Watch Our Analysis: NYC Jury Finds Trump Guilty

A New York City jury has reached a verdict in former President Donald Trump's historic trial, declaring him guilty of falsifying business records, convicting him on all 34 counts.

After the landmark verdict announcement, Trump spoke to the media and the public saying the real verdict will be delivered by voters in November.

"This was a disgrace. This was a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who was corrupt. It's a rigged trial, a disgrace. They wouldn't give us a venue change. We were at 5% or 6% in this district, in this area. This was a rigged, disgraceful trial," Trump said. "The real verdict is going to be November 5th by the people, and they know what happened here."

Bradley Jacob, Associate Dean at Regent University Law School, told CBN News he was surprised by the verdict because the case involves critical unanswered legal questions. He says the grounds for convicting Trump were weak because he couldn't technically commit the "hush money" crime without being simultaneously accused of violating federal law as well, but he wasn't. 

"For this to be a viable criminal case, it had to be connected to a felony – the effort to 'hide' the hush money had to be used in commission of another crime," he explained. "And it was a little unclear what the court was going to do with that because the other crime would be some kind of federal election fraud crime that Mr. Trump wasn't charged with."

WATCH Our Analysis of the Verdict Below:

The jury spent most of the morning revisiting key witness testimony and having the judge repeat some of the jury instructions he delivered yesterday. They were weighing accusations that he covered up so-called "hush money" payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. 

Trump denies that he had an affair with Daniels. He pleaded not guilty to all charges. 

Trump said before the verdict, "The whole world is watching, and it's a very sad day for New York. I've gone through two of these trials already. It's a very... with the same kind of a judge. It's all worked. It's all rigged. The whole thing. The whole system is rigged."

After the verdict, evangelist and Samaritan's Purse C.E.O. Franklin Graham posted a message on Truth Social reading, "Our country is at a crossroads. What we saw today has never happened before, and I think for the majority of Americans, it raises questions about whether our legal system can be trusted. Pray for our nation, for God‘s guiding hand that this republic will be one nation under God with liberty and justice for all."

Following the verdict, The Trump campaign reported that the donations page on its website crashed because of the volume of traffic.

Judge Juan Merchan set the sentencing date for July 11, just days before the former president is slated to officially receive the Republican presidential nomination at the G.O.P. Convention in Milwaukee.

The Biden campaign issued a statement shortly after the verdict Thursday. Spokesman Michael Tyler said, “In New York today, we saw that no one is above the law,” and added, “There is still only one way to keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office: at the ballot box.”

Trump's son Eric noted on X, "May 30th, 2024 might be remembered as the day Donald J. Trump won the 2024 Presidential Election." 

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