Former President Donald Trump announced on the 31st that he plans to appeal his guilty verdict for manipulating a company’s accounting books related to allegations of providing hush money for sexual misconduct, saying the trial was “very unfair” (reported on page A1 of this newspaper’s May 31 issue).
Former President Trump held a press conference at Trump Tower in Manhattan on this day, a day after the verdict was announced, and emphasized, “We will appeal this ‘fraud.’” He also targeted his political opponents, including President Joe Biden, who will run against him in the November presidential election, and repeatedly claimed that it was a “rigged trial,” saying, “They got everything they wanted.” Former President Trump mentioned the fact that his request to replace Judge Juan Mercan, the judge in charge of the case, was not accepted, the gag order against him, and the imposition of a fine for violating the gag order, and then said, “I was threatened with jail” for the guilty verdict the day before. claimed.
At the same time, he raised his voice, saying that the “unfair” trial against him was “brought about by Biden and his people,” and that “he is the worst president in American history.” Former President Trump also introduced that he was ahead of President Biden in opinion polls, hinting that his guilty verdict was a political persecution of himself, a rival of the incumbent president, ahead of the November presidential election. It was interpreted as an attempt to turn the ‘guilty verdict’ into an opportunity to campaign for the presidential election in November.
Meanwhile, former President Trump claimed that he raised $39 million in 10 hours as small donations poured in overnight after the guilty verdict. President Joe Biden criticized former President Trump for criticizing this trial as a “fraud,” saying, “Trump is threatening democracy.”
In a post posted on his SNS account on this day, President Biden said, “Trump first raised questions about the election system, and now he is raising questions about the American judicial system.” Meanwhile, the previous day, the jury (a total of 12 people) in the criminal trial of former President Trump’s alleged ‘sex scandal silence money’ case found former President Trump guilty on all 34 charges.