Reactions are pouring in from D.C.-area officials, leaders and residents after former President Donald Trump was found guilty by a New York jury Thursday, making him the first former president to be convicted on felony crimes.
Trump was found guilty on all 34 charges in the trial after prosecutors said he illegally tried to influence the 2016 presidential election by making falsified, hush money payments to an adult film actress.
Outside the courtroom, Trump maintained his innocence.
“This was a rigged, disgraceful trial,” an angry Trump told reporters. “The real verdict is going to be Nov. 5 by the people. They know what happened, and everyone knows what happened here.”
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Maryland Democratic Rep. Glenn Ivey told WTOP that he believes Trump’s reaction to the guilty verdict is a continuation of his “sore loser politics” that have come up after his loss of the 2020 presidential election and when previous jury verdicts did not go in his favor.
“I think it’s important for [President Joe] Biden to beat him on Election Day at the ballot box,” Ivey said. “I think it’s important for the country as a whole, whether he goes to jail afterward or not.”
As a former prosecutor, Ivey said he felt documents such as handwritten notes helped back up prosecutors’ testimony and helped Trump’s defense fall short.
“They tried to attack [former Trump attorney Michael] Cohen and say he was lying,” Ivey said. “Everybody knew he was lying, but it was corroborated by the documents.”
The conviction is historic, according to Walter S. Cox professor of law at George Washington University Paul Berman.
“This is the first time in history that one of the major candidates of one of the major parties is a convicted felon,” Berman said.
Berman said he thinks Americans should pay attention to the verdict when casting ballots in November’s presidential election.
“He’s been convicted for lying on both governmental records and to the American people about hush money payments he made to cover up the sexual liaison so that he could become president,” Berman told WTOP. “That’s a major thing.”
Because Trump is a first-time offender, it’s possible he will not be sentenced to any jail time; but the maximum sentence is four years, Berman said. The verdict may also be appealed through New York’s state court system.
Irasema Garza, a resident of Chevy Chase, Maryland, told WTOP she doesn’t believe Trump will go to jail given the circumstances and his presumptive nomination for president. She instead called it a “moral victory.”
“I think that it just shows that the judicial system is working, because I think a lot of people have been losing faith,” she told WTOP. “Particularly, when it comes to somebody like him, he’s powerful, he’s got money. And it seems like he gets away with things that normal people couldn’t get away with.”
WTOP’s Mike Murillo and The Associated Press contributed to this report.