Donald Trump
(Photo : Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
A despondent Donald Trump walks out of the courtroom at the conclusion of his hush money trial at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 30, 2024 in New York City after being found guilty on all 34 felony charges.

A Manhattan jury has found Donald Trump guilty at his hush money trial, marking the first time a former U.S. president has been convicted of a crime. 

The jury delivered their verdict after a month-long trial that included 22 witnesses. Trump was convicted on all 34 counts brought against him. 

Trump faced 34 charges in connection with payments made to former porn star Stormy Daniels.

Prosecutors claimed that Trump falsified his company's business records to keep stories about marital infidelity from becoming public during his 2016 presidential campaign. He denied any affairs and said he broke no laws.

Daniels gave the jury a detailed account of an alleged sexual encounter with Trump in a Nevada hotel in 2006.

She said she accepted $130,000 from Cohen in the final weeks of the election to buy her silence about the story.
Former tabloid publisher David Pecker also testified.

He answered questions about checkbook journalism and his part in squashing for unflattering stories about Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Former Trump personal lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen was the prosecution's star witness.

He laid out how the payment to Daniels was made. The defense attacked Cohen's credibility and got him to admit on the stand that he had stolen from the Trump Organization.

Trump chose not to take the stand in his defense but repeatedly told reporters and supporters at rallies that the case against him was "election interference" and politically motivated.

Judge Juan M. Merchan had threatened to jail the former president during the trial for repeated violations of a gag order to keep him from talking about witnesses and jurors in the case.

This is a developing story and will be updated.