Adam S. Levy, Dailymail.com and The Associated Press
Updated May 30, 2024 22:29, May 31, 2024 03:48
Hollywood was swift to react after the jury in Donald Trump's hush money criminal trial returned a guilty verdict for the former president on all 34 felony charges brought against him.
“You should call him 34, not 45,” former Star Trek star George Takei said.
Kathy Griffin, whose career was hit hard in 2017 by the controversy over a photo shoot depicting violence against President Trump, said she was crying “tears of joy” following the verdict and also thanked Stormy Daniels for testifying in the case.
“GUILFO!!!!” said director and actor Rob Reiner, while actor John Cusack said, “This foolish traitor is a 34-time convicted felon. Now I wonder how the judge will handle the Trump contempt charge?”
The news was expected to spark further reactions from the celebrity world after a New York City jury delivered its verdict late Thursday afternoon after two days and nine-and-a-half hours of deliberation.
“Convicted felon Donald Trump blames the judge, jury and New York for convicting him on 34 charges,” Barbra Streisand said. “He will never accept responsibility for his crimes. The American people should never allow this felon anywhere near the White House again.”
Actress Vivica A. Fox said, “Wow #TrumpWon!!” while “This Is Us” actress Mandy Moore said, “Glad there's some accountability!!!”
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Comedian DL Hughley said, “We really need to do something about white-on-white crime! #TeamDl.”
Actor Billy Baldwin said he was “guilty on all counts. E. Jean Carroll … Stormy Daniels … election interference, espionage, incitement of insurrection.”
Steve Martin echoed Takei's sentiment, giving the film a “34 out of 45.”
Jimmy Kimmel posted a photo of Shaquille O'Neal slam dunking, highlighting his jersey number, 34.
“Donald Trump is now a convicted felon,” wrote actor Michael Ian Black.
Actor John Leguizamo said, “Trump can now legally not vote for himself!!! Karma at its best! It's a good day for America!”
Reality TV star Anna Duggar, wife of convicted sex offender Josh Duggar, predicted the guilty verdict would mobilize Trump supporters ahead of the November election: “Who knew it only took 12 votes to deliver an early victory in the presidential election?!?! #TrumpWon.”
Prominent Trump critics in show business, Rosie O'Donnell and Robert De Niro, had not yet publicly commented on the ruling as of Thursday afternoon.
O'Donnell's most recent post on Twitter/X was a repost of one from May 17, while De Niro, who gave an anti-Trump speech outside the courthouse this week, does not have verified social media accounts and has yet to release a statement through his representatives.
De Niro's Casino co-star Sharon Stone suggested that new laws be enacted to bar convicted felons from running for public office: “Isn't it time for the sitting president to enact a law that says that convicted felons cannot run for any public office in the United States?”
Prosecutors charged that Trump falsified internal business records to hide hush money payments related to a scheme to conceal information that could damage his 2016 presidential bid.
The allegations center on an allegation that he paid Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, $130,000 in hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels in exchange for not making public her allegation that she had a sexual relationship with Trump in 2006.
Prosecutors say the rebates were falsely recorded as “legal expenses” to conceal the nature of the transactions. Trump's charges carry a maximum sentence of four years in prison. He has denied all wrongdoing and has pleaded not guilty.
The case is the first of Trump's four-count indictment to go to trial and marks the first criminal case against a former U.S. president.
President Joe Biden's campaign said Thursday that former President Donald Trump's conviction shows “no one is above the law” but sought to keep the focus on the November election.
“The only way to keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office is through the ballot box,” communications director Michael Tyler said in a statement. “Conviction or not, Trump will be the Republican nominee for president.”
Biden himself has not yet commented on the ruling. He is spending the night at his family's beach house in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, after marking the anniversary of his son Beau's death at a Wilmington church early Thursday.
Biden's campaign has for months sought to remind Americans of the dangers of Trump serving another term as president, rather than the personal danger the former president faces in court.
“A second term for Trump would mean chaos, curtailment of American freedoms and incitement to political violence, and the American people will reject it this November,” Tyler said.
Judge Juan M. Marchan scheduled a ruling in Donald Trump's hush-money lawsuit for July 11, just days before the Republican Party is expected to nominate Trump as its 2024 presidential nominee.
Just minutes after the jury verdict in Donald Trump's hush money lawsuit was announced, Trump's supporters released a series of statements.
“New York's ruling is a complete travesty that makes a mockery of our justice system,” Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., a leading vice presidential candidate, wrote on the social platform X.
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, second in line to the presidency, called the trial “purely a political stunt, not a legal one,” in a statement. Johnson added, “President Trump will, of course, appeal this absurd verdict, and he will win!”
Before the jury handed down its verdict, one Republican urged people to respect the legal process.
Larry Hogan, a former Maryland governor and current candidate for Senate, wrote to X, “All leaders, regardless of party, must not add fuel to the fire with even more poisonous partisanship. They must reaffirm what has made this country great: the rule of law.”
President Donald Trump's defense team in the hush-money trial has called for the former president's acquittal after the jury delivered its verdict.
“We ask for a not guilty verdict,” attorney Todd Blanche told Judge Juan M. Marchan.
“There was no basis or way for the jury to reach a verdict without accepting Michael Cohen's testimony,” Blanche said.
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass disputed that argument, saying, “Of course, we disagree with Ms. Blanche's interpretation of Michael Cohen's testimony.”
Marchan denied the allegations.
The former president was accused of falsifying internal records for the Trump Organization as part of a scheme to cover up damaging stories that could have hurt his 2016 campaign, given that his reputation was already in tatters at the time over comments he made about women.
Jurors in President Donald Trump's hush-money trial have resumed deliberations after re-hearing testimony from a key witness.
The 12-person jury re-heard portions of testimony from former National Enquirer publishers David Pecker and Michael Cohen.
The jury deliberated for about four and a half hours on Wednesday but failed to reach a verdict. At the end of the day, they asked to hear testimony again from the tabloid publisher and Cohen, Trump's former lawyer and personal fixer.
On Thursday morning, at the jury's request, the judge reread 30 pages of jury instructions on how to draw inferences from the evidence.
