Donald Trump Found Guilty On All Counts In New York Criminal Hush Money Trial

NEW YORK — A jury of 12 New Yorkers on Thursday found former President Donald Trump guilty on all 34 charges of falsifying business documents to cover up an alleged affair with porn actor Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 presidential election.

The charges, brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, spawned the first-ever criminal trial of a U.S. president in the country’s nearly 250-year history. The case is also notable as it could be the only one of four criminal cases involving Trump to go before a jury prior to the 2024 presidential election.

Trump denied having an affair with Daniels and pleaded not guilty to all 34 charges.

The jury consisted of five women and seven men, with two being working lawyers. Each of the charges corresponded to a document that had allegedly been falsified — either a check, an invoice or another document.

Closing arguments were delivered Tuesday in the trial after around five weeks of witness testimony from 22 individuals, all but two of them called by the prosecution.

“President Trump is innocent,” Trump attorney Todd Blanche told the jury in his closing argument. “He did not commit any crimes, and the district attorney has not met their burden of proof. Period.”

The porn actor and Michael Cohen — a now-disbarred attorney once steadfastly loyal to Trump — provided some of the most engrossing testimony against the former president over the course of the trial. But other days of the trial were comparatively dull, underscoring how the case ultimately came down to a collection of business records.

While Trump was barred by a gag order from making public comments about the trial, that did not stop him. New York state Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan was moved to fine the former