Former U.S. President Donald Trump found guilty in hush money trial

Former U.S. President Donald Trump had been found guilty of falsifying business records in his hush money trial

The jury in Donald Trump’s hush money trial reached a verdict on Thursday (May 30), signalling a highly anticipated culmination of the first criminal case against a former US president.

A jury found him guilty of falsifying business records to conceal a hush-money payment made to former porn star Stormy Daniels.

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He becomes the first former president to be convicted of a crime. The jury found the former US president guilty on all 34 counts.

The verdicts from the 12-person jury were delivered in the Manhattan courtroom where prosecutors spent weeks presenting allegations that Trump had participated in a hush money scheme aimed at suppressing stories he feared could be harmful to his 2016 presidential campaign.

Trump was charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records at his company in connection with an alleged scheme to hide potentially embarrassing stories about him during his 2016 presidential election campaign.

The charge, a felony, arises from reimbursements paid to then-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen after he made a 130,000 dollar (£102,000) hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to silence her claims that she and Trump had sex in 2006.

Trump is accused of misrepresenting Mr Cohen’s reimbursements as legal expenses to hide that they were tied to a hush money payment.

Trump pleaded not guilty and contended the Cohen payments were for legitimate legal services. He also denied the alleged extramarital sexual encounter with Ms Daniels.

After the verdicts, Trump is now expected to quickly appeal