Donald Trump has been found guilty of conspiring to buy the silence of a porn actor days before the 2016 election and covering his tracks in business records, becoming the first former US president to be convicted of a crime as he seeks a second term in office.
The unanimous verdict in the Manhattan “hush money” case came at just after 5pm local time on Thursday afternoon, after almost two days of deliberation by the seven men and five women of the jury.
The criminal trial, which Trump was forced to attend in person, was the first against any former US president, and the historic conviction is a vindication for Manhattan’s Democratic district attorney Alvin Bragg, who brought the case last year after it had been abandoned by his predecessor.