Donald Trump has protested his innocence after his criminal conviction for falsifying business records to conceal a hush money payment – insisting he paid a “legal expense” and there was “nothing illegal”.
Speaking at a news conference at Trump Tower in New York, Trump started by saying “if they can do this to me, they can do this to anyone” – before going on to criticise his trial and the “highly conflicted judge” who presided over it.
He called a gag order imposed during the hush money trial “nasty”.
“This is all done by Biden and his people,” Trump went on to claim – saying President Joe Biden’s administration worked “in conjunction with” the Department of Justice on his prosecution.
Trump also repeated his allegation that the trial was “rigged” and criticised a decision to refuse his defence’s request for a venue change.
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On Thursday, a unanimous jury in New York found Trump guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records to commit election fraud.
The former president covered up a $130,000 (£102,000) payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels as part of a “hush money” scheme to bury stories he thought might hurt his presidential campaign in 2016.
At Trump Tower today, the former president insisted the payment to his former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen was simply a “legal expense” and “standard stuff” – “there was nothing illegal”, Trump added.
He said prosecutors just wanted to find out whether he was “a bad boy here, bad boy there” and said “salacious details” of his alleged encounter with Ms Daniels in a hotel room had “nothing to do with the case”.
In a rambling speech, he also said of his opponents: “These are bad people, these are sick people.
“They want to stop you from having cars.”
The conviction does not stop Trump from running for president again.
Trump is due to be sentenced on 11 July – just a few days before the Republican Party is expected to confirm him as its nominee for the presidential election against Democrat President Biden in November.
President Biden is also expected to speak later today from the White House – but it’s unclear if he will mention the Trump verdicts.
The president will deliver remarks on the Middle East this evening from the state dining room.
The timing of President Biden’s speech has not yet been confirmed.
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