Donald Trump says appeal is ahead after hush money trial conviction
Trump still faces three other felony indictments
NEW YORK -- Former President Donald Trump addressed reporters on Friday morning -- the day after being found guilty on all 34 counts in his hush-money trial, during which he said his legal team would appeal the conviction and repeated claims that the trial was "rigged."
"The people of our country know it's a hoax, they know it's a hoax, they get it," Trump claimed. "You know, they're really smart. And it's really something, so we're going to be appealing this scam."
In a rambling speech, Trump spoke from the atrium of Trump Tower -- just feet away from the golden escalator he rode down in 2015 when he kicked off his first bid for president.
Now, nearly nine years later, Trump further responded to his conviction and the legal battles he faces that have been much of the focus of his third presidential bid. He was surrounded by campaign officials and some supporters.
"If they can do this to me, they can do this to anyone," Trump said as he kicked off his remarks. "These are bad people. These are, in many cases, I believe, sick people."
Trump then dove into some of his signature campaign rhetoric, going after migrants coming to the United States and economic competition with China.
His attention, though, quickly turned back to the New York criminal trial. He continued to claim, without evidence, the trial was "rigged" with a biased judge and prosecutors.
"Nobody's ever seen anything like it," he said.
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Trump went on to air a litany of grievances against central figures in the case, including Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and his former attorney Michael Cohen, and portrayed himself as a political martyr -- a theme that has been central to his 2024 campaign.
"In a way, I'm honored," he said. "It's not that it's pleasant. It's very bad for family, it's very bad for friends and businesses, but I'm honored to be involved in it because somebody has to do it, and I might as well keep going and be the one."
Trump did not take any questions from the media after his remarks.
In the wake of his guilty verdict, Trump and his campaign have sought to center their focus back on the campaign trail, arguing that "the real verdict" will happen on Election Day and urging supporters to donate to Trump's campaign.
ALSO SEE: Michael Cohen says Trump's guilty verdict has been 'a long time coming'
Trump has been attempting to turn the verdict around to his advantage by aggressively fundraising off of it, blasting out fundraising emails to smaller dollar donors, calling himself a "political prisoner," and also attending a fundraiser with major Republican donors in Manhattan Thursday night just hours after the verdict dropped.
Trump currently doesn't have any public campaign events scheduled for next week, however, he is expected to do a fundraising blitz through the West Coast.
The presumptive Republican nominee is facing additional criminal charges with two cases brought in federal courts and an additional one in state court. Trump is set to be sentenced on July 11 -- three days prior to the Republican National Convention where he will become the Republican presidential nominee.
Trump was convicted of 34 felony charges in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election through a hush money payment to a porn actor who said the two had sex. The hush money trial and subsequent conviction mark the first time a former U.S. president has ever been tried or convicted in a criminal case.
Here's the latest:
TRUMP'S CONVICTION AND ITS IMPACT ON THE 2024 ELECTION
Donald Trump's conviction in his New York hush money trial is a stunning development in an already unorthodox presidential election with profound implications for the justice system and perhaps U.S. democracy itself.
But in a deeply divided America, it's unclear whether Trump's status as someone with a felony conviction will have any impact at all on the 2024 election.
RELATED: What the Biden campaign thinks the Trump verdict means: 'It matters'
Trump remains in a competitive position against President Joe Biden this fall, even as the Republican former president now faces the prospect of a prison sentence in the run-up to the November election.
In the short term at least, there were immediate signs that the unanimous guilty verdict was helping to unify the Republican Party's disparate factions as GOP officials in Congress and in state capitals across the country rallied behind their presumptive presidential nominee, while his campaign expected to benefit from a flood of new fundraising dollars.
REPUBLICAN LAWMAKERS RALLIED TO TRUMP'S DEFENSE
Several Republican lawmakers reacted with fury to Donald Trump's felony conviction on Thursday and rushed to his defense - questioning the legitimacy of the trial and how it was conducted.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said it was a "shameful day in American history" and labeled the charges as "purely political."
South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, who has been one of Trump's most frequent allies, said, "This verdict says more about the system than the allegations."
And while Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell refrained from attacking the judge or jury, he said the charges "never should have been brought in the first place."
Many GOP lawmakers, including Johnson, visited the courthouse in New York to support Trump during his criminal trial.
UNLESS HE'S SENT TO PRISON, TRUMP CAN STILL VOTE
Donald Trump may have been convicted of a felony and reside in Florida, a state notorious for restricting the voting rights of felons, but he can still vote as long as he stays out of prison in New York state.
That's because Florida defers to other states' disenfranchisement rules for residents convicted of out-of-state felonies. In Trump's case, New York law only removes their right to vote when incarcerated. Once they're out of prison, their rights are automatically restored - even if they're on parole, per a 2021 law passed by the state's Democratic legislature.
"If a Floridian's voting rights are restored in the state of conviction, they are restored under Florida law," Blair Bowie of the Campaign Legal Center wrote in a post explaining the state of law, noting that people without Trump's legal resources are often confused by Florida's complex rules.
THE FIGHT IS FAR FROM OVER
Donald Trump's conviction Thursday on 34 felony counts marked the end of the former president's historic hush money trial.
Now comes the sentencing and the prospect of a prison sentence. A lengthy appellate process could follow, especially as Trump's legal team has already been laying the groundwork for an appeal.
And all the while, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee still faces three more criminal cases and a campaign that could see him return to the White House.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
