Donald Trump Reacts To Guilty Verdicts Outside Court: “I’m A Very Innocent Man … This Is Long From Over” — Read The Full Transcript & Watch The Video

Denise Petski and Erik Pedersen

May 30, 2024 at 5:56 p.m.·3 min read

“This was a disgrace,” a solemn-looking Donald Trump said today outside the courtroom minutes after the guilty verdicts were read in the hush-money trial. “This was a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who was corrupt.”

He added later, “We will fight for our Constitution — this is long from over.”

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Watch a video of his remarks above and read a full transcript below.

“It was a rigged trial. A disgrace,” Trump added. “They wouldn’t give us a venue change. We were at 5% or 6% in this district in this area. This was a rigged disgraceful trial, but the real verdict is going to be November 5 by the people.

“You have a [George] Soros-backed DA and the whole thing. We didn’t do a thing wrong. I’m a very innocent man.”

He went on to blame the Biden administration. “This was done by the Biden administration in order to wound or hurt a political opponent. And I think it’s just a disgrace. And we’ll keep fighting, we’ll fight to the end and we’ll win because our country’s gone to hell. We don’t have a country anymore.

“We have a divided mess. We’re a nation in decline, serious decline. Millions and millions of people pouring into our country right now from prisons, and from mental institutions, terrorists, and they’re taking over our country. We have a country that’s in big trouble, but this was a rigged decision right from Day 1 from a conflicted judge who should have never been allowed to try this case. Never.”

Trump’s comments came after a Manhattan jury of seven men and five women in New York City today found the former president and current GOP nominee guilty of all 34 counts of falsifying business records as part of a conspiracy to keep a potential sex scandal from derailing his first presidential campaign.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on July 11, just days before the start of the Republican National Convention.

Here is the full text of his speech:

This was a disgrace. This was a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who was corrupt. It was a rigged trial. A disgrace. They wouldn’t give us a venue change. We were at 5% or 6% in this district in this area. This was a rigged, disgraceful trial but the real verdict is going to be November 5 by the people. And they know what happened here and everybody knows what happened here. You have a Soros-backed DA and the whole thing. We didn’t do a thing wrong. I’m a very innocent man.

And it’s Ok. I’m fighting for our country. I’m fighting for our Constitution. Our whole country is being rigged right now. This was done by the Biden administration in order to wound or hurt a political opponent. And I think it’s just a disgrace and we’ll keeping fighting, we’ll fight to the end and we’ll win because our country’s gone to hell. We don’t have the same country anymore. We have a divided mess.

We’re a nation in decline, serious decline. Millions and millions of people pouring into our country right now from prisons, and from mental institutions, terrorists, and they’re taking over our country. We have a country that’s in big trouble, but this was a rigged decision right from day one from a conflicted judge who should have never been allowed to try this case. Never. And we will fight for our constitution. This is long from over.

Thank you very much.

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