Donald Trump found guilty on all 34 felony counts in hush money case
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Donald Trump has become the first US president to be convicted of a crime when a New York jury found him guilty of falsifying documents to cover up a payment to silence an adult film actress ahead of the 2016 election.
After deliberations over two days, the 12-member jury announced it had found Trump guilty on all 34 counts he faced. Unanimity was required for any verdict.
Afterwards Trump said he is innocent, that he had faced a "rigged trial by a conflicted judge who was corrupt".
Trump, 77, has denied wrongdoing and is expected to appeal.
He faces a maximum sentence of four years in prison, though others convicted of that crime often receive shorter sentences, fines or probation. Incarceration would not prevent him from campaigning, or taking office if he were to win in the November US Presidential election.
The judge in the case, Justice Juan Merchan had gathered lawyers for both sides along with Trump at 4.15pm (8.15pm Irish time) to tell them that he planned to dismiss the jury for the day at 4:30pm. He then left the bench.
About 20 minutes later, he returned to the bench and informed the parties that the jury had sent a note signed by the foreperson at 4.20 pm indicating that it had reached a verdict. He said the jury had requested 30 more minutes to fill out the verdict form.
The jury found Trump guilty of falsifying business documents after sitting through a six-week trial that featured explicit testimony from porn star Stormy Daniels about a sexual encounter she says she had with Trump in 2006 while he was married to his current wife Melania.
Trump denies ever having sex with Daniels.
Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen testified that Trump approved a $130,000 hush money payment to Daniels in the final weeks of the 2016 election, when he faced multiple accusations of sexual misbehaviour.
Cohen testified he handled the payment, and that Trump approved a plan to reimburse him through monthly payments disguised as legal work. Trump's lawyers hammered Cohen's credibility, highlighting his criminal record and imprisonment and his history of lying.
Falsifying business documents is normally a misdemeanor in New York, but prosecutors in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office elevated it to a felony on grounds that Trump was concealing an illegal campaign contribution.
Justice Juan Merchan has set sentencing of the former US President for July 11, three days before the start of the Republican National Convention expected to formally nominate Trump for president.
Merchan thanked the jurors for their service.
“Nobody can make you do anything you don’t want to do. The choice is yours,” he said.
The verdict plunges the United States into unexplored territory ahead of the November 5 presidential election, when Trump, the Republican candidate, will try to win the White House back from Democratic President Joe Biden.
"This was a rigged, disgraceful trial," Trump said after the verdict.
"The real verdict is going to be November 5, by the people. They know what happened here, and everybody knows what happened here."
The convicted former US president said he is a “very innocent” man who is “fighting for our country” and “fighting for our constitution”.
“Our whole country is being rigged right now,” Trump claimed, blaming it on the Biden administration who he said wanted to “wound or hurt a political opponent”.
We’ll keep fighting. We’ll fight till the end, and we’ll win because our country’s gone to hell.
“This is long from over,” he concluded before leaving.