Donald Trump Blames 'Sick People' For His Conviction In Hush-Money Trial

Former President Donald Trump held a press conference on Friday, May 31, only one day after he was found guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records connected to a 2016 hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.

On Thursday, a New York jury of seven men and six women returned the historic verdict after two days of deliberation.

Following the verdict, Donald Trump is now claiming "sick people" for his conviction.

As The Blast reported on Thursday, the former President was found guilty on all counts in his New York criminal hush money trial, which centered on allegations that he falsified business records to hide a hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election.

They concluded that Trump falsified the records to conceal unlawful interference in the 2016 presidential election through the $130,000 hush money payment, elevating the falsification charges to felonies.

The falsified records include 11 invoices from Michael Cohen, 11 checks paid to Cohen, and 12 entries in Trump's ledgers.

At a press conference held on Friday, former President Donald Trump said those behind his conviction were “sick people.”

“We have a president and a group of fascists that don't want to do anything about it,” he said. “He could stop it. But he's not; they're destroying our country.”

On Thursday, Trump said something similar, claiming the country is "being rigged right now."

"This was done by the Biden administration in order to wound, to hurt an opponent. A political opponent and I think it's just a disgrace, and we'll keep fighting, we'll fight till the end, and we'll win because our country has gone to hell. We don't have the same country anymore, we have a divided mess," the former President said.

"We are a nation in decline, serious decline of people pouring into our country right now. From prisons and from mental institutions. Terrorists and they're taking over our country. We have a country that's in big trouble, but this was a rigged decision right from day one with a conflicted judge who should have never been allowed to try this case. Never. And we will fight for our constitution," Trump stated on Thursday.

In his press conference Friday, Trump also argued that "they weren’t crimes, nor is paying money under an NDA."

"So we have an NDA, non-disclosure agreement,” he said Friday morning. “It's a big deal. A non-disclosure agreement. Totally honorable, totally good. Totally accepted. Everybody has them.”

Trump addressed his age during his post-trial press conference during a tangent about a separate case.

“He's 77 years old. Now normally I'd say that's an old guy, but I don't feel 77,” he said. “Nobody ever says that about me ... they just don't say that about me, but maybe I'm better off that way.”

Jurors in the criminal trial were ordered to maintain a level of impartiality regarding the former US president. This might seem impossible to others, given Trump's trademark inflammatory and controversial nature.

Several potential jurors had to be dismissed because they felt they couldn’t fairly assess the evidence. Before sending the jury out to deliberate, New York Justice Juan Merchan reminded them not to let their verdict be influenced by bias or prejudice.

However, Donald Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr., still claims the judge was "biased."

"Crazy what's going on in this country. Obviously [no one was] probably expecting anything different with this jury, with this biased judge, whose daughter is profiteering from this stuff," he said in a video statement following the verdict.

"The Democrats have succeeded in their years-long quest to turn our country into an absolute cr-p hole," he later added. "They've done that. They've been trying for a long time. There's literally no other way about it at this point."

He also called the verdict "election interference."

The simple answer? Yes. Neither the conviction nor any sentence prevents him from serving as president.

Per the US Constitution, candidates must be natural-born citizens, at least 35 years old, and have been residents of the US for at least 14 years—all of which Donald Trump meets.

Trump's sentencing has now been scheduled for July 11, 2024.