After former President Donald Trump was found guilty in his Manhattan criminal trial Thursday, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign applauded the unanimous verdict.
The verdict came after a six-week-long trial that proved Trump covered up hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. The 12-person jury found the former president guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records, prompting both cheers and outcry from people across the country tuning in live to watch the decision. Biden-Harris campaign spokesperson Michael Tyler said in a press release after the decision was announced that, despite the verdict, “the threat Trump poses to our democracy has never been greater” and urged the public to vote for Biden in the November 2024 election.
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“In New York today, we saw that no one is above the law,” Tyler said. “Donald Trump has always mistakenly believed he would never face consequences for breaking the law for his own personal gain. But today’s verdict does not change the fact that the American people face a simple reality. There is still only one way to keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office: at the ballot box. Convicted felon or not, Trump will be the Republican nominee for president.”
Trump, who has already called the trial a scam and vowed to appeal the decision, expressed his outrage on the social media app Truth Social. The former president said that his “civil rights have been totally violated” with the “highly political, unconstitutional, and election interfering witch hunt.”
“This was a disgrace—a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who is corrupt,” he wrote on the social media platform. “We will fight for our constitution—this is long from over!”
Read More: What Happens if Trump Is Convicted? Your Questions, Answered
The Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, said on X that Thursday was “a shameful day in American history.”
“Democrats cheered as they convicted the leader of the opposing party on ridiculous charges, predicated on the testimony of a disbarred, convicted felon. This was a purely political exercise, not a legal one,” Johnson said. “The weaponization of our justice system has been a hallmark of the Biden Administration, and the decision today is further evidence that Democrats will stop at nothing to silence dissent and crush their political opponents.”
“The American people see this as lawfare, and they know it is wrong—and dangerous,” he continued. “President Trump will rightfully appeal this absurd verdict—and he WILL WIN!”
Some Democrats commended the verdict, including California Rep. Eric Swalwell, who said the decision was a victory.
“Donald Trump is a convicted felon,” Swalwell wrote on X. “This verdict is not a win for any single person. It’s a win for an idea. The idea that we all follow the same rules. The rule of law won today.”
Republican politicians and Trump allies quickly condemned the verdict, with some calling it “an affront to justice” and “a travesty of justice.”
“This is a dark day for our country—where the very justice system that had been a hallmark of justice for hundreds of years, has been replaced with a two-tiered system based on politics!” Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, a Republican, wrote on X. “I do have faith that the American people will not tolerate this!”
Trump supporters crowded outside the Manhattan courthouse and screamed their objections after the verdict was announced.
“There is no justice in this country!” one yelled.
“Not f-cking guilty!” another screamed.
Meanwhile, anti-Trump protesters gathered outside the courthouse to count the charges that Trump was found guilty on. Many held signs saying, “”Not Above The Law” and “Lies Have Consequences.”
Trump’s sentencing hearing is set for July 11.
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