A day after becoming the first former American president to be convicted on criminal charges in his New York hush money case, Donald Trump and his campaign were trying to turn the guilty verdict into fuel for his political comeback.
Speaking to reporters at Trump Tower in Manhattan on Friday, Trump highlighted his lead in several polls over U.S. President Joe Biden and the millions of dollars he says were raised from small donors after a jury found him guilty on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in an attempt to influence the 2016 election — a case and trial he attacked as corrupt and “very unfair.”
“We’re going to be appealing this scam,” he said. “We’re going to be appealing it on many different things.”
Trump also sought to downplay the allegations behind the case — that he orchestrated, through his then-lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen, a payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet about an alleged sexual encounter, then hid his repayments to Cohen as legal fees.
The jury ultimately agreed with prosecutors’ argument that Trump conspired to keep that story and others out of the public as he campaigned for president. The payment to Daniels was made just days before the 2016 election.
“It’s not hush money, it’s a non-disclosure agreement,” he said. “Totally legitimate, totally common. Everyone has it.”
Just before Trump spoke, his campaign claimed it raised US$34.8 million in the six hours after the verdict was delivered Thursday afternoon. Trump told reporters that number had climbed four hours later to US$39 million, all from small donors contributing less than US$100 each.
If confirmed, the number would be more than his political operation raised in January and February combined.
The Associated Press reported an immediate rush of contributions Thursday was so intense that WinRed, the platform the campaign uses for fundraising, crashed.
“President Trump and our campaign are immensely grateful from this outpouring of support from patriots across our country,” said Trump’s senior campaign advisers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles in a statement.
Even before the verdict, Trump and his campaign have sought to make the trial and his other criminal cases — he faces three other indictments in three different jurisdictions, and has lost a pair of high profile civil suits — central to his run for the White House. He delivered campaign-like speeches outside the courtroom and held rallies in New York and other states during breaks in the proceedings when he portrayed his legal woes as election interference.
He repeated much of those same claims on Friday, including that Biden was directing the prosecutions against him. Biden and the White House have repeatedly denied this.
“The American principle that no one is above the law was reaffirmed,” Biden said at the White House Friday, his first remarks since the verdict. “Donald Trump was given every opportunity to defend himself.
“It’s reckless, it’s dangerous, it’s irresponsible for anyone say this was rigged just because they don’t like the verdict.”
In his disjointed remarks, Trump initially started attacking Biden on immigration and tax policies before pivoting to his case, saying that he was threatened with jail time if he violated a gag order that prevents him from making personal attacks against the judge — who he called “crooked” — and witnesses.
When he spoke of Cohen, Trump did not use his former lawyer’s name, and complimented him before saying he got into legal trouble “that had nothing to do with me” and calling him a “sleazebag.”
Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations for making the US$130,000 payment to Daniels, and was the star witness for the prosecution in the trial.
Trump picked apart intricate parts of the case and trial proceedings as unfair, making false statements and misrepresentations as he did so, including calling the felony charges against him misdemeanor offences.
Misdemeanors are less serious and carry less jail time than felonies. But the charges were upgraded to felonies because prosecutors said they were committed in furtherance of another crime, election interference.
He said he wanted to testify but said the judge wanted to go into every detail, including areas of his life Trump said were unconnected to the case.
“I would have liked to have testified,” he said. “But you would have said something out of whack like ‘it was a beautiful sunny day,’ and it was actually raining out.”
Trump, who had the right to testify in his own defence, had spent weeks building anticipation for his testimony that ultimately never came.
He wrapped up his remarks Friday by saying the election on Nov. 5 “is the most important day in the history of our country.”
The latest polling average from FiveThirtyEight has Trump leading Biden by two points, but the latest polls surveyed were conducted before the verdict.
It’s unclear how the verdict will impact the election. A recent ABC News/Ipsos poll found that only four per cent of Trump’s supporters said they would withdraw their support if he’s convicted of a felony, though another 16 per cent said they would reconsider it.
Trump’s son Eric and daughter-in-law Lara Trump joined him at Friday’s press conference but his wife, Melania Trump, who has been publicly silent since the verdict, was not seen.
Outside, on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue, supporters gathered across the street were flying a giant red “TRUMP OR DEATH” sign that was flapping in front of a high-end boutique. A small group of protesters held up signs that said “Guilty” and “Justice matters.”
Although the White House has declined to comment on the verdict, the Biden campaign quickly sought to draw a contrast between Trump and his Democratic opponent.
“America just witnessed a confused, desperate, and defeated Donald Trump ramble about his own personal grievances and lie about the American justice system, leaving anyone watching with just one obvious conclusion: This man cannot be president of the United States,” the campaign said in a statement Friday.
— with files from the Associated Press