Todd Blanche, former President Trump’s lawyer in the New York hush-money case, said he was surprised by the former president’s “solemn demeanor” at the historic guilty plea.
“I was struck by the way he accepted the sentence,” Blanche told The Associated Press. “He just stood there and accepted it with the solemnity that was appropriate for that moment. I was so proud to be sitting next to him as the sentence was handed down.”
Blanche said she thought the former president responded appropriately when he held a press conference criticizing the trial on Friday, the day after the verdict.
“He’s not happy, but I think there’s never been a defendant in the history of our justice system who’s happy to be found guilty the next day,” Blanche said, “but I think he knows there’s still a fight left and there’s still a lot of opportunity to make this better, and that’s what we’re going to do.”
Trump made history on Thursday by becoming the first former U.S. president to be convicted of a crime. A jury found him guilty on all 34 felony charges of falsifying business records related to hush money paid to cover up an alleged affair with porn actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.
Trump and his legal team have said they plan to pursue all options in appealing the sentence.
Blanche told The Associated Press that Trump was right to believe the law was being unfairly applied to him.
“I believe in our justice system and I continue to believe in it, and I don’t think one case should change anybody’s perspective,” he said, referring to the former president’s three other pending cases, “But if you’re Donald J. Trump and you have four indictments … do you think you don’t believe there was fraud? OK.”
Blanche said he believes Trump’s advocacy will improve the justice system.
The 12-person jury in New York reached its verdict sooner than expected and began deliberations on Tuesday.
Branche said Trump has “been on many trials and had many sentences” but the timing was “the most surprising yet.”
“We were all ready to go home. I think it was clear they were going to carry on with their work. There were no notes. The first notes were pretty complicated about testimony and then they asked for the charges to be read out. So the jury was prepared for a long fight,” he said.
Blanche said she had a good relationship with Trump throughout the trial, and that Trump was seen laughing with her just before the guilty verdict was read, but that quickly changed.
The lawyer argued that the two were “like-minded about strategy” and had worked closely together on how to defend the former president.
