Former President Donald Trump, the Republican Party's presumptive nominee in the 2024 presidential race, was found guilty Thursday on 34 charges of falsifying business records, making him the first former president in American history to be convicted of a felony.
Trump had been charged with falsifying the repayment of his former lawyer Michael Cohen in order to cover up a $130,000 payment Cohen made to adult film star Stormy Daniels to keep her from speaking out about an alleged affair with Trump before the 2016 election. Trump has denied the affair.
Trump is still facing three other criminal cases. The latest charges came in August, when an Atlanta-based grand jury indicted Trump on state charges stemming from his efforts to overturn his 2020 electoral defeat in Georgia. Trump and 18 co-defendants were named in the 98-page indictment.
Earlier that month, he was indicted by a federal grand jury in special counsel Jack Smith's investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election leading up to the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. In June 2023, a federal grand jury in Florida charged Trump in Smith's classified documents probe. Trump has pleaded not guilty in all of those cases.
Trump has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and accused Democrats of targeting him politically. He is the first current or former US president to be criminally charged.
Trump served as the nation's 45th president from 2017-2021. But he has been in the spotlight for years. From developing real estate and producing and starring in TV shows, he became a celebrity long before winning the White House.
He had no political experience when he first ran for president. But with a campaign that repeatedly shattered convention, he went on to win the Republican nomination and pull off a stunning upset over Hillary Clinton in 2016.
Trump only served one term, however, losing to Joe Biden in the 2020 election. He also became the first president in US history to be impeached twice. He was acquitted both times.