Trump vows to appeal felony conviction | CNN Politics (2024)

The typical appeals process for a convicted defendant in New York state can take almost a year or more. Donald Trump’s lawyers could try to delay the process further after the former president was convicted on 34 felonies on Thursday.

Under New York law, any appealof the verdict​comes after sentencing.Trump’s sentence date is currently scheduled for July​11. As a defendant, Trump then has 30 days to file a notice of appeal.

Once that notice is filed Trump’s legal team would typically have six months to complete procedural requirementslike filing their appellate argument as well as filing other relevant documents like the trial transcripts.

Once the appeal is fully submitted, attorneys for the Manhattan District Attorney’s office would likely be givenapproximately30 days to file a response.

Trump’s legal team will have one more opportunity to submit a brief in response to the prosecution’s filing soon after that.

A five-judge panel for the Appellate Division First Department will then hear oral arguments from both sides and issue a written decision which could take months.The panel is not subject to a deadline.

If the lowerappeals court ultimately rejects Trump’s appeal and upholds the jury’s verdict, Trump can take it to the Court of Appeals, New York’s highest court.

If the Court of Appeals decides to consider his case — which it is not required to do —another similar, lengthy briefing process would begin before a panel of judgeswho would eventually hear arguments and deliver a written decision likely months after the arguments.

In the first criminal trial of a former president of the United States,jurors found Donald Trump guiltyon all34 felony countsof falsifying business records.

Judge Juan Merchan has set a sentencing hearing forJuly 11.

Here are some of the key moments from the trial of “The People of the State of New Yorkv.Donald Trump”:

Day 1:Monday, April 15

Day 3:Thursday, April 18

Day 5:Monday, April 22

Day 9:Tuesday, April 30

Day 11:Friday, May 3

Day 13:Tuesday, May 7

Day 16-19:May 13, 14, 16, 20

Keep reading the full, detailed timeline of how the trial played out with details from our reporters inside the Manhattan courtroom.

President Joe Biden speaks during an event with the NFL Super Bowl champions Kansas City Chiefs on the South Lawn of the White House on Friday, May 31.

President Joe Biden joked that he didn’t know he was “that powerful” when asked about Donald Trump’s accusations that he was behind the former president’s conviction on dozens of state felony counts in New York.

In an exchange with a reporter after an event with the Kansas City Chiefs at the White House on Friday, Biden said he had “no idea” if the conviction helped Trump politically.

Asked if he was worried that charges could be brought against him after his term in office, Biden responded: “Not at all.”

Despite not attending Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial, his daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner, were in Trump Tower during the former president’s post conviction remarks Friday, a source told CNN.

Trump’s wife and son, Melania and Barron Trump, who were also not present during the trial, were also there post conviction.

None of them attended the remarks, however a source said they were there to be supportive.

A handful of Senate Republicans are warning that they will slow-walk all Democratic legislation and nominees that come to the floor in response to Donald Trump’s guilty verdict.

The move shows that Republicans aren’t just stopping at statements as they look to defend Trump from their posts on Capitol Hill. They are trying to show they are taking action too.

The letter is signed by several Republicans including Marco Rubio, Rick Scott, Tommy Tuberville, Marsha Blackburn, J.D. Vance and others.

In the post with the letter, Lee also wrote “strongly worded statements are not enough.”

Democratic Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware told CNN he was “stunned” by this letter, and called on his colleagues to respect the verdict of Trump’s hush money trial.

Just hours after being convicted in his criminal hush money trial, Donald Trump dined with Republican mega-donors at a private residence in New York, two sources familiar with the event told CNN.

Among those present was the chairman and CEO of Blackstone Steve Schwarzman, who recently came out in support of Trump after calling for a “new generation of leaders” during the Republican primary. Schwarzman’s recommitment to the former president was considered a huge win by Trump’s advisers.

Real estate and sugar tycoon Jose “Pepe” Fanjul was also in attendance.

Donald Trump’sconviction by a New York juryon 34 felony counts is historic and unprecedented. No former president or major party presidential candidate has also been a felon.

When CNN asked readers for their questions, a flood came in. Some of the more interesting and most asked questions are below.

Get the answers to your other top questions about Trump’s conviction.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is aiming to fundraise $10 million for former President Donald Trump as part of an upcoming multi-state fundraising push, according to a DeSantis adviser and two sources familiar with the matter.

DeSantis will raise money for the super PAC Right for America, run by Trump ally Sergio Gor. Events are likely to begin in July and stretch through September, including states like Texas, California and Washington. Billionaire and former Marvel Entertainment chairman Ike Perlmutter is one of the PAC’s largest donors.

Perlmutter, DeSantis and a group of DeSantis donors gathered last Thursday, where Trump joined for a phone call, and they discussed the fundraising efforts, according to one person present. It lasted about 10 minutes.

Once 2024 rivals in a bitter primary, the source said Trump and DeSantis picked at each other about their golf game and a little bit about the campaign. The pair chatted about courses they were playing. Characterizing the conversation as jovial and moving forward, the source said it was “Trump being Trump.”

“It sounded like it was 2019 again,” the source said.

They also said Trump asked DeSantis to help with Right for America, and DeSantis said he would.

DeSantis and Trump spoke over the phone at least two times since they had a meeting in Floridalast month, accordingto the two sources in the room for the call.

NBC News was first to report.

CNN’s Kristen Holmes contributed reporting

Former President Donald Trump leaves after addressing members of the media following the verdict in his hush-money trial at Trump Tower on May 31 in New York City.

Donald Trumpis vowing to appeal after a New York jury convicted him of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records on Thursday.

The appeal can be made after he is sentenced, which is scheduled in July — just days before he is set to become the official Republican presidential nominee at the Republican National Convention.

The verdict brought the former president’s weekslong trial to a close but ushered in a new phase of the historic case.

Here’s what we know:

Do you have questions about Trump’s conviction or the other criminal cases against him? Send us your questions here.

President Joe Biden pauses while leaving after delivering remarks on the verdict in former President Donald Trump's hush money trial and on the Middle East on Friday in Washington, DC.

President Joe Biden stopped and smiled in response to a question about former President Donald Trump calling himself a political prisoner, but didn’t engage further.

As Biden was leaving the room after delivering remarks on the Middle East at the White House, a reporter asked him about Trump’s comment and how he blamed the president for his conviction.

Biden apparently heard the question and stopped, turned toward the reporter and smiled slowly. He didn’t say anything.

When the reporter urged the president for his thoughts, he paused briefly and then continued walking.

Former Vice President Mike Pence said the conviction of his former running mate Donald Trump on 34 felony counts is an outrage and “undermines confidence” in the American justice system, calling the charges “politically motivated.”

He added that the conviction “ends a terrible message to the wider world about the American justice system and only further divides us.”

Pence argued that Trump has “every right to appeal this conviction and I trust it will be overturned on appeal in a manner that will restore public confidence in our system of justice and equal treatment under the law.”

Fox News first reported on the vice president’s comments. Pence was noticeably quiet on Thursday as news of the guilty verdict broke and Trump’s allies rushed to his defense.

Former President Donald Trump attends a press conference, the day after a guilty verdict in his criminal trial over charges that he falsified business records to conceal money paid to silence p*rn star Stormy Daniels in 2016 at Trump Tower in New York City on May 31.

Former President Donald Trump said he was going to hold a “press conference” on Friday in the wake of his Thursday conviction in Manhattan on felony charges of falsifying business records.

Instead, Trump delivered a rambling monologue that was filled with false claims — on subjects ranging from the Manhattan trial to immigration to tax policy.

Here is a fact check of some of his inaccurate or unsubstantiated claims related to his trial.

Crime in New York City: Trump repeated hisfamiliar claimthat, while Manhattan prosecutors have been focusing on him, New York City has been experiencing record-high violent crime. He said, “You have violent crime all over this city at levels that nobody’s ever seen before.”

Facts First:Trump’s claim is not even close to true.Violent crime in New York City- and violent crimeinManhattanin particular — has plummeted since the early 1990s and is today nowhere near record levels.

Michael Cohen’s crimes: Criticizing key prosecution witness Michael Cohen, Trump repeated a claim hemade during the trial in April. He asserted that Cohen, his former lawyer and fixer, “got into trouble not because of me” but because of “outside deals” and “something to do with taxi cabs and medallions, and he borrowed money, and that’s why he went.” He added that Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations to try to get himself a lighter penalty.

Facts First:Trump’sclaim that Cohen got into trouble simply because of his non-Trump-related activities, such as those related to taxis and loans, is not true.First, Cohen’s case wasreferredto federal prosecutors in New Yorkby the special counsel, Robert Mueller, who was appointed to investigate any connections between the Trump campaign and Russia. Second, Cohen’s three-year prison sentence in 2018 was formultiplecrimes, some of which were directly related to Trump.

Most notably, Cohen was sentenced forcampaign finance offensesconnected to a hush money schemeduring the 2016 presidential campaign to conceal Trump’s alleged extramarital relationships — the same hush money scheme that was central to this prosecution against Trump. Cohen wasalso sentenced to two months in prison, to run concurrently with the three-year sentence, forlying to Congress in 2017 in relation to previous talks about the possibility of building a Trump Tower in Moscow, Russia, including about theextent of Trump’s involvement in the aborted Moscow initiativeand about when in 2016 the discussions ended.

Watch more fact-checks:

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President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the verdict in former President Donald Trump's hush money trial and on the Middle East, from the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on Friday.

President Joe Biden said that Donald Trump has the opportunity to appeal the decision in his New York criminal hush money trial.

“Now he’ll be given the opportunity, as heshould, toappealthat decisionjust like everyone else hasthat opportunity. That’s howthe American system of justiceworks,” Biden said.

Biden said, “it’s reckless, it’sdangerous, it’s irresponsiblefor anyone to say this wasrigged just because they don’tlike the verdict.”

President Joe Biden speaks on May 31, 2024, in Washington, DC, from the White House.

President Joe Biden said that Donald Trump’s conviction in the hush money trial on Thursday reaffirmed “the Americanprinciple that no one is abovethe law.”

He said the jury was made up of regular Americans, “12 people like you,” who heard evidence and returned a unanimous verdict.

“This jury was chosen the same way every juryin America is chosen,” Biden said, adding that Trump’s lawyers were part of that process.

“After careful deliberation, the jury reached aunanimous verdict they foundDonald Trump guilty on all 34felony counts,” Biden said.

The president, who has not made direct comments about the guilty verdict since it was handed down yesterday, said Trump “was given every opportunity to defend himself.”

This post was updated with additional comments from Biden.

Former President Donald Trump’s conviction in the New York criminal hush money trial comes just days before the trial of President Joe Biden’s son is set to begin on Monday.

The president’s son faces three charges in the case brought bythe special counselin Delaware. Prosecutors accuse Hunter Biden of buying and possessing a firearm while addicted to illegal drugs, which is a violation of federal law, and of lying on a form he submitted during the purchase about his drug use. Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty.

Lawyers said the trial could last up to two weeks, including jury selection, with the potential to go longer.

The judge in Hunter Biden’s gun caseissued a series of pretrial rulings last week, handing wins to both sides and setting the contours of the upcoming trial. Federal Judge Maryellen Noreika sided with prosecutors on akey question about whatthey need to prove about Biden’s drug use when he bought a gun in 2018.

Read more on Hunter Biden’s case here.

Judge Juan Merchan has scheduled Donald Trump’s sentencing for July 11 — which happens to be four days before the start of the Republican National Convention that is scheduled to take place in Milwaukee.

Todd Blanche, the former president’s attorney, told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on “The Source” that they will “vigorously fight” in post-trial motions due to Merchan in a few weeks.

“If that is not successful,” Blanche said they would appeal following the sentencing.

Former President Donald Trump on Friday vowed to appeal his conviction in the New York criminal hush money case.

Trump was found guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business recordsThursday.

Following the verdict, Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins that the former president’s legal team plans to argue in its appeal that the jury was biased against Trump and the timing of the trial was unfair.

Trump remained defiant on Friday after the Manhattan jury delivered a guilty verdict.

“We will continue the fight. We are going to make America great again, very simple,” he said.

He said, “It’s a very sad thing that is happening in our country and it is a thing that I’m honored — in a way I’m honored.”

“It’s not that it’s pleasant. It is very bad for family, friends and businesses, but I am honored to be involved in it because somebody has to do it. And I might as well keep going and be the one. But I’m very honored to be involved because we’re fighting for our constitution.”

Trump’s sentencing is scheduled for July 11 and he faces the possibility of a prison sentence or probation.

The Biden campaign blasted Donald Trump after the former president’s remarks from New York on Friday, following his conviction on 34 felony charges. In his speech, Trump attacked President Joe Biden, Judge Juan Merchan and his former attorney and fixer, Michael Cohen.

Tyler attacked Trump, saying he is “spiraling from his criminal convictions” and is “consumed by his own thirst for revenge and retribution.” Trying to draw a contrast with Biden, Tyler said Trump’s priority is not the American people.

The Biden campaign has engaged more with Trump’s Manhattan hush money trial since the jury announced its verdict yesterday evening, with Tyler saying in a statement Thursday night that the ballot box “is still only one way to keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office.”

But Biden — who was with family in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, on Thursday to mark the ninth anniversary of his son Beau’s death — has yet to weigh in,apart from a short post to social media platform Xurging supporters to donate to his campaign.

Sen. JD Vance looks on as former President Donald Trump speaks to the media during Trump's trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 13 in New York City.

Republican Sen. J.D. Vance said he stands by Donald Trump after the former president was convicted on criminal charges on Thursday. Vance, whose name has been included in the list of possible vice presidential picks, said he will do whatever he can to help the presumptive GOP frontrunner

The Ohio lawmaker claimed the hush money trial was never about justice, instead, it was “about plastering ‘convicted felon’ all over the airwaves.”

Vance complained about Judge Juan Merchan, the jury instructions and said the trial should not have taken place in Manhattan. Trump and his allies have argued that Trump could not get a fair trial in New York.

He also claimed the case was political because Merchan donated to Biden in 2020. Merchan previously contributed $15 earmarked for the Biden campaign and made two $10 contributions — one earmarked to the Progressive Turnout Project, a voter outreach organization, and another to Stop Republicans, a subsidiary of the Progressive Turnout Project.

“I believe that Donald Trumpdid nothing wrong. But if youtake [Manhattan District Attorney] Alvin Bragg’s argument, if you take every single thing inthat indictment at face value,what it suggests is DonaldTrump committed paperworkviolation,” Vance said.

Former President Donald Trump's motorcade arrives outside of the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta, Georgia, on Thursday, August 24, 2023.

The hush money criminal case against former President Donald Trump was only one offour criminal caseshe is juggling while running again for president.

The former president still faces criminal indictments in Georgia, Washington, DC, and Florida. Trump has pleaded not guilty to every charge in these cases.

Here’s a recap of each case:

Track the criminal casesagainst Trump.

Donald Trump is the first former president to be convicted of a felony, but he is not the firstfelon to run for the presidency. The Socialist Party candidate Eugene Debs ran from prison in 1920, although he had no chance of winning the race.

Trump, on the other hand, is the presumptive nominee for Republicans and has a very real chance of winning the election in November.

Below, let us know yourquestionsabout theguilty verdictin the New York trial.

Former President Donald Trump speaks at Trump Tower on Friday.

Donald Trump’s defiant speech Friday following his felony conviction serves as another example of how “very attuned” he is to his conservative base, CNN anchor Abby Phillip said.

While assailing what he called a “very unfair” trial, Trump’s address extended to a wide range of other topics, including the auto industry, immigration and crime in New York.

“All of that stream of consciousness — you need a glossary if you are not clued in to the right-wing media ecosystem,” Phillip said. “But for the right-wing media ecosystem, they know what he’s talking about, because he’s been seeding these lines of attack for weeks and weeks and weeks, since even before this trial started.”

House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan’s subcommittee targeting the alleged weaponization of the federal government is demanding Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and prosecutor Matthew Colangelo appear for a hearing on June 13 following Donald Trump’s guilty verdict.

In a social media post, the committee said the Republican from Ohio wants them to testify about the “unprecedented political prosecution” of Trump.

This is the first sign of Trump’s key hill allies, like Jordan, using their positions in Congress to defend Trump after the verdict.

While Trump’s legal team is deciding whether to try and push back his July 11 sentencingdate, some members of his teamsee a positive political advantage to keeping itjust days before the Republican National Convention as a way to continue to frame him as a martyr, according to a source familiar with the matter.

This issue is going to be discussed over the next few days with both legal and political factors being considered, the source added.

This looks to be a shift in their legal strategy, as it appears going forward the campaign will be the primary consideration. That’s because victory in November is likely the only thing that can protect Trump fromat least two other criminal casesthat carry far more significant consequences.

Notably, the Trump defense team only raised the 2024 campaign in pretrial proceedings to try to get the trial moved back and in litigation over gag order but did not raise it in courtroom during seven weeks of trial.

Former President Donald Trump speaks at Trump Tower in New York City on May 31.

Donald Trump says the 34 felony counts of falsifying business records he was convicted of Thursday sound worse than they are.

A jury found Trump guilty of falsifying business records as part of a scheme to cover up a hush money payment to an adult film star shortly before the 2016 election. The case hinged on how reimbursem*nt for the payment was documented, and whether it was part of an effort to aid his election bid.

“Falsifying business records — that sounds so bad, to me it sounds very bad,” Trump said.

“That’s a bad thing for me, I’ve never had that before,” he added.

But Trump disputed that characterization of his crimes, saying he had a legal expense — paying lawyer Michael Cohen — and that it was documented as a legal expense.

A bookkeeper “correctly marked it down in the books,” the former president said, claiming that was done “without any knowledge from me.”

“What else are you going to call it?” Trump said.

Read more about the case and the charges against Trump.

Michael Cohen departs his home in Manhattan to testify in Trump's criminal trial over charges that he falsified business records to conceal money paid to silence p*rn star Stormy Daniels in 2016 in New York on May 20.

Former President Donald Trump railed against his former attorney and key witness in his criminal hush money trial yet refrained from mentioning his name to avoid violating his gag order.

Trump’s remarks come a day after a New York jury convicted the former president of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

Trump continued to distance himself from Cohen without actually uttering his name.

“He got into trouble, notbecause of me,” Trump said about his former fixer. “He got into troublebecause he made outside dealsand he had something to do withtaxi cabs and medallions thathe borrowed money.”

Former President Donald Trump holds a press conference following the verdict in his hush-money trial at Trump Tower on May 31, 2024 in New York City.

Former President Donald Trump called the trial “very unfair” in a news conference following his guilty verdict.

Trump went on to criticize Judge Juan Merchan further, saying “he looks like an angel, buthe’s really a devil.”

Former President Donald Trump slammed Judge Juan Merchan, calling him “conflicted” in remarks following his historic conviction.

“I’m under a gag order, nasty gag order, where I’ve had to paythousands of dollars inpenalties and wasthreatened with jail,” he claimed.

“If they can do this to me, they can do this to anyone,” Donald Trump said Friday, a day after his conviction on 34 felony counts in the hush money criminal trial.

The former president is addressing reporters from Trump Tower in Manhattan.

Trump said there were “bad people” responsible for the conviction and repeated his claim that Judge Juan Merchan was “highly conflicted” in the case.

Former President Donald Trump speaks at Trump Tower in New York on Friday.

A day after a New York jury convicted former President Donald Trump on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee is addressing his historic guilty verdict from Trump Tower.

Moments after the verdict on Thursday, Trump railed against the hush money trial, saying the “real verdict is going to be November 5 by the people,” referring to the general election.

Shares of Truth Social owner Trump Media & Technology Group fell about 5% Friday morning in volatile trading following the conviction of former President Donald Trump.

Trump Media is a notoriously volatile stock and has swung between steep losses and sharp gains since the historic conviction.

The Truth Social owner initially plummeted as much as 15% Thursday evening. The stock battled back and opened Friday 4% higher before those gains fizzled.

Read more about how the markets are reacting to the former president’s guilty verdict.

Supporters of former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gather near his residence at Mar-a-Lago as they react after he was convicted in his criminal trial, in Palm Beach, Florida, on May 30.

Former President Donald Trump’s campaign said Friday it had raised $34.8 million in small-dollar donations after a Manhattan jury found him guilty of all 34 counts of falsifying business records in his hush money criminal trial.

The campaign said the figure was nearly double its biggest day ever on the WinRed platform, which faced intermittent outages yesterday that the campaign attributed to overwhelming traffic.

“President Trump is fighting to save our nation and November 5th is the day Americans will deliver the real verdict,” they added.

Rep. Byron Donalds speaks with reporters as he leaves the US Capitol on May 17, in Washington, DC.

Republican Rep. Byron Donalds said that GOP Senate candidate Larry Hogan is “wrong” to have urged Americans to “respect” the verdict in Donald Trump’s hush money trial, arguing “you cannot respect the process when the fix is in from the beginning.”

He added that if Hogan “is playing to voters in Maryland because Maryland is deep blue, I find that to be reprehensible. But it’s his decision. What happened in New York was wrong.”

Asked by Bolduan if speaking out against the verdict is a new litmus test for Republicans, Donalds said, “No, the litmus test is not for Republicans, it’s for protecting our constitution. It’s for actually protecting the institutions of our country.”

Donalds also said he spoke to Trump last night and that he was “in good spirits, primarily because he knows that this is a joke and it’s a farce.

The Florida Republican reiterated that he thought the verdict was a “travesty of the justice system” and said the charges should have never been brought in the first place.

Pressed on why he doesn’t respect the jury’s verdict, Donalds argued, “So how can I respect the verdict of the jury when every — everything that was put into the jury’s hands was corrupt in the first place?”

Former President Donald Trump is expected to travel to his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club after delivering remarks at Trump Tower later this morning, two sources familiar with his schedule tell CNN.

He will spend the weekend there before going back to Palm Beach next week. Late next week, he begins his West Coast fundraising tour with stops in California and Nevada.

Former President Donald Trump's social media platform Truth Social on March 25, in Chicago.

Shares of Truth Social owner, Trump Media & Technology Group, erased their premarket losses and moved sharply higherthis morningfollowing the conviction of former President Donald Trump in the hush money trial.

Trump Media shares initially plummeted as much as 15%yesterdayon news of the conviction in New York.

Those losses were trimmed by early this morning and have now reversed. Trump Media shares are on track to open the day 6% higher at $55.

At those levels, Trump’s dominant stake of 114.75 million shares is valued at $6.3 billion on paper.

Trump Media has been extremely volatile since going public in late March.

A supporter of former President Donald Trump joins a small gathering near Mar-a-Lago on May 30, in Palm Beach, Florida.

Former President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign has launched a wave of new digital advertisem*nts looking to capitalize on a potential fundraising surge following his historic conviction in the New York criminal hush money trial.

In the hours following the verdict, Trump’s Facebook page went up with several variations of ads that blared the news of his conviction and appealed to his supporters.

“I WAS JUST CONVICTED IN A RIGGED TRIAL! Democrats have a sick & twisted goal: Pervert the justice system against me so much, that proud supporters like YOU will SPIT when you hear my name. BUT I KNOW YOU WILL NEVER GIVE UP ON ME - YOU WILL NEVER SURRENDER!”one of the ads says. “I’m asking my STRONGEST supporters to stand with me at this dark moment in history. We will DEFEAT Joe Biden, but only with YOUR SUPPORT! Please chip in anything now.”

The campaign and its allies also sent out multiple emails and texts throughout the afternoon and evening, kicking its fundraising operation into high gear. “I was just convicted in a RIGGED political Witch Hunt trial: I DID NOTHING WRONG! They’ve raided my home, arrested me, took my mugshot, AND NOW THEY’VE JUST CONVICTED ME!,” one of the emails said.

Even ahead of the verdict, Trump’s campaign and several allied fundraising committees regularly referenced the case in digital appeals. “Your donation makes a real difference while President Trump is stuck in court. Biden is raising millions to crush our campaign,” read a now-inactiveFacebook adthat ran throughout much of May.

Some background: Digital fundraising has been a major component of Trump’s small-dollar fundraising machine, and his operation has plowed millions into the effort, which can generate significant returns. Since April 15, when the New York trial began, a Trump joint fundraising committee with a lead role in digital fundraising has spent nearly $2.5 million on digital ads, according to AdImpact.

A man watches the verdict of former President Donald Trump's hush money trial on May 30 in Austin, Texas.

Some things take time to sink in. But don’t expect committedDonald Trumpvoters to suddenly waver because their candidate isnow a convicted felon.

“Just an abuse of the justice system,” Billy Pierce, a semi-retired consultant and Trump backer inHartsville, South Carolina, said shortly after the former president wasfound guilty on all 34 countsof falsifying business records in his Manhattan hush money trial.

Andrew Konchek, a commercial fisherman and Trumpsupporterin New Hampshire, responded to the verdict with sarcastic references to former President Bill Clinton’s personalscandals. “There’s no direct evidence and from who, Cohen?Who’s a habitual liar and has been disbarred? I smell some bullsh*t,” he added referring to the prosecution’s star witness, former Trump fixer Michael Cohen.

Another Trump backer in New Hampshire, Debbie Katsanos, texted during the jury deliberations. “I see no crime,” she said. “Certainly at a felony level. I am sorry to say I can’t trust the justice system when it’s being used in a political way.… Yes, no one is above the law, when a law is broken they should be held accountable. I’m just not seeing it in this case.”

Betsy Sarcone was a Nikki Haley voter in the Iowa caucuses and late last year said she would vote Biden if it ended up a Biden-Trump rematch. But she has shifted dramatically since the caucuses.

“This does not impact my plans to vote Republican. I don’t even like Donald Trump and this was a witch hunt, made up crimes on the part of the judge and DA. It will never stand on appeal. … I actually don’t think it will hurt him. People are so sick of the sideshows to distract/avoid/gaslight people away from the real problems in this country.”

Pierce, Konchek, Sarcone and Katsanos are allparticipating ina CNN projectto follow the 2024 election through the eyes and experiences of voters who live in key battlegrounds or are part of key voting blocs.We will check back as news of the historic 34 count conviction sinks in, and as the former president prepares to be sentenced in July –days before he is to be officially nominated for president at the Republican National Convention.

Read more about voter reaction to Trump’s historic conviction here.

Former President Donald Trump reacts as the verdict is read in his criminal trial over charges that he falsified business records at Manhattan state court in New York City, on May 30.

Judge Juan Merchan set Donald Trump’s sentencing date for July 11 at 10 a.m. ET.

A panel of New York jurors on Thursday found the former president guilty of all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records after deliberating for nearly 12 hours over two days.

Not only is Trump the first former president to be found guilty of a felony, but he’s also the first major-party presidential nominee to be convicted of a crime in the midst of a campaign for the White House.And if he defeatsPresident Joe Bidenin November, he will be the first sitting president in history to be a convicted felon.

The July 11 sentencing hearing happens just days before the start of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

While prison time is a possibility, the judge is not required to sentence Trump to jail. Merchan could sentence Trump to probation or a sentence of up to 4 years on each count in state prison, with a maximum of 20 years.

Here’s a further breakdown of the potential sentence Trump could face:

CNN’s Kristina Sgueglia, Jeremy Herb, Laura Dolan, Kara Scannell and Lauren del Vallecontributed reporting to this post.

Allies of Donald Trump are speaking out against the historic guilty verdict of the former president — with many rallying to his defense.

Now that a New York jury hasconvicted former President Donald Trump of all 34 felony chargesof falsifying business records,the next obvious question is: Can a convicted felon run for president?

The US Constitution lays out just three requirements for presidential candidates. They must:

Trump meets all three requirements. There is, arguably, another criterion laid out in the 14th Amendment, which states that no one who has previously taken an oath of office who engages in insurrection can be an officer of the US. But theUS Supreme Court ruled earlier this yearthat Congress would have to pass a special law invoking this prohibition. That’s not happening any time soon.

Can Trump still vote?

It depends. Each state makes its own rules. Trump is now a Florida resident – and Florida voters, in 2018, overwhelmingly backed areferendum to reenfranchise convicted felons.

In an interview with CNN, Neil Volz, deputy director of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, an organization that works to help reenfranchise formerly incarcerated people, predicted Trump will have little problem voting since Florida actuallydefers to the jurisdiction of a felony conviction as to whether a felon can vote. In New York, after alaw passed in 2021, any convicted felon who is not incarcerated is eligible to register to vote.

Even if the judge ultimately tried to give Trump prison time, it is highly unlikely that Trump’s right to appeal his conviction would be exhausted before Election Day. If, somehow, Trump was convicted in one of the two federalcriminal casesagainst himbefore Election Day, that might be another story.

A version of this story appears in CNN’s What Matters newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for freehere.

Donald Trump’s media allies are demanding retribution in the wake of hisconviction.

Followingweeks ofattackstargeting the historic hush money case against the former president, prominent right-wing media figures immediately flooded the public discourse Thursday with extreme and disturbing rhetoric after Trump was found guilty on 34 felony counts.

OnFox Newsand other right-wing outlets, pro-Trump media personalities erupted in anger, blaming everyone fromJudgeJuan Merchanand Manhattan District AttorneyAlvin BraggtoPresident Joe Bidenand the entire US justice system for the “disgraceful” conviction.

While not surprising, the furious bluster reverberating across right-wing media still carried its intended effect, burning away public trust in America’s core institutions and leaving a lasting impact on thelegitimacy of the rule of lawin the United States.

The toxic commentary is also enflaming desires of retribution held by Trump supporters, with popular right-wing media figures openly declaring their hope that the GOP candidate to nakedly seek revenge against his critics, should he emerge victorious in November and return to the Oval Office.

Read more about how Trump’s media allies are reacting to his historic conviction.

World leaders and top officials have reacted to Donald Trump’s historic conviction after a juryfound him guilty of all 34 counts of falsifying business records in his hush money criminal trial.

The unprecedented and historic verdict that makeshim the first former president in US history to be convicted of a felony.

Here are some reactions to Trump’s verdict from across the world:

Hungary: Prime Minister Viktor Orbán prompted Trump to “keep on fighting.” Orban said: “Let the people make their verdict this November!” he said.

Italy: Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said Trump was a “victim of judicial harassment and a process of political nature.”Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has not commented on the conviction.

Russia: Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that it is “obvious” political rivals are “being eliminated there through all legal and illegal means,” in reaction to Trump being found guilty on 34 felony counts by a New York jury.

A New York juryconvicting Donald Trumpon 34 felony counts of falsifying business records brought the former president’s weekslong trial to a close but ushered in a new phase of the historic case.

Now in the unique position of being the first formerUSpresident convicted of a felony, Trump faces the possibility of a prison sentence or probation for his crimesstemmingfrom a hush money payment scheme he helped facilitate ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

Trump– who is known for mounting lengthy appeals of court rulings against him– has said he will appeal the conviction, which can be done after he is sentenced.

Here’s what to know about the case following Trump’s conviction:

When will Trump be sentenced? Judge Juan Merchan has set Trump’ssentencingfor10 a.m. ETonJuly 11. For now, the former president will remain out of prison as he awaits his sentencing. Prosecutors did not ask for Trump to post any bond.

Can Trump appeal his conviction? Shortly after Trump was convicted, his attorney Todd Blanche asked Merchan for an acquittal of the charges notwithstanding the guilty verdict. The judge rejected the pro forma request.

Can Trump still be elected president? Nothing in the US Constitution bars a convicted criminalfromrunning for the nation’s highest office, University of California, Los Angeles law professor Richard L. Hasen has consistently said.

“The Constitution contains only limited qualifications for running for office (being at least 35 years old, a natural born citizen, and at least 14 years a resident of the U.S.),” Hasen continued.

Will the conviction cost Trump his right to vote? Trump is a Florida resident. When it comes to the Manhattan guilty verdict just rendered,Trump’s right to vote in Floridain November’s election will depend on whether he is sentenced to a term in prison and if he has finished serving that prison sentence by the time of the election.

Florida’s felon voting prohibitions apply to people with out-of-state convictions. However, if a Floridian’s conviction is out of state, Florida defers to that state’s laws for how felon can regain their voting rights.

Read more on the aftermath of Trump’s guilty verdict.

Correction: This post has been updated to reflect when Trump is allowed to file an appeal.

Donald Trump’sfirst act on becominga convicted criminalwas to launch a raging new attack on the rule of law, laying bare the gravity of the choice awaiting America’s voters.

In one sense, Trump’sconviction on all countsin his first criminal trial affirmed the principle on which the United States is founded — that everyone is equal and that no one, not even a billionaire and former and possibly future president, enjoys impunity.

But Trump’s authoritarian outburst minutes after the guilty verdict in New York anda race by top Republicansto join his assault on the justice system underscore how threatened those bedrock values now are.

“This was a rigged, disgraceful trial. The real verdict is going to be November 5, by the people, and they know what happened here and everybody knows what happened here,” Trump said.

President Joe Biden’s campaign echoed his opponent’s belief that the ultimate judgment on the former president will come in the general election.

Among an electorate that Trump has constantly polarized, the verdict islikely to be greeted with fury by his supportersand jubilation by his critics. But in truth, this is a somber and even tragic passage of US history. Americans have never seen an ex-president convicted of a crime, and a country already torn apart by bitter political and cultural polarization is likely in for a rocky time.

The implications are enormous.

Read the full analysis.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg held a news conference shortly after the jury in Donald Trump’s hush money trial found the former president guilty of 34 felony counts.

Bragg began the conference by thanking the jury, and went on to applaud the prosecution team and defend the work of his office.

He also noted that both the trial and verdict were arrived at “in the same manner as every other case that comes through the courtroom doors.”

However, Bragg declined to answer questions on Judge Juan Merchan potentially sentencing Trump to prison, or on how the district attorney’s office would respond to an appeal.

Michael Cohen, speaking after Donald Trump’s guilty verdict Thursday, said he was “relieved” and wasn’t surprised by the verdict.

“This has been six years in the making,” he told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow.

When Maddow asked if he was surprised by the verdict, Cohen said: “No. I was not.”

Cohen praised the judge and prosecutors for their work, and said he stayed off social media in respect for the judge and the process.

He said he faced difficulty dealing with the anxiety of the trial.

“I was nervous because so much was riding on the result of this, and I wanted to ensure that my testimony was perfect. I knew that there could be no deviation from perfection,” he said.

Cohen called Todd Blanche, Trump’s attorney, a “SLOAT” – stupidest lawyer of all time. During his closing arguments, Blanche had called Cohen a “GLOAT” – the greatest liar of all time.

Well before the Manhattan jury finished deliberating on Thursday, most of President Joe Biden’s advisers concluded thata guilty verdict wouldn’t drasticallyalter their2024 election strategy.

But it has stoked some hopes among supporters of the president that if 12 people who focused onTrump voted to find him guilty,there might actually be enough undecided voters who, if the Biden campaign can figure out how to get them to focus on Trump, will vote to keep him from returning to the White House.

Aides have discussed among themselves whether the Biden campaignwould use the term “criminal” to describe the likely Republican nominee in their messaging, even as they acknowledge the former president’s legal issues are largely baked in and voters care about other issues more.

Still, a guilty verdict is a guilty verdict, and 34 of them hardly make forbad newsfor Biden’s campaignfive months before Election Day.

The convictions might not move the needle in a major way in the election, those close to the Biden reelection effort told CNN, but an acquittal could have really helped Trump –and that makes Thursday’s historic decision a win for the Biden campaign, if only because it is not a loss.

Read more about what the Biden campaign believes Trump’s historic verdict signifies.

As Donald Trumpbecame the first former US presidentto beconvicted of a felonyon Thursday, the historic verdict sparked huge interest – and a fair amount of schadenfreude –in China.

As a rising authoritarian superpower, China has long sought to project its political system as superior to American democracy.

But while Trump’s trial has been a boon for that narrative, it’s also offered a potential window into something unimaginable and dangerous in the Chinese Communist Party system — an elected leader held accountable by independent courts and prosecutors,convicted by a jury of his peers.

For months, Chinese propagandists have attempted to use Trump’s indictments to strengthen Beijing’s narrative of a United States in decline, citing the months-long legal battle as a prime example of the polarization and dysfunction of American politics.

And as China woke up Friday to the news of Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, the country’s heavily censored social media lit up.

On Weibo, China’s X-like platform, the verdict became the top trending topic, racking up more than 120 million views by the afternoon.

Under leader Xi Jinping, China’s most assertive leader in decades, the country’s social media platforms have become increasingly dominated by anti-American, nationalistic voices.

Some nationalist influencers gleefully mocked the verdict.

Read the full story.

Donald Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Thursday that the former president wanted to testify, but he relied on counsel and ultimately did not take stand.

Todd Blanche appears on CNN after a Manhattan juryfound his client, Donal Trump, guiltyof falsifying business records on Thursday, May 30.

Donald Trump attorney Todd Blanche shared with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins Thursday that the legal team was “prepared for a guilty verdict.”

Trump reportedly told people that he believed it would be a hung jury, and while Blanche said they “were fighting to win the case, of course, but a hung jury would have been as close to a win as we could’ve gotten.”

“But we were prepared for a conviction. I think that was expected,” Blanche added.

Donald Trump is scheduled to be sentenced just days before the Republican National Convention where it is expected he will officially become the party’s nominee for president — something his team was worried about when looking at the timing of the hush money trial, sources told CNN’s Kristen Holmes.

Trump’s sentencing hearing is set to take place on July 11. The RNC begins on July 15 in Milwaukee. Trump is required to be in court for the sentencing.

While it is historic that Trump is the first former president to be convicted of criminal charges, “it is also historic that he will be the Republican nominee, being sentenced just days before,” Holmes said.

The former president’s lawyer, Todd Blanche, originally asked for a late-July sentencing date to take place after the convention, Holmes reported.

Stormy Daniels is still processing the news of Donald Trump’s conviction in the hush money trial, shortly after the guilty verdict was read Thursday, said her husband Barrett Blade.

On the stand, Daniels described how she and Trump met at a celebrity golf tournament and what she says happened when she went to Trump’s Lake Tahoe hotel room in 2006. She also told the jury about a $130,000 hush money payment she received from former Trump attorney Michael Cohen before the 2016 election.

“She was brought into this. This wasn’t her seeking justice for herself. She was standing up for herself early on and saying what was right, but this whole hush money trial is really nothing … it’s not her story,” he said.

Still, Blade said Daniels “feels a little vindicated that, you know, she was telling the truth” after the jury heard her testimony. He said they would have supported the jury’s decision either way.

“Hopefully people will finally start seeing the truth and if they do, they do, if they don’t, they don’t. I don’t know that that ever changes,” he said.

Before the historic and unprecedented guilty verdict was delivered against Donald Trump on Thursday afternoon, the former president appeared to be the most relaxed he’d been since his hush money trial began in April.

Trump was smiling and laughing with his attorney, Todd Blanche, as they waited for Judge Juan Merchan to announce the jury was heading home for the day.

With Trump and prosecutors assembled, Merchan returned to the bench at 4:13 p.m. ET to let the parties know that he planned to send the jury home for the day in about 15 minutes. The judge left the courtroom, and Trump, his lawyers and the prosecutors remained behind to wait for the end of the day.

But everything changed when the judge re-entered the courtroom at 4:36 p.m. ET with a stunning note: The jury had reached a verdict.

The jury needed 30 minutes to fill out the forms, leaving Trump and the attorneys sitting in the courtroom until the judge and jury returned. They mostly sat still while waiting, occasionally making small talk amongst themselves.

When the judge returned to the bench, he warned the parties and the audience against “reactions” or “outbursts of any kind” before the jury entered.

The six alternates entered and sat in the first row of the gallery, behind prosecutors. The 12 jurors took their seats in the jury box.A clerk prompted the jury foreman with each of the 34 counts. He answered “guilty” 34 times.

The attorneys were silent and serious as the verdict was read. Only the sound of feverish typing could be heard from the galley filled with press and several members of the public as the foreman delivered Trump’s fate.

Reporters could not initially see Trump’s facial reaction when the first guilty verdict was read – the courthouse had the video screen off while the foreman read most of the verdict, as the court turned off video whenever jurors were moving.

Keep reading about how the moment unfolded.