her story, Trump told him: “This is a disaster, a total disaster. Women are going to hate me.
“This is really a disaster. Women will hate me. Guys, they think it’s cool. But this is going to be a disaster for the campaign.”
Cohen then paid Daniels $130,000 (£102,000) to buy the article and then swept it under the carpet.
Importantly, he said he did this at the direction of President Trump and put the former president at the centre of a conspiracy.
Paying hush money is not illegal – the crime was how President Trump told “Mr Trump”. Fix-It paid back the money and the reason for the payment.
After Trump was elected president, he paid back Cohen $420,000 (£329,000). This included $130,000 (£102,000) “topped up” to account for tax liabilities and other payments and bonuses.
The repayments came in the form of a series of cheques recorded as legal expenses.
It was a crime — falsifying business records and made even harder by that — to try to hide from voters negative stories that could hurt Trump’s electoral chances.
In the words of the indictment, this was a “planned, organized, and protracted conspiracy to influence the 2016 election.”