Donald Trump verdict LIVE: Donald Trump found guilty on all counts ...
10 mins ago – 12.01PM
Trump’s fundraising platform crashed after guilty verdictDonald Trump’s campaign donation portal, WinRed, crashed after his guilty verdict was announced amid warnings from President Joe Biden’s campaign that the former president was likely setting “fundraising records”.
Attempts to access the WinRed platform were unsuccessful as Google searches for “Donald Trump donation site” spiked, British newspaper The Times reported.
It is believed the platform was unable to cope with a surge of donations from loyal supporters galvanised by Trump’s conviction.
The revelation came after President Joe Biden’s election campaign sent texts to supporters warning that Donald Trump was likely setting “fundraising records”.
“That’s money [Trump] will use to try to get back into the White House to carry out his threats of revenge and retribution against his political opponents,” the text read, according to CNN.
The text repeated the assertion that the only way to defeat Trump is at the ballot box.
24 mins ago – 11.47AM
Trump’s lawyers expected guilty verdictDonald Trump’s lawyer, Todd Blanche, told CNN the former president’s legal team was “prepared for a guilty verdict” as Trump was unpopular in Manhattan and therefore faced an unfair trial.
“We were indicted for conduct that happened in 2015, ’16, ’17, in a jurisdiction that it was very hard for us to get a fair trial,” Blanche said.
He earlier told Fox News he had no regrets and would stick to the same legal strategy if given the chance to go back in time.
“My team is amazing, the folks that work with us, they’re brilliant – and then the president has a team, and they’re brilliant, and we all did the best that we could,” Blanche told Fox News.
“I wouldn’t change anything that we did.”
33 mins ago – 11.38AM
Conviction will likely be overturned: Mitch McConnellRepublican senator Mitch McConnell says Donald Trump’s guilty verdict is likely to be overturned.
“These charges never should have been brought in the first place,” the Senate minority leader said on X.
US Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell dodges a question about Donald Trump following a Republican policy meeting on May 8. AP
“I expect the conviction to be overturned on appeal.”
Trump and McConnell have a strained relationship and, as of January, the two hadn’t spoken in more than three years, according to CNN.
But McConnell, who will step down as the Senate’s Republican leader in November, nonetheless endorsed Trump’s presidential candidacy in March.
39 mins ago – 11.32AM
Guilty verdict a ‘disgrace’, says vice presidential hopefulJ.D. Vance, the Ohio senator widely tipped to be Donald Trump’s vice presidential running mate, has described the hush money trial as “a sham”.
“This decision is a disgrace to the rule of law and our Constitution,” Vance wrote on X.
“[Democrats] invented a felony to ‘get Trump’, with the help of a Soros funded prosecutor and a Biden donor Judge, who rigged the entire case to get this outcome.”
45 mins ago – 11.26AM
DeSantis defends former rival TrumpFlorida governor Ron DeSantis, who unsuccessfully challenged Donald Trump for the Republican nomination, said the former president’s guilty verdict showed the justice system had been bent to the political will of his opponents.
He said the case should not even have been brought to the court, given it involved “alleged misdemeanour business records violations from nearly a decade ago”.
“Today’s verdict represents the culmination of a legal process that has been bent to the political will of the actors involved: a leftist prosecutor, a partisan judge and a jury reflective of one of the most liberal enclaves in America—all in an effort to ‘get’ Donald Trump,” DeSantis wrote on X.
“It is often said that no one is above the law, but it is also true that no one is below the law. If the defendant were not Donald Trump, this case would never have been brought, the judge would have never issued similar rulings, and the jury would have never returned a guilty verdict.”
51 mins ago – 11.20AM
‘I wouldn’t change anything,’ says Trump’s lawyerDonald Trump’s lawyer, Todd Blanche, insists he has no regrets and would stick to the same legal strategy if given the chance to go back in time.
His defence came after Blanche was criticised by some legal experts for allowing Trump to dictate his approach.
“My team is amazing, the folks that work with us, they’re brilliant – and then the president has a team, and they’re brilliant, and we all did the best that we could,” Blanche told Fox News.
“I wouldn’t change anything that we did.”
56 mins ago – 11.15AM
Trump’s former fixer ‘relieved’ by verdictMichael Cohen, the man responsible for making the ‘hush money’ payment to adult movie star Stormy Daniels, said he was “relieved” but unsurprised by Donald Trump’s guilty verdict.
“This has been six years in the making,” Cohen told MSNBC.
Michael Cohen on his way to Manhattan Criminal Court during the trial earlier this month. AP
Trump’s former lawyer testified last week that he stole money from Trump’s company as a form of “self-help”, an admission that chipped away at his credibility as a star witness at the trial.
After the verdict, he said the facts had prevailed, which was “exactly what America needs right now”.
“I was nervous because so much was riding on the result of this, and I wanted to ensure that my testimony was perfect. I knew that there could be no deviation from perfection,” Cohen said.
Cohen called Trump’s attorney, Todd Blanche, a “SLOAT” – an acronym for stupidest lawyer of all time – after Blanche had referred to Cohen in his closing arguments as a “GLOAT” – the greatest liar of all time.
1 hr ago – 11.05AM
‘Justice’: Writer who successfully sued Trump for defamation reacts“Justice!!”
That is how E. Jean Carroll, the writer who was awarded $US83.3 million ($127 million) after successfully suing Donald Trump for defamation in January, reacted to the former president’s guilty verdict on Thursday (Friday AEST).
The former Elle magazine advice columnist sued Trump twice after he denied her allegations that he had sexually assaulted her in a New York department store in the late 1990s.
Trump said he had never heard of Carroll, and that she had fabricated her story to boost sales of her memoir.
Carroll testified that Trump’s denials had “shattered” her reputation as a truth-telling journalist.
1 hr ago – 10.56AM
‘Justice was served,’ says Robert De NiroActor Robert De Niro says “justice was served” in the conviction of Donald Tump for falsifying business records in the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election.
De Niro was asked about the guilty verdict on the red carpet for his new movie Ezra.
“I think justice was served,” De Niro said, according to Variety. “This is just one part of the whole picture, so I want to be very careful.”
De Niro, who appeared outside the Manhattan court this week to criticise Trump, was initially reluctant to express his views at the film premiere but eventually answered several questions.
He said he believed the conviction would affect the presidential election, before revealing he feared for his safety as a result of speaking out.
“I don’t want to be talking, but I am so upset by it. I have to say something,” De Niro said.
“This is my country. This guy wants to destroy it. Period. He’s crazy.”
1 hr ago – 10.48AM
Trump’s guilty conviction will ‘backfire’ for Democrats: KennedyPresidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy jnr has accused the Democrats of trying to beat Donald Trump in the courtroom rather than at the ballot box in a move he said would “backfire in November”.
In a post on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, Kennedy jnr said the Democrats went after Trump in the courts because they were afraid of losing the election.
“America deserves a president who can win at the ballot box without compromising our government’s separation of powers or weaponising the courts,” he wrote. “You can’t save democracy by destroying it first.”
Kennedy said he was not challenging Trump in the courts but on his handling of the COVID-19 lockdowns, his environmental record and his relationship with corporate America, among other things.
“I’ll challenge him on these things, but the Democrats won’t,” Kennedy wrote. “You know why? Because they pursue the very same policies.”
The independent’s candidacy could prove decisive in November if he directs votes away from Trump or President Joe Biden.
