Donald Trump hush money trial LIVE: Former president convicted on all 34 counts, faces up to four years’ prison

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has praised the jurors and the prosecution team after Trump was found guilty on all charges.

“This type of white-collar prosecution is core to what we do at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office,” Bragg said.

“Twelve everyday jurors vowed to make a decision based on the evidence and the law, and the evidence and the law alone.

“Their deliberation led them to a unanimous conclusion beyond the reasonable doubt that the defendant, Donald J. Trump, is guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree, to conceal a scheme to corrupt the 2016 election.

“While this defendant may be unlike any other in American history, we arrived at this trial and ultimately today in this verdict, in the same manner as every other case … by following the facts and the law, and doing so without fear or favour.”

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg will speak at a press conference after the historic Trump guilty verdicts. Watch live below.

The lawyer for Stormy Daniels says she is “pretty emotional” following Trump’s convictions.

“It’s momentous for the country, but it really kind of hit her hard,” Clark Brewster told CNN.

“But on the other hand, she knows how hard the jurors worked, and the oath that they took and we have to respect that no man is above the law and we have to respect the system.”

At the centre of the trial were reimbursements paid to Trump’ former lawyer Michael Cohen for a $US130,000 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.

In a statement after the verdict, Cohen said, “Today is an important day for accountability and the rule of law. While it has been a difficult journey for me and my family, the truth always matters.”

Cohen’s lawyer Danya Perry told CNN her client wants “to focus on the next chapter both for himself and the country”.

US President Joe Biden’s campaign sought to keep the focus on the November election even as it said on Thursday that former president Donald Trump’s criminal convictions showed that “that no one is above the law”.

Communications director Michael Tyler said in a statement: “There is still only one way to keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office: at the ballot box. Convicted felon or not, Trump will be the Republican nominee for president.”

Biden’s campaign has tried for months to remind Americans of what it sees as the peril of another Trump term in office, rather than the personal jeopardy faced by the former president in court.

“A second Trump term means chaos, ripping away Americans’ freedoms and fomenting political violence – and the American people will reject it this November,” Tyler said.

AP

Major Republican donors say they are likely to keep pumping cash into supporting Donald Trump’s presidential run, excited by polls showing him in the lead and undeterred by his unprecedented criminal conviction, according to interviews with about a dozen donors and fundraisers.

Many conservative donors already viewed the New York hush money cash as political persecution, echoing the Republican presidential candidate’s claim that Democrats are trying to weaken him ahead of the November 5 election against President Joe Biden.

Prosecutors have dismissed those claims as untrue. A New York jury found Trump guilty on Thursday of falsifying documents to cover up a payment to silence a porn star ahead of the 2016 election.

Republican donors are mostly eyeing a growing number of public opinion polls that put Trump ahead against Biden in some battleground states.

“I think that big donors are paying attention to the polls, not the verdict,” said oil businessman Dan Eberhart, a Trump donor who also helps raise money for the former president’s campaign.

“The polls are motivating this latest round of businessmen,” Eberhart added, saying that calls from donors had picked up “considerably”.

Robert Bigelow, who is one of Trump’s top supporters, having given over $US9 million to an outside group supporting him, said the verdict had no impact on him.

“All of the charges are contrived,” Bigelow told Reuters.

Reuters

The only reaction from US President Joe Biden so far to Donald Trump’s convictions has been a single tweet, in which he’s reminded voters the guilty verdict won’t stop the Republican from returning to the White House.

Speaking to reporters after the verdict Trump said the decision “was a disgrace”.

“This was a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who is corrupt,” Trump said.

“The real verdict is going to be November 5 by the people,” Trump said, adding: “I am a very innocent man.”

Justice Juan Merchan set sentencing for July 11, three days before the start of the Republican National Convention expected to formally nominate Trump for president.

Merchan thanked the jurors for their service. “Nobody can make you do anything you don’t want to do. The choice is yours,” Merchan said.