Less than 24 hours after being found guilty on 34 felony counts, Donald Trump stood in front of a backdrop of American flags and was ready to get weeks of frustration off his chest.
The pugilistic former president spent 40 minutes unloading rambling comments peppered with mistruths and distortions to defend himself in news conference Friday at Trump Tower in Manhattan.
The event was the beginning of a new reality: Trump is now the first former president to be convicted of a crime.
“This is all done by Biden and his people,” Trump said to open the news conference, continuing without evidence to directly blame President Joe Biden for his legal woes. “This is done by Washington. No one has ever seen anything like this.”
In the wake of a New York jury finding Trump guilty on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records around payments he made to an adult film star during the 2016 election, Trump expressed his discontent, using the Truth Social platform to once again call his prosecution a “witch hunt.” In another fundraising email, he referred to himself as a “political prisoner.”
But the news conference offered Trump the first opportunity for an extended airing of grievances.
He called Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg “failed,” and once again blasted Judge Juan Merchan as “conflicted.”
Trump would not discuss the perceived conflict, saying he could not because of a gag order Merchan put on him earlier in the trial. (In the past, Trump and his allies have gone after Merchan for a $15 donation he gave to Biden in 2020, and the fact that the judge’s daughter worked with a Democratic-aligned group.)
The gag order prevented Trump from commenting publicly about witnesses, jurors, court staff and other attorneys (excluding Bragg) and all their family members, but it did not include a prohibition on talking about Merchan himself.
“I am not allowed to talk about it,” Trump said of the perceived conflict. “There has never been anyone so conflicted as this.”
Trump violated the gag order on 10 separate occasions during the trial costing him $10,000 in fines and prompting Merchan to threaten him with jail time.
Trump also claimed he wanted to testify, something he ultimately did not do over concerns he would perjure himself. On Friday, he justified the decision by saying even George Washington would never testify on his own behalf.
“I would have testified. I wanted to testify. The theory is you never testify,” Trump said. “If it were George Washington, don’t testify. Because they will get you on something you said slightly wrong.”
He also called his former attorney Michael Cohen, who was a key witness for the prosecution, a “sleaze bag,” but would not directly use his name, once again citing the gag order. Cohen was Trump’s longtime attorney, but he turned on his former boss and ended up doing 13 months in prison after pleading guilty in 2018 for lying to Congress and around campaign finance charges tied to work he did for Trump.
Trump also leaned into a theme he’s been pushing throughout his campaign, portraying himself as a victim of rigged system that’s out to get him — and anyone who supports him.
“This is a case where if they can do this to me, they can do this to anyone,” Trump said opening his remarks. “These are bad people.”
Trump also said he could serve time in prison up to 187 years, but some legal experts told NBC News there’s a chance he won’t be imprisoned at all based on his age, lack of a criminal record and other factors. And while each count does carry a term of four years, it’s expected that any sentence would be imposed concurrently, instead of consecutively.
Shortly after Trump’s guilty verdicts were read, the expected political battle lines were drawn.
Democrats and the vocal set of Republicans who are notably anti-Trump quickly took victory laps, proclaiming that justice had been served, while Trump’s already intense Republican base became further outraged at what they see as a political persecution and vowed to take revenge.
Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga., said Republican law enforcement officials should “get busy.”
“Time for Red State AGs and DAs to get busy,” Collins posted on X.
After Trump’s press conference Friday, Biden campaign spokesman Michael Tyler issued a statement saying, “Trump is consumed by his own thirst for revenge and retribution.”
“America just witnessed a confused, desperate, and defeated Donald Trump ramble about his own personal grievances and lie about the American justice system, leaving anyone watching with one obvious conclusion: This man cannot be president of the United States,” he said.
There were, however, concrete signs that, as Trump predicted, a guilty conviction would further energize his political base.
The Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee said the verdict led to historic fundraising levels for the GOP operation — more than $34.8 raised in the hours between the verdict and Thursday at midnight. While those numbers cannot be independently verified due to lags in campaign finance reporting requirements, an RNC spokesperson told NBC News that total represented what Trump’s joint fundraising committee with the RNC raised through the online fundraising platform WinRed.
“From just minutes after the sham trial verdict was announced, our digital fundraising system was overwhelmed with support, and despite temporary delays online because of the amount of traffic, President Trump raised $34.8 million dollars from small dollar donors,” read a statement from top Trump campaign officials.
There are also signs that the party’s biggest rainmakers are also prepared to come rally around Trump.
After the verdict was read, Trump attended a Manhattan fundraiser hosted by Pepe Fanjul, a South Florida sugar baron and longtime major Republican donor, according to a campaign official.
Shawn McGuire, a partner at hedge fund Sequoia Capital who in 2016 voted for Hillary Clinton, also announced publicly he is donating $300,000 to Trump’s campaign efforts.
“Back in 2016 I had drunk the media Kook-Aid and was scared out of my mind about Trump,” he posted on X. “As such I donated to Hillary’s campaign and voted for her.”
“Now, in 2024, I believe this is one of the most important elections of my lifetime, and I’m supporting Trump,” he added.
