Donald Trump is set to return to work immediately on Friday, a day after becoming the first former president to be convicted of a felony, but warned President Biden to “stay prepared” so he can focus on the campaign trail.
The 77-year-old former president is scheduled to speak at 11 a.m. Friday at Trump Tower in midtown Manhattan, where he is expected to again slam what he calls a “fraudulent and disgraceful trial” that ended Thursday with his conviction on 34 felony counts over “hush money” payments.
His campaign also issued a warning to his 2024 rivals.
“Villain Joe Biden and the Democrats have locked President Trump in court for more than six weeks, more than eight hours a day, and yet he keeps winning,” said Trump campaign spokeswoman Carolyn Leavitt. He said in a statement to Fox News..
“Now that Biden is fully back on the campaign trail, he and the Democratic Party had better pull themselves together.”
A campaign official added that Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has made “billions of dollars” in media coverage throughout the high-profile trial and has also hosted rallies and campaign events, “widening his lead over a poll-rigged Joe Biden.”
Follow the latest on Donald Trump’s guilty verdict in hush money trial
“Even the witch hunt trials did nothing to slow him down; if anything, it only made him stronger,” Leavitt said.
This came after a Manhattan jury found Trump guilty on all 34 charges on Thursday, when a sullen-looking Trump slammed the trial as “rigged” and a “disgrace.”
“The true verdict will be handed down by the people on November 5th… I am totally innocent,” he said as he left the courtroom, blaming the ordeal on Biden, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and the judge who presided over the trial.
“I’m fighting for our country, for our Constitution,” Trump said. “Our country is in decline.”
Trump also accused Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Juan Marchan of being “conflicted” and “corrupt,” arguing that his decision to reject Trump’s request to change venue outside Manhattan, a polling district that overwhelmingly favored Biden, directly led to the conviction.
“Right now our entire country is being rigged. This was done by the Biden administration to vote to hurt and undermine their opponents, their political opponents. This is just a disgrace,” Trump said.
His comments came just minutes after he published a fundraising memo on his Truth Social page, calling himself a “political prisoner.”
What happens after Trump is convicted in hush money case
- Having been found guilty on all charges, Donald Trump will remain free until his sentencing, scheduled for the morning of July 11th.
- The former president will not be subject to travel restrictions until the verdict is reached.
- Trump’s lawyers said they plan to appeal the ruling “as soon as possible.”
- If Trump loses his appeal at the intermediate appeals court, he will likely ask the state Supreme Court to review the case, which could take another year.
Here you can read more about what will happen after the historic conviction and what Trump may face going forward.
Following his conviction, Trump’s fundraising websites were taken down and one of his campaign committees reportedly secured $800,000 in donations.
“So many Americans donated to President Trump’s campaign that the WinRed page went down,” the Trump campaign wrote to X.
Trump was convicted on all 34 counts of falsifying business records related to the $130,000 “hush money” paid by former “fixer” lawyer Michael Cohen to porn actress Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 presidential election.
He is scheduled to be sentenced July 11, just days before the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
Follow The Washington Post’s live blog for the latest updates on Donald Trump’s “hush money” trial.
