Trump blasts ‘rigged trial’ minutes after jury finds him responsible
President Donald Trump tore into what he called a ‘rigged trial’ minutes after a Manhattan jury of 12 people found him guilty of all 34 counts against him.
It was ‘a rigged trial. A disgrace. They wouldn’t give us a venue change,’ Trump complained, shortly after Judge Juan Merchan set a July sentencing conference that will help set whatever punishment he receives.
‘The real verdict is going to be November 5th by the people, and they know what happened here and everybody knows what happened here,’ Trump said, pointing to Election Day.
Opinion polls have showed his popular vote lead over President Joe Biden ticking up even as the jury heard tawdry details of ‘catch and kill’ operations and testimony by porn star Stormy Daniels, who testified she had an affair with Trump in 2006. Trump’s lawyer denied an affair throughout the trial.
He once again accused the Biden Administration of running the prosecution brought by Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, who was inside the courtroom during the historic verdict. He called Bragg ‘Soros-backed,’ in reference to the financier.
‘You have a Soros-backed DA, and the whole thing. We didn’t do a thing wrong. I’m a very innocent man,’ said Trump.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump called his trial a ‘disgrace’ minutes after jurors found him guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records
‘This was done by the Biden administration in order to wound or hurt an opponent, a political opponent,’ he said.
Soros, the Hungarian American financier, didn’t donate campaign contributions to Bragg but donated to a group that has donated to liberal prosecutors.
‘We’ll fight til the end and we’ll win, because our country’s gone to hell,’ Trump said, echoing attacks he has made inside the courthouse in daily statements, where he refused questions each time.
And he once again attacked Judge Juan Merchan, calling him ‘a conflicted judge who should have never been allowed to try this case. Never.’
Trump’s team is certain to appeal, and may revisit recusal issues that they raised months ago without success.
Trump didn’t mention the New York jury, who deliberated for 10 hours on the case, and who spent a month inside a Manhattan Criminal Court room that Trump repeatedly called ‘freezing.’
Judge Merchan called the jury ‘involved and engaged’ and told them, ‘You gave this matter the attention it deserved.’
The jury found Trump guilty of a series of charges of falsifying business records, including on checks he signed and those linked to a Trump trust.
Trump has repeatedly called Judge Juan Merchan ‘conflicted’
The Biden campaign issued its own statement not long after the verdict.
‘In New York today, we saw that no one is above the law,’ said communications director Michael Tyler.
‘Donald Trump has always mistakenly believed he would never face consequences for breaking the law for his own personal gain. But today’s verdict does not change the fact that the American people face a simple reality. There is still only one way to keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office: at the ballot box. Convicted felon or not, Trump will be the Republican nominee for president,’ he said.
By contrast, the White House kept its distance. ‘We respect the rule of law, and have no additional comment,’ said Ian Sams, spokesman for the White House Counsel’s office.
Trump, who has used the trial as a megaphone to repeat his campaign themes, said ‘we have a divided mess. We’re a nation of decline. In serious decline.
‘Millions and millions of people pouring into our country right now from prisons and from mental institutions, terrorists, and they’re taking over our country,’ Trump said, pivoting to his immigration message.
The president’s son, Donald Trump, Jr., posted his own response on TikTok with a headline saying ‘this verdict is a joke’ with a picture of a clown.
He said it was part of a years-long effort to ‘turn America into an absolute s***hole.’
