Trump lashes out after being found guilty on 34 counts — as it happened (2024)

It's after 3am on Friday in New York right now — we're going to finish up our coverage here for now.

If you're looking to get caught up, here's what we know:

• Donald Trump has been found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels before his election in 2016.
• He is due to be sentenced in July.
• Outside court the former president described the case as 'disgraceful' and 'rigged'.
• District Attorney Alvin Bragg has told the press he 'did his job'.

Our reporters also answered some of your key questions today:

• Will Donald Trump go to jail?
• Can he still run for president now that he's been found guilty?
• Will the verdict harm him politically?
• What law is he guilty of breaking?
• What other criminal charges is he still facing?
• Is he allowed to leave New York?

In fact the gag order didn't apply to Judge Merchan himself, but to jurors, witnesses and court staff, the prosecution and even Judge Merchan's daughter.

Trump repeatedly violated it, causing the Judge to fine him and warn him he could in theory be jailed for further violations.

It's very likely it will now be lifted, so if Donald Trump has been holding back in recent weeks…

Would he for example now set his sights on the jurors — the 12 New Yorkers who decided his fate?

Bronwen Brown, a registered Republican in a bellwether Pennsylvania county, was ready to vote for Donald Trump again in November despite long-held reservations about his character.

His conviction by a New York jury has given her pause.

"He's been found guilty on all 34 counts. Do I want to go with that? Probably not," the 72-year-old former opera singer told Reuters minutes after the verdict.

"I may be moving over to Biden," she said.

Ms Brown was one of two Republican-leaning women — of the dozen interviewed in the area by Reuters this week — who said a conviction would make them hesitant to support Trump.

The other 10 described the trial as a political witch-hunt and said they would back Trump no matter what happened in court.

Reuters

ABC's Planet America has provided an insight into what other trials Trump will face in the next coming months.

You can watch the video here:

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Jade Macmilan is with the ABC's North America bureau in New York, and was on the ground when the verdict was announced.

Check out her breakdown of the day's events here:

It's difficult to overstate how significant the verdict delivered in a Manhattan courtroom today is to the future of the United States.

Donald Trump had already made history as the first former US president to be charged with a crime.

Now, he's the first to have been convicted.

Thanks for the question J.

The case has been heard in the Manhattan court.

A Trump appeal is likely to focus on p*rn star Daniels's salacious testimony about their alleged sexual encounter as well as the novel legal theory prosecutors used in the case, but he faces long odds, legal experts said.

"We are going to appeal as quickly as we can. We will seek expedited review of this case," Trump attorney Will Scharf told Fox News.

Former White House ethics lawyer Richard Painter, when asked if the Republican Party would let Donald Trump run for presidential nominee, told News Radio the leaders of the Republican Party were backing Trump.

"Many of them are thinking about running for president in 2028 and if Donald Trump loses in November, that's almost better for them because they can come to his defence … and all these Republican leaders can compete for the Republican nomination four years from now."

Republicans will select their presidential nominee at the 2024 Republican National Convention running from July 15 to 18.

The orthodox position would be that a criminal conviction would be a major negative for a presidential candidate.

But Donald Trump has often confounded orthodoxy when it comes to his political career. This is the man who won a presidential election after boasting his celebrity status allowed him to grope women.

For months, pollsters have been asking hypothetical questions regarding criminal convictions in an attempt to gauge how it might impact votes come November.

A poll from ABC News US found that 16 per cent of Trump's supporters would reconsider their support for the president.

A solid 4 per cent would leave him altogether if he were convicted of a felony.

Given the tightness of the polls, that 4 per cent shift could hand the election to Joe Biden.

One of the countervailing forces might be a martyr effect. That people might buy Donald Trump's argument that he's facing unfair persecution and rally around him.

When Bill Clinton was impeached over his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky and then lying about it, his popularity soared, the public seemingly determining that the punishment far exceeded what was deserved by the action.

Now, they're different cases and have gone through very different processes but Donald Trump will be hoping that his continued protestations that he's being targeted will resonant with voters.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong has declined to comment on former president Donald Trump's guilty verdict.

"You wouldn't expect the foreign minister of Australia to engage in commentary about the legal processes of another country, including our most strategic partner and ally," she said.

"And I won't.

"The United States of America is our most important partner. We have a relationship that goes back decades.

"We have an alliance which is enduring. We have a friendship. We have a very strong relationship across people and institutions."

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The former first lady was not seen once in court during the trial.

In fact her public appearances have been few and far between in recent time.

She was seen alongside her husband a couple of weeks ago as the two attended son Barron's high school graduation ceremony.

Tonight, CNN is quoting a source that Melania and Barron are also in New York, but there's been no photographic evidence of this so far.

Trump's daughter Ivanka has also been absent during the trial, unlike sons Eric and Don Jr.

But Ivanka broke her silence following the verdict, posting an old photo of her as a young child with her father with the caption, "I love you Dad."

Donald Trump's two oldest sons, who he had with his first wife Ivana Trump, have shared their thoughts on social media.

Donald Trump's oldest son Donald Trump Jr tweeted that November 5 would be the last chance to save America.

Eric Trump tweeted it could mean Trump would win the 2024 presidential election.

In America, a felony isa serious crime.

But there are federal felonies and state felonies.

Donald Trump was found guilty on 34 counts of a New York state Class E felony charge.

The New York Courts website ranks the types of offences in order of severity.

"Non-criminal offenses" can have fines and jail time, but don't go on a person's criminal record.

Under the "criminal offenses", there's two categories:

• Misdemeanours: The lowest level of crime
• Felonies: The most serious types of crime

Felonies are broken up into different categories.

Here's the maximum prison sentence those classes carry in the state of New York:

• Class A: Life in prison
• Class B: 25 years
• Class C: 15 years
• Class D: Seven years
• Class E: Four years

Planet America host John Barron says the verdict is an "unprecedented situation [with] a convicted criminal running for president".

You can watch the full interview here:

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He certainly is.

Donald Trump remains a free man until sentencing, and it's entirely possible he will never be jailed. He doesn't have a criminal record and the Judge could decide to impose a probationary sentence, home detention or even, here's a thought, community service.

Democratic New York Mayor Eric Adams says the notorious Rikers Island prison will however be prepared to house inmate Trump if it comes to that.

Although Trump has spent the time since he left New York running down the city, he's decided to spend the night at Trump Tower and hold a post-verdict press conference there on Friday morning local time.

Just joining us? We've been answering your burning questions following the historic guilty verdict in Donald Trump's hush money trial.

From whether Trump will go to jail, to how he can still run for president, find all the answers and more at the link below.

Hi Dave! Yes he is.

This is the first of four cases Trump is currently involved in.

The remaining three are:

• A trial in Florida on charges of illegally keeping classified documents at his Mar-A-Lago home after leaving office

• An election interference case in Washington DC linked to the January 6 Capitol riots

• A separate election interference case in Georgia where he is accused of illegally trying to overturn the 2020 election results

He is also appealing a New York civil fraud case where he was found liable on February 16 for fraudulently inflating his net worth by billions of dollars to secure better loan and insurance terms.

Former Republican strategist and CNN political commentator Scott Jennings, spoke with RN Breakfast about this verdict and how it could have more of an impact on the senior citizen demographic.

"They're most likely to remember the before times, before it was common for presidents to be under so much legal scrutiny.

"And they're probably the most likely to be turned off by some of the details of this case, which involved Trump having a sexual escapade with a p*rn star. It's tawdry, right?

"I think senior citizens are the most likely to be impacted on their thinking. And they showed a little bit of strength with Biden in 2020, they continue to show some strength with him now."

You can listen to the full interview below:

ABC's North America correspondent Carrington Clarke is in Manhattan, New York and spoke to AM about the verdict.

"The verdict is in and Donald Trump is the first former American president to be convicted as a felon."

"He's been found guilty on all 34 charges against him."

You can listen to the full cross below:

A small crowd gathered at the White House as the jury's verdict was handed down.

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: