NEW YORK (AP) Donald Trump his criminal trial And on Friday, Trump continued to undermine New York's criminal justice system as he sought to re-broadcast his 34 felony convictions as a driver, rather than a hindrance, to his White House bid.
Trump spoke to reporters at his namesake tower in Manhattan on Friday, returning to the campaign trail a day after he was convicted of trying to fraudulently influence the 2016 election and falsifying business records to conceal fraud. Hush money paid to porn actors He claimed to have had sex.
Donald Trump's conviction The historic hush money trial ended with a guilty verdict on 34 felony charges, but the fight is far from over. Here's what you need to know.
- How did Trump respond? In a speech on Friday, President Trump falsely denounced the “rigged trial” and attacked key witnesses. Follow AP's live coverage.
- When is the verdict? July 11th, a few days before Republican They plan to select Trump as their presidential candidate in 2024.
- Can Trump vote? He may have been convicted and live in Florida, but You can still vote Unless he ends up in a New York State prison.
- Will this affect the election? Trump's status as a person convicted of a felony, as was once thought, It has absolutely no effect on voters.
The Republican former president remained defiant, claiming the verdict was unfair and politically driven and trying to downplay the underlying facts of the case.
“This is not hush money. This is a non-disclosure agreement. It's completely legal and completely normal,” he said.
In messages aimed at galvanising his supporters, he portrayed himself as a martyr and suggested that if it happened to him “it can happen to anyone”.
“I'm going to do whatever it takes to defend our country and our Constitution. I don't care,” he said, “so we're going to keep fighting.”
meanwhile The conviction against him Trump's vow on Thursday to fight the election appears to have galvanized his base of support, including people who have begun donating to his campaign, but it is unclear whether this will help him win over independents who will play a decisive role in the November election.
No former president or party nominee has been convicted of a felony or faced the prospect of prison. Trump is expected to make his legal troubles a central part of his campaign. Trump has long maintained without evidence that the four indictments against him were engineered to block Democrat President Joe Biden from entering the White House. The hush money lawsuit was filed by a Manhattan district attorney who does not work for the Justice Department or the White House.
Trump, who has positioned himself as a proponent of law enforcement and even spoken about the possibility of police officers treating suspects roughly, has spent the past two years attacking parts of the criminal justice system that applies to him and questioning the integrity and motives of investigators and prosecutors.
After weeks of speaking mostly from a dilapidated Manhattan courthouse, Trump chose to return to campaign mode on Friday in the atrium of Trump Tower, the brass-and-rose marble lobby where, nine years later next month, he descended a gilded escalator to announce his 2016 campaign.
“We're going to fight,” Trump said. “I'm the kind of guy that a lot of people would have walked away from a long time ago.”
Trump appeared tense and angry when he emerged from the courtroom shortly after the verdict on Thursday, his words sharp and drawn-out. But at Trump Tower on Friday, he appeared more relaxed and reverted to his usual theatrical rally mode, especially as his speech progressed. He did not answer questions from reporters.
What you need to know about the 2024 election
Despite the historic verdict, Trump delivered a speech that was an abbreviated version of his usual rally speeches and sounded little different from the way he spoke before his conviction.
In his rambling remarks, Trump first attacked Biden over his immigration and tax policies before turning the focus to his own case, ranting and raving about the threat of prison time if he violated rules. Gag orderHe criticized the complexities of the case and the court process as unfair and made false statements and inaccurate explanations in the process.
Trump said he wanted to testify but did not exercise his right, which would have allowed prosecutors to cross-examine him. The former president pointed out on Friday that he could be charged with perjury for slipping up, saying, “Theoretically, you shouldn't testify, because the minute you testify — even George Washington, you shouldn't testify — if you say anything wrong, they're going to indict you.”
Trump tested the limits of a silence ban that bars him from publicly criticizing witnesses including Michael Cohen, calling the former fixer who was the prosecution's most important witness in the case a “scumbag.”
He also returned to the authoritarian themes he has repeatedly emphasized in speeches and rallies, describing the United States under Biden as a “corrupt” and “fascist” state.
His son Eric Trump and daughter-in-law Lara Trump were also in attendance, but his wife Melania Trump, who has remained publicly silent since the verdict, was not present.
Outside on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, supporters gathered across the street and waved a giant red sign reading “Trump or Death” in front of an upscale boutique. A small group of protesters held up signs saying “Guilty” and “Justice Matters.”
On Friday morning, the Trump campaign announced that a flood of donations had come in since the verdict, raising $34.8 million — more than $1 million per felony charge and more than the Trump campaign raised combined in January and February.
Trump and his campaign had been preparing for a guilty verdict for days, holding out hope that the verdict would be a mistrial. On Tuesday, Trump blasted the charges, saying not even the nun and saint Mother Teresa could overturn them, and repeatedly denounced them as “injustice.”
Trump's aides released a memo on Wednesday arguing that the verdict would not affect the election, regardless of whether Trump is found guilty or innocent.
Still, the news was a shock. Trump listened to the jury return a guilty verdict on all charges, sitting expressionless as the verdict was read.
His campaign has issued a flurry of fundraising appeals, with Republican supporters rallying to his side. In one text message, he was called a “political prisoner” even though it is not yet known whether he will face prison time. The campaign also began selling “Make America Great Again” caps that are black instead of the usual red to reflect “a dark day in history.”
Aides reported that the influx of donations caused WinRed, the platform the campaign is using to raise funds, to go down. The $34.8 million raised on Thursday does not include money raised at Trump's in-person fundraisers or donations that continued to come in online on Friday.
Trump is scheduled to hold his first debate with Biden, announce his running mate and formally accept the party's nomination at the Republican National Convention in the next two months. But before he heads to Milwaukee for the convention, Trump must return to court on July 11 to be sentenced. Penalties could range from fines and probation to up to four years in prison.
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Associated Press writers Adriana Gomez Licon in Miami, Meg Kinnard in Columbia, South Carolina, Gary Fields in Washington and Ali Swenson and Michael R. Sisak in New York contributed to this report.
