Former President Donald Trump angrily denounced his hush money trial in rambling comments on Friday, a day after a New York jury found him guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records.
Trump called the case “very unfair” and repeated a lot of his previous criticisms of Judge Juan Merchan, prosecutors, witnesses and the prosecution in Manhattan Supreme Court.
“These are bad people,” Trump told reporters at Trump Tower, where he launched his first Republican presidential campaign nine years earlier.
“This must not happen to other presidents,” he said. “It must never happen again in the future, but this is beyond my capabilities.”
“This is bigger than Trump, this is bigger than me, this is bigger than my presidency.”
The likely Republican presidential candidate spoke for about 33 minutes after which left the hall without answering questions.
A 12-member jury found Trump guilty on all counts within the case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on Thursday afternoon.
The business records at issue within the case relate to a plot to cover up a $130,000 hush money payment that Trump's then-personal attorney and agent Michael Cohen made to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election to maintain her silent about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump.
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