On May 30, 2024, a jury found former President Trump guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying documents. Trump was accused of falsifying records to cover up his payment to Stormy Daniels, with whom he allegedly had a consensual sexual encounter. During the trial, evidence was presented demonstrating a pattern of similar schemes involving the National Enquirer in what was termed "catch and kill," meaning they would pay for a story about Trump and then suppress it.
The prosecution presented emails and other physical evidence proving that the money Michael Cohen paid to Stormy Daniels was on behalf of Trump. Furthermore, it was asserted that the payments to Cohen were falsely categorized as legal expenses, constituting a crime. Additionally, the prosecution showed that Trump aimed to pay off Daniels to prevent the story from becoming public before the 2016 election, making it a felony since the falsification of records was in furtherance of a second crime: violating election laws.
Trump was forced to attend the trial and repeatedly attacked the judge and the judge's family, resulting in a gag order, which he repeatedly violated.
The defense called only two witnesses, whose testimonies were not particularly helpful to Trump.
On May 30th, after two days of deliberation, the jury found Trump guilty on all 34 counts. Trump left the courtroom claiming it was a miscarriage of justice and vowed to continue fighting the verdict.