NEW YORK — A day after a New York jury handed down a historic guilty verdict in Donald Trump’s criminal trial, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee will likely try to cast the conviction and his campaign in a new light.
The former president is expected to hold a press conference at Trump Tower on Friday morning.
After his conviction on Thursday, Trump angrily denounced the trial as a “disgrace,” telling journalists he was an “innocent man.”
His supporters were quick to echo those sentiments, while many of his critics – politicians and others – applauded the verdict.
Trump was convicted of 34 felony counts in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election through a secret payment to a porn star who said the two had sex. The secret trial and subsequent conviction marks the first time a former US president has been tried or convicted in a criminal case.
He still faces three other criminal charges, but the New York case was the first to go to trial and likely the only one before the November election.
Judge Juan M. Merchan scheduled Trump’s sentencing for July 11. The charges are punishable by up to four years in prison, although the punishment ultimately lies with Merchan. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg declined to say whether prosecutors would seek prison time.
At the moment:
– What to know about the guilty verdict in Trump’s hush money trial
– Photos: A visual look at the past seven weeks in Donald Trump’s secret trial
— How Trump’s conviction affects the 2024 presidential race
– Trump can still vote for himself if he’s not in prison on Election Day
– Trump investigations: the status of cases filed against him
Here are the latest:
Several Republican lawmakers reacted with fury to Donald Trump’s criminal conviction on Thursday and rushed to his defense — questioning the legitimacy of the trial and how it was conducted.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said it was a “shameful day in American history” and called the accusations “purely political.”
South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, who has been one of Trump’s most frequent allies, said: “This verdict says more about the system than the allegations.”
And while Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell refrained from attacking the judge or jury, he said the charges “should never have been brought in the first place.”
Many Republican lawmakers, including Johnson, visited the New York courthouse to support Trump during his criminal trial.
Donald Trump may have been convicted of a crime and resides in Florida, a state famous for restricting the voting rights of felons, but he can still vote as long as he stays out of prison in New York state.
This is because Florida follows other states’ disenfranchisement rules for residents convicted of out-of-state crimes. In Trump’s case, New York law only takes away their right to vote when they are incarcerated. Once they leave prison, their rights are automatically restored — even if they are on parole, under a 2021 law passed by the state’s Democratic legislature.
“If a Florida citizen’s voting rights are restored in the state of conviction, they are restored under Florida law,” Blair Bowie of the Campaign Legal Center wrote in a post explaining the rule of law, noting that people without Trump’s legal resources are often confused by Florida’s complex rules.
Donald Trump’s conviction Thursday on 34 criminal charges marked the end of the former president’s historic secret trial.
Now comes the sentencing and the prospect of a prison sentence. A lengthy appeals process could follow, especially as Trump’s legal team is already laying the groundwork for an appeal.
And at the same time, the presumptive Republican presidential candidate still faces three more criminal cases and a campaign that could see him return to the White House.
This story originally appeared on ABCNews.go.com read the full story
