Former U.S. President and presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump was convicted on all 34 felony counts in the New York hush money trial on May 30.
Trump was convicted on all 34 counts in relation to falsifying business records related to hush money payments made by his former lawyer Michael Cohen to adult film star Stormy Daniels in the lead up to the 2016 presidential election.
The guilty verdict marks first time in the country's history that a U.S. president has been convicted of a felony.
All 12 jurors unanimously convicted Trump following nearly 12 hours of deliberation in the New York City courthouse.
Following the verdict, Trump addressed reporters stating that the verdict "was a disgrace."
"This was a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who was corrupt,” Trump told reporters, without providing any evidence. "The real verdict is going to be November 5 by the people,” Trump added, referring to the upcoming U.S. presidential election scheduled for November 4.
Sentencing is scheduled to be held on July 11, just four days ahead of when the presumptive Republican nominee is set to be nominated at the Republican National Convention.
Throughout his campaign for president, Trump has repeatedly claimed he could stop the war in Ukraine "in 24 hours" though he has never publicly stated how he would do this.
Trump has said he would not commit to providing Ukraine with defense assistance if he won the 2024 election. Trump's sway over the party contributed to the six-month deadlock of the $61 billion in U.S. aid for Ukraine.
The Washington Post wrote on April 7, citing anonymous sources, that Trump had privately said he could end it by pressuring Ukraine to cede Crimea and Donbas to Moscow.
According to the Washington Post, Trump also said he believes that both Moscow and Kyiv "want to save face, they want a way out," claiming that Ukrainians in Russian-occupied territories would not object to being part of Russia.
"If the deal and the idea is simply to give our territories, then it is very primitive," President Volodymyr Zelensky said in response.
He previously described Russian President Vladimir Putin's move to launch the full-scale invasion of Ukraine as "genius" and "savvy" in 2022.
As the presumptive Republican nominee, Trump will face incumbent President Joe Biden in a rematch of the 2020 election.
The Kyiv Independent news desk
(Updated: )
