Former President Donald Trump on Friday morning responded to his felony conviction for falsifying business records in New York, saying the trial was “very unfair” and said his team will appeal the case.
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Biden Breaks Silence on Trump Conviction
President Joe Biden commented for the first time on Friday on former President Donald Trump’s conviction in a New York trial, calling the claims that the trial was rigged “reckless” and “dangerous.”
“The American principle that no one is above the law was reaffirmed,” President Biden told reporters before delivering a speech on the Middle East.
“Donald Trump was given every opportunity to defend himself. It was a state case, not a federal case,” he continued.
“The jury heard five weeks of evidence. And after careful deliberation, the jury reached a unanimous verdict,” President Biden said, adding that, just like everyone else, President Trump will have the opportunity to appeal that decision.
“That’s how the American system of justice works.”
Biden Campaign Reacts to Trump Speech: ‘Desperate and Defeated’
The Biden campaign issued a statement follow President Trump’s press conference about his criminal conviction, which had been punctuated by criticisms of the incumbent president’s policies and cognition.
“America just witnessed a confused, desperate, and defeated Donald Trump ramble about his own personal grievances and lie about the American justice system, leaving anyone watching with one obvious conclusion: This man cannot be president of the United States,” stated Biden-Harris 2024 Communications Director Michael Tyler. “Unhinged by his 2020 election loss and spiraling from his criminal convictions, Trump is consumed by his own thirst for revenge and retribution. He thinks this election is about him. But it’s not. It’s about the American people: lowering their costs, protecting their freedoms, defending their democracy.
“That’s what Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are fighting for. Donald Trump is sowing chaos, attacking the rule of law, and fighting for the only thing in the world he gives a damn about: Donald Trump.”
Images of Trump as Grandfather, Father Strike Chords Online
Right after he finished addressing the nation about his criminal convictions, former President Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law posted a video clip showing him in a role the public rarely sees: that of grandfather.
A 27-second video clip shows the 77-year-old former president interacting with a grandson and granddaughter. “This is why he does it,” the children’s mother, Lara Trump, wrote on social media, with two heart symbols punctuating the end of her statement.
Within minutes of the video being posted around noon on May 31, it attracted tens of thousands of views on X, formerly Twitter, and hundreds of comments.
“Awww lovely clip!” wrote an X user called Simon Wu. “He’s literally fighting to ensure the future generations are able to have the same opportunities and joys as the older did.”
The video contrasts with the stern-faced images of President Trump as a criminal defendant at the Manhattan courthouse. Those pictures dominated the news as he stood trial for the past six weeks.
The post from Ms. Trump, who heads the Republican National Committee, comes on the heels of a vintage personal photo that his daughter, Ivanka, shared online May 30. It shows her as a child, sitting on her father’s lap, as she wore a blue jumper and a pink party hat. Ms. Trump wrote, “I love you, dad,” with a heart symbol next to it.
Trump Lawyer Vows Appeal to Supreme Court If Necessary
Attorney Will Scharf, a lawyer for former President Donald Trump, vows to “vigorously appeal” his client’s guilty verdict.
Saying the case was “replete with reversible error,” Mr. Scharf told CNN on May 31: “We are going to take this as high and as far as we need to, including to the U.S. Supreme Court, to vindicate President Trump’s rights.”
Mr. Scharf asserted that “there was nothing legal, there was nothing normal about what happened in this New York courtroom over the last month and a half.”
He pointed out that Justice Merchan turned down defense lawyers’ requests to recuse himself from the case. The judge also refused to move the trial to a less-hostile venue, outside of Democrat-dominated New York City.
“We believe that he was irretrievably conflicted and biased and there was no way that he ever should have been presiding over this case,” Mr. Scharf said.
Mr. Scharf said he agrees with the public statement made by another Trump lawyer, Todd Blanche, saying “It was impossible for President Trump to have a fair trial in lower Manhattan.”
Trump Names Witness
President Trump later referred to Mr. Costello by name, after announcing they would be appealing the case on several points.
“And the reason that Bob Costello acted a little bit upset, which I think he has a right to, was because every question that he was being asked was being objected to by the other side and sustained by the judge,” President Trump said.
Mr. Costello had said “geez!” after repeated objections, leading to an outburst by the judge.
Trump Recounts Fallout With Cohen
President Trump said he never thought of Mr. Cohen as a “fixer,” and grew to dislike his methods.
“For instance I didn’t like that when I became president he went around and made deals with companies. When I heard that he was gone,” President Trump said.
Mr. Cohen had testified that he planned to capitalize on his title as personal attorney to the president, and made some $4 million over two years as a consultant because of this title. Prosecutors argued that Mr. Cohen had a lucrative financial plan in this and was therefore not vengeful that he had not been given a White House post as the defense claimed.
Trump: ‘It’s Not Hush Money, It’s Called a Non-Disclosure Agreement’
President Trump also addressed the payment Mr. Cohen made that led to the claims that formed the basis of the criminal case.
“So we have an NDA, non-disclosure agreement … totally honorable, totally good. Totally accepted,” he said. “Every company has non disclosure agreements. Most of the people in this room has a non-disclosure agreement with their company.”
“The press called it a slush fund, all sorts of other things. Hush money. It’s not hush money, it’s called a non-disclosure agreement,” President Trump said.
The 34 counts against President Trump were for a $420,000 payment made to Mr. Cohen that prosecutors argued was falsely categorized to cover up a reimbursement to Mr. Cohen, who paid $130,000 to Ms. Clifford in a non-disclosure settlement.
Trump: Cohen ‘Sleazebag’ and ‘Qualified Lawyer’
“This was a highly qualified lawyer, now I’m not allowed to use his name because of the gag order, but he’s a sleazebag, everybody knows that. Took me a while to find out,” President Trump said of his former attorney Michael Cohen. “But he was effective, he did work.”
It’s unclear whether the judge will consider sanctions for mentions of parties prohibited by the gag order if names are omitted.
“But he wasn’t a fixer, he was a lawyer. At the time he was a fully accredited lawyer,” President Trump said. “Now he got into trouble not because of me, but he made outside deals and he had something to do with taxi cabs and medallions and he borrowed money. That’s why he went.”
“And then he pled to three election violations. And as soon as I saw that, I went, I wonder why he did that,” President Trump said.
“He pled, he took a deal. Now he took a deal because he wanted to get off,” President Trump said, referring to Mr. Cohen’s previous testimony on the matter. He added that federal prosecutors criticized Mr. Cohen’s credibility and unwillingness to tell the truth in an official report, and criticized Justice Merchan for not allowing the defense to refer to it in the case.
Trump Jokes About Age
President Trump pointed out that Mr. Weisselberg was turning 77 and serving his second prison sentence, and he is currently the same age.
“He’s 77 years old. Now normally, I’d say that’s an old guy. But I don’t feel 77,” he said.
“Nobody ever says that about me. I’d like them to say ‘gee, we have to have a little sorrow for this man,’” he said. “They don’t they just don’t say that about me. But maybe I’m better off that way. I think I’m probably better off that way.”
Trump Defends Weisselberg
President Trump defended former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg, who is now serving a five-month prison sentence.
Mr. Weisselberg had pleaded guilty with the district attorney’s office to committing perjury in a separate civil case brought by the attorney general’s office, and did not testify in the criminal case.
“Destroyed the life of a very good man,” President Trump said. “Who went to prison once, and then they just put him in prison again because they said he lied. He didn’t lie, in fact I looked at the statements he made.”
“They destroyed him,” he said. “With me for many years, he was an honorable person, an honest man.”
Trump Denies Stormy Daniels Story
President Trump said that prosecutors were allowed to use “salacious” testimony at trial, seeming to refer to witness Stephanie Clifford, better known by her stage name Stormy Daniels.
Ms. Clifford was paid $130,000 by ex-lawyer Michael Cohen for the rights to her story about an alleged sexual encounter with Mr. Trump in 2006.
President Trump maintained the story was not true.
“Nothing ever happened,” he said. “There was no anything. Nothing ever happened and they know it. But they were as salacious as they could be.”
“And it had nothing to do with the case,” he said. “But it had to do with politics.”
Trump Explains Why He Didn’t Take the Stand in His Manhattan Criminal Trial
Former President Donald Trump held a press conference the morning after jurors handed him a guilty verdict in his Manhattan criminal trial.
President Trump explained that he wanted to testify but blamed Judge Juan Merchan for allowing prosecutors to ask questions about conduct outside the case.
“I wanted to, but the judge allowed them to go into everything that I was ever involved in, not this case, everything that I was ever involved in, which is a first. Otherwise, you could go into every single thing that I ever did,” he added.
The former president said even George Washington would be advised not to testify in a case against him.
“The theory is you never testify … because they’ll get you on something that you said slightly wrong, and then they sue you for perjury, but I didn’t care about that,” President Trump added.
His lawyer, Todd Blanche, said the night before that it was President Trump’s decision alone not to take the stand during the trial.
“This is bigger than me. This is bigger than my presidency,” President Trump said.
Trump Explains Charges
President Trump said the falsifying business records charge is usually a misdemeanor but it “sounds so bad to me.”
“That’s a bad thing for me, I’ve never had that before,” he said. “I paid a lawyer, totally legal, a legal expense. And a bookkeeper, without any knowledge from me, correctly marked it down in the book. Very professional woman, highly respected, she testified.”
“So a legal expense, paid a lawyer, is a legal expense in the books,” he said. “It’s not sheetrock, construction, or any other thing. It’s a legal expense. Think of that. This is what the ‘falsification of business records’ was.”
Trump: Defense Witness ‘Went Through Hell’
President Trump said it was unfair that the judge limited expert testimony for the defense to the point where Trump attorneys opted not to call former FEC commissioner Bradley Smith to define campaign finance terms for the jurors.
“You saw what happened to some of the witnesses that were on our side,” he said, seeming to refer to attorney Robert Costello, one of the only two witnesses called by the defense.
“They were literally crucified by this man who looks like an angel but he’s really a devil,” President Trump said.
Justice Merchan had found Mr. Costello to be “staring him down,” yelling at the witness and clearing the room before issuing a warning.
“He looks so nice and so soft. People say, ‘oh he seems like such a nice man.’ No, unless you saw him in action, and you saw that with a certain witness who went through hell,” President Trump said. “And when we wanted to do things, he wouldn’t let us do those things.”
For example, the judge denied motions for a venue change, recusal, and arguments the defense wanted to use.
Trump Addresses Gag Order: ‘We’ll Play That Game a Little Bit Longer’
President Trump repeated his claims that Justice Merchan, who presided over his case, had a conflict of interest, and then issued a gag order to prevent him from arguing about the conflict of interest.
“Now I’m under a gag order in which nobody’s ever been under, no presidential candidates ever been under a gag order before,” he said. “Nasty gag order, where I’ve had to pay thousands of dollars in penalties and fines, and was threatened with jail.”
“Think of it, I’m the leading candidate … and I’m under a gag order,” he said.
Attorneys for President Trump had filed motions for Justice Merchan to recuse himself because he had donated to Democrats and his daughter heads a political consultancy that boasts as clients prominent anti-Trump politicians who have run fundraising campaigns based on President Trump’s criminal cases.
The gag order prohibits President Trump from speaking about Justice Merchan’s daughter, and Justice Merchan has threatened jail time.
“I’m not allowed to talk about it. If I do, he said, I get put in jail,” President Trump said. “So we’ll play that game a little bit longer.”
Trump Speaks
“This is a case where if they can do this to me they can do this to anyone,” President Trump told the crowd gathered at Trump Tower. “These are bad people, these are, I believe in many cases, sick people; when you look at our country, what’s happening, millions and millions of people of people are flowing in from all parts of the world, not just South America, from Africa, from Asia from the Middle East, and they’re coming in from jails and prisons, and they’re coming in from mental institutions and insane asylums that are coming in from all over the world into our country.”
“And we have a president and a group of fascists that don’t want to do anything about it, because they could right now today, he can stop it. But he’s not they’re destroying our country. Our country is in very bad shape. And they’re very much against me saying these things,” he said.
Rep. Schiff Says Americans Don’t Want a ‘Convicted Felon Running the Country’
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who was the lead prosecutor in former President Donald Trump’s first House impeachment trial in 2019, spoke on MSNBC to discuss the guilty verdict in the Manhattan criminal trial.
“This is going to take a while to sink in for the American people,” the congressman said.
“But I believe the American people are not going to want a convicted felon running the country; they’re not going to want to turn the country into some kind of a criminal enterprise.”
Mr. Schiff called President Trump a “really gifted demagogue” who “arrived on the scene at a time when the country was really vulnerable.”
“And it has really put our democracy in question, on the edge. We’re seeing things happen in the country we’ve never seen happen before.”
The congressman then criticized his Republican colleagues in Congress for “rallying around” President Trump.
“We’ve never seen anything like it and God help us if we ever do in the future.”
Rep. Raskin Calls Trump Guilty Verdict ‘Great Victory for the Justice System’
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), a regular critic of former President Donald Trump, called his guilty verdict in the Manhattan criminal trial a “great victory for the justice system within a liberal democracy” while speaking on MSNBC.
“To me, it was a beautiful thing to watch. Obviously, the process has not completely played out. The convicted defendant in this case, Donald Trump, has the right to appeal, and we should all respect the appeals process like we’re respecting the trial process,” Mr. Raskin said.
He called the Republicans supporting President Trump “members of a religious cult who are sleeping on the basement floor someplace just listening to the tapes of a cult leader.”
“There are a lot of them who have said no,” he said, referring to former Wyoming representative Liz Cheney and Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah).
“They don’t want to go down the road of becoming members of a cult of authoritarian personality, but at this point, many of them are perfectly willing to surrender critical thinking skills and everything they know about the legal system and everything they know about political science and simply give themselves over to the cult of Trump,” the congressman added.
Mr. Raskin then explained how he hopes to try and compel Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas with a “writ of mandamus,” or an order, to recuse themselves from multiple cases involving President Trump, in part because of their alleged political bias towards the former president.
Justice Alito has come under fire in recent weeks after media outlets revealed his homes flew flags associated with various Trump movements. An upside-down American flag was traditionally a symbol of distress but was flown by various protesters on Jan. 6, 2021, becoming a symbol for their movement.
Trump Raises $34.8 Million After Verdict
“From just minutes after the sham trial verdict was announced, our digital fundraising system was overwhelmed with support, and despite temporary delays online because of the amount of traffic, President Trump raised $34.8 million dollars from small dollar donors,” stated Trump Campaign Senior Advisors Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles.
“Not only was the amount historic, but 29.7% of yesterday’s donor’s were brand new donors to the WinRed platform. President Trump and our campaign are immensely grateful from this outpouring of support from patriots across our country. President Trump is fighting to save our nation and November 5th is the day Americans will deliver the real verdict.”
The campaign reported that this is double their previous single day WinRed fundraising record.
RNC Chairman Projects ‘Big’ Fundraising Numbers
Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley projected the fundraising following the historic and unprecedented conviction of former President Donald Trump on 34 counts of falsifying business records related to a 2016 payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
“I think we’re waiting to see what those numbers are going to be, but they’re going to be big,” he said on Fox News. “The fact is that we had so much traffic, that it actually crashed our website, we were able to get it back up quickly.”
Lara Trump said on the network last night that the number of donations was “in the millions.”
Mr. Whatley said that the conviction will not change the RNC’s strategy to win in November.
He called the judge, Justice Juan Merchan, and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg as biased.
Trump 78th Birthday Celebration Announced Hours After Verdict
In the wake of former President Donald Trump’s conviction, the nation’s largest club of his fans announced that he will join them for a celebration of his 78th birthday in two weeks.
Club 47 USA, named after his aspiration to become the nation’s 47th president, will meet on June 14, which is also Flag Day, at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in Palm Beach, Florida.
The announcement was sent just before 9 a.m. via email to the Club 47 mailing list, heralding, “President Donald J. Trump is our keynote speaker!”
“Join us in celebrating the birthday of THE BEST PRESIDENT EVER, Donald J. Trump,” the emailed flyer says, featuring a photo of President Trump hugging an American flag.
Doors open at 3 p.m, and the former president is scheduled to speak at 7 p.m.
Tickets are $25 for general admission; VIP seating is sold out, the website says.
World Leader Supports Trump as ‘Man of Honour’
The leader of the European nation of Hungary remains steadfast in his support of former President Donald Trump in the wake of his conviction on 34 felony charges.
Viktor Orban, prime minister of Hungary, posted on social media early on May 31, hours after the verdict: “I’ve known [President Trump] to be a man of honour. As President, he always put America first, he commanded respect around the world and used this respect to build peace. Let the people make their verdict this November! Keep on fighting, Mr. President!”
Mr. Orban and President Trump have met in person several times, most recently at the former president’s home in Florida about three months ago, The Epoch Times reported. The pair discussed border security during that meeting.
The Hungarian leader also made headlines in May 2023 when he publicly stated that he hopes President Trump will win the 2024 presidential election.
Both men have repeatedly expressed their mutual admiration.
What to Know
- Former President Donald Trump is holding a press conference today after he was convicted in the first of four criminal cases against him to go to trial. President Trump is still under a gag order that prohibits him from making public statements about parties in the case, but he has said he is willing to risk the jail time sanctions in order to speak out. Check back for updates at 11 a.m. ET.
- Jurors returned a guilty verdict on all 34 counts at the end of the second day of deliberations May 30. Trial began with jury selection on April 15 and jurors heard five weeks of testimony from 22 witnesses.
- The defense moved for judgment immediately after the verdict, arguing the jury was not allowed to rely solely on Michael Cohen’s testimony. The judge denied the motion.
- Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg held a press conference after the verdict, and said “the jury has spoken.” He would not comment on sentencing and whether prosecutors were seeking jail time for President Trump.
- President Trump told reporters outside the courtroom, “I’m a very innocent man.” His attorneys have also said they will appeal.
- Partisan reactions to the verdict were swift. Both the Biden and Trump campaigns began fundraising on the verdict.
From The Epoch Times