Donald Trump Sums Up His Feelings On Guilty Verdict With Two Scathing Words

Once former president Donald Trump was found guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records on May 30, 2024, it was clear how he felt about the proceedings. The first president to be convicted of felonies repeatedly used two words in his public comments after the trial — "rigged" and "disgrace." "This was a disgrace," Trump said in his statement to reporters after the guilty verdict. "This is a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who was corrupt. It's a rigged trial, a disgrace. They wouldn't give us a venue change, we were at 5% or 6% in this district in this area. This was a rigged, disgraceful trial."

The nation had watched as the hush money trial unfolded to determine whether or not Trump falsified records to cover up a payment he made to adult film star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential election. Daniels said it was to keep her quiet about a sexual encounter she and Trump had in 2006. Daniels testified during the trial and even took a post-testimony jab at Trump. 

"This is a rigged decision, right from day 1," he said, casting blame on everyone from Judge Juan Merchan, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, and President Joe Biden. "The whole country is being rigged," he said. "This was done by the Biden administration." The former president also reiterated that he thought he didn't do anything worth a guilty verdict. "We didn't do a thing wrong," he said. "I'm a very innocent man." It seems the 12 jurors disagreed.

For his part, Donald Trump seems eager to put the hush money trial behind him and get back to campaigning for another term. "The real verdict is gonna be Nov. 5 by the people," he said during his courthouse statement on May 30. "They know what happened here, and everybody knows what happened here."

The next step in the proceedings will be sentencing, which is set to take place on July 11. However, no matter the outcome — even if Trump did serve time in prison — there's nothing stopping him from campaigning or becoming president.

Near the end of his statement outside the courthouse, Trump returned to some of his favorite talking points, decrying the state of the country and complaining about immigration. "We have a country that's in big trouble," he said. "We will fight for our Constitution. This is far from over." Of course, it's unlikely we'll know how Melania Trump feels about the verdict as she's been largely absent from the trial and the campaign trail. As far as the public response to the guilty verdict, it seems that everyone is saying the same thing.