American history was made on Thursday when a former president was convicted on felony charges for the first time. A 12-person Manhattan jury found former President Donald Trump guilty on all of the 34 felony counts brought against him by the Manhattan district attorney's office. Here is the latest information on this monumental verdict and what it means for the upcoming presidential election.
Details of Trump's Conviction
It took the jury less than two days of deliberations to deliver an unanimously guilty verdict at the end of the day Thursday. The unprecedented decision found Trump guilty of falsifying business records in the highly publicized hush money criminal trial. The prosecution had alleged that Trump knowingly paid off adult film star Stormy Daniels in order to protect his chances heading into the 2016 presidential election.
Judge Juan Merchan announced that the sentencing hearing will be held on July 11. It is at the judge's discretion to decide if Trump will serve jail time or be put on probation.
It was a flurry of activity leading up to the announcement of the convictions. Judge Merchan had just told those gathered in the courtroom that the jury would be dismissed as planned at 4:30 pm with the expectation that they would return on Friday morning to resume the deliberations.