Eleven and half hours after the jury was sent out for deliberations, the verdict is in: Donald Trump has been found guilty on all 34 counts in the hush money trial which began nearly a month ago.
The 12 jurors met for two days straight. Then at around 4 PM Judge Merchan announced that he would release them today at 4.30, anticipating that they would deliberate for one more day tomorrow.
Finally, a change of plan as Merchan received a note saying the jury had reached a decision and all they needed was half an hour to fill out all the forms before the verdict became public.
In the meantime, Donald Trump was held in a room adjacent to the trial courtroom that was hastily “upgraded” with a television and some chairs, with Secret Service men on the other side of the door, waiting for the verdict to come in. Once he had heard the verdict, he headed out and spoke to the media, where he railed against the judge, the jury, the country: “This is a disgrace, a disgraceful trial by a corrupt judge. This result will be overturned on November 5, when the truth will come out. All this was caused because the country is divided.”
Meanwhile, outside the courthouse in Manhattan, supporters and opponents had already gathered. Those demonstrating to support “their president” and those, on the other side, commending justice by calling out, one by one, the 34 counts for which Mr. Trump was found guilty.
