UPDATE: Trump found guilty on all 34 counts in hush-money criminal trial

UPDATED 11:42 a.m.

NEW YORK (Reuters) — Donald Trump became the first U.S. president to be convicted of a crime today when a New York jury found him guilty of falsifying documents to cover up a payment to silence a porn star ahead of the 2016 election.

After deliberations over two days, the 12-member jury announced it had found Trump guilty on all 34 counts he faced. Unanimity was required for any verdict.

Trump watched the jurors dispassionately as they were polled to confirm the guilty verdict.

Justice Juan Merchan set sentencing for July 11, three days before the start of the Republican National Convention expected to formally nominate Trump for president.

Merchan thanked the jurors for their service. “Nobody can make you do anything you don’t want to do. The choice is yours,” Merchan said.

The verdict plunges the United States into unexplored territory ahead of the Nov. 5 presidential election, when Trump, the Republican candidate, will try to win the White House back from Democratic President Joe Biden.

Trump, 77, has denied wrongdoing and was expected to appeal.

“This was a disgrace. This was a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who is corrupt,” Trump told reporters afterward.

“The real verdict is going to be Nov. 5 by the people,” Trump said, adding: “I am a very innocent man.”

He faces a maximum sentence of four years in prison, though others convicted of that crime often receive shorter sentences, fines or probation. Incarceration would not prevent him from campaigning, or taking office if he were to win.

Opinion polls show Trump and Biden, 81, locked in a tight race, and Reuters/Ipsos polling has found that a guilty verdict could cost Trump some support from independent and Republican voters.

The jury notified the court they had reached a verdict at 4:20 p.m. (2020 GMT) and read out all 34 guilty counts shortly after 5 p.m.

Trump’s fellow Republicans quickly condemned the verdict. “Today is a shameful day in American history,” House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson said in a prepared statement.

The jury found Trump guilty of falsifying business documents after sitting through a five-week trial that featured explicit testimony from porn star Stormy Daniels about a sexual encounter she says she had with Trump in 2006 while he was married to his current wife Melania. Trump denies ever having sex with Daniels.

Trump’s then-fixer Michael Cohen testified that Trump approved a $130,000 hush money payment to Daniels in the final weeks of the 2016 election, when he faced multiple accusations of sexual misbehavior.

Cohen testified he handled the payment, and that Trump approved a plan to reimburse him through monthly payments disguised as legal work. Trump’s lawyers hammered Cohen’s credibility, highlighting his criminal record and imprisonment and his history of lying.

Falsifying business documents is normally a misdemeanor in New York, but prosecutors in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office elevated it to a felony on grounds that Trump was concealing an illegal campaign contribution.

Trump complained that he could not get a fair trial in his heavily Democratic hometown.

The case was widely regarded as the least consequential of the four criminal prosecutions Trump faces. Jurors heard testimony of sex and lies that have been public since 2018, although the charges themselves rested on ledger accounts and other records of Cohen’s reimbursement.

It was known as the “zombie case” because Bragg brought it back to life after his predecessor opted not to bring charges.

This case was also likely to be the only one to go to trial before the election, as the others are delayed by procedural challenges.

If elected, Trump could shut down the two federal cases that accuse him of illegally trying to overturn his 2020 election loss and mishandling classified documents after leaving office in 2021. He would not have the power to stop a separate election-subversion case taking place in Georgia.

Trump has pleaded not guilty in all the cases, and has portrayed his various legal troubles as an effort by Biden’s Democratic allies to hurt him politically.

PREVIOUSLY

NEW YORK (Reuters) — The jury that will decide Donald Trump’s fate in his criminal hush money trial has reached a verdict, the New York judge said earlier today.

Court officials did not say whether the jury had found Trump guilty or not guilty of falsifying business documents to cover up a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election.

The jury was expected to announce its verdict shortly.

Trump, 77, has pleaded not guilty and denies having had the an alleged 2006 sexual encounter with Daniels.

A guilty verdict could upend the 2024 presidential race, in which Trump, the Republican candidate, is seeking to take back the White House from Democratic President Joe Biden in a Nov. 5 election.

A conviction will not prevent Trump from trying to take back the White House. Nor will it prevent him from taking office if he wins.

Opinion polls show Trump and Biden locked in a tight race. But Reuters/Ipsos polling has found that a guilty verdict could cost Trump support among independent and some Republican voters.

A verdict of not guilty would remove a major legal barrier, freeing Trump from the obligation to juggle court appearances and campaign stops.

If convicted, he would be expected to appeal. Trump faces three other criminal prosecutions, but they are not expected to go to trial before the Nov. 5 election.

The case stems from a $130,000 payment Trump’s then-lawyer Michael Cohen made to Daniels shortly before the 2016 election to ensure she would not tell voters her story of a sexual encounter she says she had with Trump 10 years earlier. Trump denies ever having sex with Daniels.

Prosecutors say the payment to Daniels could have contributed to Trump’s 2016 victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton by keeping an unflattering story out of the pubic eye.

Prosecutors say Trump tried to cover up that payment by disguising his reimbursement payments to Cohen as legal fees.

They have charged him with 34 counts of falsifying business documents. Prosecutors elevated those charges from misdemeanor to felony status by arguing that Trump was trying to cover up evidence that he interfered with the election.

Trump’s lawyers argued that prosecutors did not prove that he knew about the scheme, which they portrayed as normal business activity. They told jurors they could not trust the testimony of Cohen, a convicted felon with a long track record of lying.