Former US President Donald Trump called his conviction in the New York hush money trial “very unfair" and “rigged", and vowed to appeal his criminal conviction.
On Thursday, a New York jury found Trump guilty of multiple felonies at his hush-money trial, making him the first former US president to be convicted of crimes.
In his speech, Trump called his adversaries "sick" and "fascists."
“It’s not hush money.
He further repeated unfounded claims on Friday morning that President Joe Biden and the Justice Department influenced his New York hush money prosecution.
Former US President Donald Trump called his conviction in the New York hush money trial “very unfair" and “rigged", and vowed to appeal his criminal conviction. On Thursday, a New York jury found Trump guilty of multiple felonies at his hush-money trial, making him the first former US president to be convicted of crimes.
"It was very unfair... You saw what happened to some of the witnesses that were on our side – they were literally crucified," Trump was quoted by Reuters as saying in a speech at Trump Tower in Manhattan. In his speech, Trump called his adversaries "sick" and "fascists."
He vowed to challenge his conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records, declaring "we're going to be appealing this scam... on many different things." However, he will have to wait until after his sentencing on July 11 before taking that step.
The Republican ex-president argued the verdict was illegitimate and driven by politics and sought to downplay the facts underlying the case. “It’s not hush money. It’s a nondisclosure agreement. Totally legal, totally common," he was quoted by the Associated Press as saying.
Trump was found on all 34 charges of falsifying business records to hide a hush money payment meant to silence porn star Stormy Daniels from publicising an alleged sexual encounter that he feared would be fatal to his 2016 presidential campaign.
Following his conviction on Thursday, Trump said he was an “innocent man". He angrily denounced the trial as a “disgrace", the Associated Press reported.
Trump claimed that he wanted to testify, as was his legal right, but that he was not permitted to. He further repeated unfounded claims on Friday morning that President Joe Biden and the Justice Department influenced his New York hush money prosecution.
In addition to complaining that the jury trial was unfair, Trump frequently veered off into attacks on Biden and illegal immigrants, who he said were speaking "languages unknown" and include many terrorists, as well as "a lot of people" released from prisons.
"They're coming in from all over the world into our country, and we have a president and a group of fascists that don't want to do anything about it, because they could right now, today, he could stop it. But he's not. They're destroying our country," Trump said.
Trump called the committee that investigated the January 6 attack on the US Capitol “thugs" and also called Biden a “Manchurian candidate," a phrase implying the president is corrupt and being used as a puppet by a political enemy. “They’re destroying our country," Trump said. “We’re living in a fascist state."
Trump still faces three other felony indictments, but the New York case was the first to reach trial and likely the only one ahead of the November election. As per an AFP report, Trump faces a potential prison sentence, but is much more likely to receive probation.
(With inputs from agencies)
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