Donald Trump Found Guilty in Hush Money Case, Emerges As First American Ex-President to be Convicted of Criminal Case......Trump Says the Verdict Was "Rigged", a "Disgrace""

In an unprecedented high-profile case, a New York jury has found 77-year-old former American President, Donald Trump guilty barely six months before he goes head to head with Joe Biden in a bid to return to the White House.

The former President of United States of America (USA) Donald Trump on Thursday goes into history as the first former President of the country to be convicted in a criminal case, having been found guilty on all 34 felony counts in his criminal hush money trial.

Open Television Naija recalls that prosecutors had accused Trump of falsifying internal business records to cover up hush money payments tied to an alleged scheme to bury stories that might jeopardize his Presidential bid in 2016.

The record showed that at the heart of the charges were reimbursements paid to Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen for a $130,000 hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels in exchange for not going public with her claim about a 2006 sexual encounter with Trump. When revelations by Stormy Daniels of a sexual liaison with Trump threatened to upend his presidential campaign, he directed his lawyer to pay her $130,000 (£102,000) to keep her quiet.

The payment buried the story, and Trump was later elected to be the 45th president of the United States.

The former president is now set to be sentenced on 11 July - days before the start of the Republican National Convention on 15 July where Trump is expected to be formally nominated for president.

Open Television Naija gathered from credible international news sources that Trump's lawyer, Todd Blanche moved for an acquittal after the jury had delivered its verdict.

“We move for a judgment of acquittal. There’s no basis and no way this jury could have reached a verdict without accepting the testimony of Michael Cohen,” Blanche told the judge having found the former President guilty.

In the meantime, Trump faces a maximum sentence of four years in prison, though others convicted of the same crime often receive shorter sentences, fines or probation.

Meanwhile, the unprecedented verdict is believed to have plunge the country into an unexplored territory ahead of the election on 5 November as opinion polls show Trump and Joe Biden locked in a tight race for the White House.

However, while speaking outside the court, Trump said the conviction was a "disgrace" and that he is "a very innocent man".

He said the trial was "rigged" and that the judge was "conflicted" and "should never have been allowed to try this case".

"This is long from over," Trump added.

Open Television Naija reports that shortly after the conviction, Skynews sources reveal that he travelled in a convoy of black jeeps to dinner in New York City.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Joe Biden said in a statement: "No one is above the law."

"Donald Trump has always mistakenly believed he would never face consequences for breaking the law for his own personal gain," said Michael Tyler, the Biden-Harris campaign's communications director.

Alvin Bragg, the New York district attorney who brought the case against Trump, said in a press conference after the verdicts that his team "followed the facts and the law without fear or favour".

Tags: Donald Trump, Hush Money Case, New York Jury, Criminal Case Conviction of Former President