“We, the jury, have a verdict.” When the judge, Juan Merchán, read the jurors’ handwritten note and made the announcement, there was silence followed by a flurry of activity.
donald trumpthe presumptive Republican presidential candidate, was about to find out your destiny.
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Moments earlier, Trump and his legal team were in good spirits and defense attorney Todd Blanche was laughing.
Trump, in a white shirt and bright blue tie, chatted with his son Eric and his lawyer as he walked around the courtroom gallery.
He sat in his chair, as he had done throughout the trial, sometimes with his eyes closed.
From time to time he would talk to his lawyers, whispering and chatting and smiling, and even laughing at one point.
But when the courtroom learned that the jury had reached its verdict, the smiles at Trump’s table turned sour and tension filled the air.
Photo: Steven Hirsch/pool via Reuters
The team looked deadly serious and Trump was now sitting with his arms crossed in front of his chest.
He seemed embarrassed and resigned, and any levity seemed to have dissipated from the defense table.
His lawyers barely spoke.
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The number of security personnel increased in the already crowded and warm courtroom as jurors filed in and took their seats.
It took the jury less than two days to find Trump guilty of all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
The verdict was read quickly. Nine and a half hours of deliberations followed.
Trump remained motionless as the verdict was delivered. He looked upset and then looked at the jurors.
He remained impassive as Judge Merchan announced the sentencing date of July 11.
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Each juror had to walk in front of Trump, who had just been found guilty on all charges, to leave the courtroom.
As they passed Trump, none of them looked at him. Some looked down.
But Trump stared at each one of them.
He didn’t change his expression. He remained impassive, on the verge of frowning.
There were cheers and boos outside the New York City courthouse as Trump became the first former US president convicted of a crime.
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Sky News US correspondent James Matthews said: “There is a calm descending on a gathering outside the court buildings at the time of the verdict.
“A crowd needs silence to hear the news because it doesn’t know where it will come from first.
“And so, outside the Manhattan courthouse, a hushed silence fell over Collect Pond Park as it became clear that the jury was about to deliver its verdict.
“In a crowd of several hundred, this was a shared experience of a moment in which everyone had invested: only half got a return.
“On the anti-Trump side, there was cheering that grew in volume as word spread and phones rang; on the other, there was collapsing defiance.
“Outside the criminal edifice, it was America’s political division in microcosm and it was not going to be healed by internal events.”
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