Live updates: Donald Trump found guilty by NY jury in Stormy ...

ABC's Brad Ryan is based in Washington DC and has been covering the trial as it unfolded.

You can read his feature piece on how the five-week trial unfolded, leading to  Donald Trump being convicted.

Read here:

Speaking to Fox News, Trump's defence attorney Todd Blanche says Trump is a smart guy "who knows what he's doing." 

"It was it was a an honor for me to spend the last six weeks with him defending him," he says.

"It didn't work. out. We got a bad result today.

"It's not over. You know, it's not over at all, but it was great."

He tells Fox he plans to continue fighting "tomorrow" and "next week."

Donald Trump has taken to his social media platform Truth Social to continue speaking against the trial.

In one post he writes:

"The Jury Instructions given by HIGHLY CONFLICTED Judge, Juan Merchan, were UNFAIR, MISLEADING, INACCURATE, AND UNCONSTITUTIONAL.

"They were also VERY CONFUSING (Just what the Judge wanted!), BECAUSE THERE WAS NO CRIME!"

He continues in another claiming his civil rights have been violated.

"OUR FAILING NATION IS BEING LAUGHED AT ALL OVER THE WORLD!" he writes.

As Rebecca Armitage explained out earlier, the jury of his peers was screened through a rigorous process, asked about their political leanings and their feelings about the former president.

Judge Juan Merchan described the 42-question screening process as "by far the most exhaustive questionnaire this court has ever used".

The Macquarie Dictionary defines it as:

a bribe to keep silent about something

In Donald Trump's case, Stormy Daniels was paid $US130,000 ahead of the 2016 US presidential election keep quiet about the sexual encounter she says he had with Mr Trump.

He was found guilty of trying to cover this up in records for family real estate company, the Trump Organization.

Prosecutors said he falsely recording payments as "retainer fees" for his then-lawyer's Michael Cohen's legal services.

Washington Post's political journalist Amber Phillips says this verdict is a "weighty moment for the country."

"We have a major party nominee convicted of multiple felonies by a jury of his peers."

You can watch the full interview here:

House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson says today is a "shameful day in American history."

"Democrats cheered as they convicted the leader of the opposing party on ridiculous charges, predicated on the testimony of a disbarred, convicted felon," he says.

He describes the verdict as a "political exercise" and not a legal one.

"The American people see this as lawfare, and they know it is wrong — and dangerous. President Trump will rightfully appeal this absurd verdict — and he WILL WIN!"

ABC AM reporter David Lipson spoke with senior fellow at the US Studies Centre Bruce Wolpe about how this verdict will Trump's chances in the upcoming  election.

"That is the huge question in November. You have to think that puts a huge ceiling on his support, in terms of can he attract independent voters, Republicans who did not vote for him in the primaries?
"As far as his base is concerned, this amps up their support even more.
"When he said 'I'm fighting for you, this is a rigged election, it's by Joe Biden', they believe it, they're all in, they'll vote."

He also referenced an NPR/PBS poll where 1 in 6 voters said a guilty verdict would make them less likely to vote for Trump.

You can listen to the full interview below:

By North America correspondent Jade Macmillan

The significance of this verdict can't be overstated.

Donald Trump was already the first former US president charged with a crime. Now he's the first to have been convicted.

And he's not just a former president, but the presumptive Republican nominee ahead of this year's election.

Trump has used every one of his four criminal cases to rally support, convincing his backers that he's being unfairly targeted for political reasons.

Within minutes of the verdict being delivered, his campaign sent out yet another fundraising email calling for donations to help him win back the White House.

The widespread assumption is that he won't be sentenced to time in prison, that the judge will take his lack of prior criminal history into account and consider an option like probation.

And Trump's legal team of course is likely to appeal.

Either way, he's not technically prevented from becoming president again.

And that puts the United States in the extraordinary position of potentially electing a convicted felon as its next commander in chief.

It makes for an incredibly volatile election campaign.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is staying right out of the extraordinary conviction of the former US president.

Earlier we heard Opposition Leader Peter Dutton say he expected it would cause more division in the US.

But government ministers this morning are all wheeling out the same line: it's not for us to weigh in.

Mr Albanese told ABC Radio Sydney he would not be offering an opinion.

"There will be a lot of public focus on this verdict, of course this is a decision of a US court, we don't comment, we are not participants of court processes of other countries," Mr Albanese says.

Mr Albanese says people will have their own personal views of the verdict and its consequences for the November US election, but as prime minister he should not be intervening or seen to be intervening.

He expressed confidence in Australia's relationship regardless of that election's outcome.

"I'm certainly not worried about our relationship with the United States," Mr Albanese says.

The charges weren't over making the "hush money" payment.

They were for falsifying business records in a bid to cover up the payment.

Prosecutors said Trump disguised his 2017 reimbursement cheques to Michael Cohen for the Daniels payment in records maintained by his New York-based family real estate company, the Trump Organization.

But instead of saying something like, say "hush money", the payments were falsely put down as retainer fees for Mr Cohen's legal services.

Trump was charged for each cheque, ledger entry or invoice covering the payments to Mr Cohen.

So that's why there were 34 charges.

Under New York state law, it's a misdemeanour — which is minor crime — to make a false entry in a company's records.

But it's considered a felony — a more serious crime — if it's done to conceal or further other crimes.

And prosecutors argued that Trump conspired to promote a candidacy by "unlawful means", which is a state crime.

They argued his team conspired to pay people with potentially negative stories about Trump — including Daniels — to keep them quiet before the 2016 election.

Donald Trump hasn't been sentenced yet. 

That won't happen until July 11.

That is just a few days before the Republican National Convention kicks off in Milwaukee.

That convention is where the Republican party is expected to formally make Donald Trump its presidential nominee.

Trump is out on bail.

That mean's he'll still be able to campaign for the top job until July 11.

North America correspondent Jade Macmillan describes the scene:

For a moment, everyone gathered outside the court in lower Manhattan thought the jury was about to be sent home for the day.

After a day and a half of deliberations, it appeared the panel of 12 ordinary New Yorkers would be coming back tomorrow to consider their decision.

But as news filtered through that a verdict had in fact been reached, the mood immediately shifted.

TV reporters scrambled into position. Trump's supporters started rushing back into the park across the road from the courthouse.

As the guilty verdict on the first few counts became clear, some anti-Trump protesters started yelling in delight. One told me she'd cried tears of happiness.

Trump's backers, on the other hand, were furious.

It's a very small example of the way this case has divided Americans, and it's a sign of what’s to come as we get closer to November's election.

Danya Perry, attorney to Michael Cohen, told CNN's Anderson Cooper that Cohen was feeling vindicated by the jury's decisive verdict.

"He has mixed feelings, they're complex emotions. He feels vindicated," she says. 

"Of course, he's gratified that the jury absolutely believed him and returned a swift verdict.

"He's gratified that the judge denied the motion that would have precluded his testimony, [a] ridiculous motion as it was."

No.

That's because the president's pardon power only applies to federal crimes.

And the charges he's just been found guilty of are state crimes, specific to the American state of New York.

The DA is asked: "From day one, part of the viability of this case has been questioned in all sorts of media outlets all over the place, including from the defendant himself. Can you respond to any of that, how you feel now that you have gotten a conviction?"

He responds by saying he did his job.

"These are the kind of cases I have personally done and it is a hallmark of the tradition of this office that I am proud to lead and I don't want to go into the whole body of litigation.

"But we now have a Federal Court ruling on the legal theories.

"Most importantly, today we have the most important voice of all and that is the voice of the jurors, they have spoken, Donald J Trump has been convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records."

The DA is asked: "If a jail sentence is on the cards, it is likely that Trump and his attorneys would appeal that. If that were the scenario, would your office object to staying the sentence?"

He responds by saying he is not going to address hypotheticals.

"I am going to let our words in court speak for themselves when we get to the sentencing matter," he says.

"I won't address hypotheticals.

"This is an active ongoing matter. We have other phases of this going ahead and we would continue to speak about issues like that in court."