A New York jury on Thursday found Donald Trump guilty on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to a hush money incident before the 2016 election, NBC reported Thursday.
Trump is the first former U.S. president that has been convicted of a crime.
His sentencing is set for July 11, which is four days before Trump is set to be formally confirmed as the GOP’s presidential nominee at the the Republican National Convention in Mil Milwaukee.
The former president, who is out on bond, could face four years in prison on each count.
The 12-member jury reached its verdict Thursday after deliberating for 9.5 hours over two days. After being on trial since April 15, Trump had pleaded not guilty to all 34 counts of falsifying business records related to a hush money payment of $130,000 to adult film star Stormy Daniels that was made by his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen.
According to NBC, prosecutors said the disguised payment to Cohen was part of a “planned, coordinated long-running conspiracy to influence the 2016 election, to help Donald Trump get elected through illegal expenditures, to silence people who had something bad to say about his behavior, using doctored corporate records and bank forms to conceal those payments along the way.”
While Trump was not charged with conspiracy, prosecutors argued he caused the records to be falsified because he was trying to cover up a violation of state election law- and falsifying business records with the intent to cover another crime raises the offense from a misdemeanor to a felony.
During the trial, the New York jury heard from 22 witnesses during weeks-long of testimony. Trump did not take the witness stand during the trial, despite him confirming that he would “absolutely” testify before the trial.
After a years-long investigation, Trump was indicted in March of last year.
According to NBC, the charges were the first ever brought against a former president, although Trump has since been charged and pleaded not guilty in three other cases. The other cases include a federal election interference case in Washington, D.C., a state election interference case in Georgia and a federal case alleging he mishandled classified documents and national security information.
Those cases will likely not be brought to trial before the presidential election in November.
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