Trump vows to appeal felony conviction

The typical appeals process for a convicted defendant in New York state can take almost a year or more. Donald Trump’s lawyers could try to delay the process further after the former president was convicted on 34 felonies on Thursday.

Under New York law, any appeal of the verdict​ comes after sentencing. Trump’s sentence date is currently scheduled for July​ 11. As a defendant, Trump then has 30 days to file a notice of appeal. 

Once that notice is filed Trump’s legal team would typically have six months to complete procedural requirements like filing their appellate argument as well as filing other relevant documents like the trial transcripts.

Once the appeal is fully submitted, attorneys for the Manhattan District Attorney’s office would likely be given approximately 30 days to file a response.

Trump’s legal team will have one more opportunity to submit a brief in response to the prosecution’s filing soon after that.

A five-judge panel for the Appellate Division First Department will then hear oral arguments from both sides and issue a written decision which could take months. The panel is not subject to a deadline.

If the lower appeals court ultimately rejects Trump’s appeal and upholds the jury’s verdict, Trump can take it to the Court of Appeals, New York’s highest court. 

If the Court of Appeals decides to consider his case — which it is not required to do — another similar, lengthy briefing process would begin before a panel of judges who would eventually hear arguments and deliver a written decision likely months after the arguments.

In the first criminal trial of a former president of the United States, jurors found Donald Trump guilty on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

Judge Juan Merchan has set a sentencing hearing for July 11.

Here are some of the key moments from the trial of “The People of the State of New York v. Donald Trump”:

Day 1: Monday, April 15

Day 3: Thursday, April 18

Day 5: Monday, April 22

Day 9: Tuesday, April 30

Day 11: Friday, May 3

Day 13: Tuesday, May 7

Day 16-19: May 13, 14, 16, 20

Keep reading the full, detailed timeline of how the trial played out with details from our reporters inside the Manhattan courtroom.

President Joe Biden speaks during an event with the NFL Super Bowl champions Kansas City Chiefs on the South Lawn of the White House on Friday, May 31.

President Joe Biden joked that he didn’t know he was “that powerful” when asked about Donald Trump’s accusations that he was behind the former president’s conviction on dozens of state felony counts in New York. 

In an exchange with a reporter after an event with the Kansas City Chiefs at the White House on Friday, Biden said he had “no idea” if the conviction helped Trump politically. 

Asked if he was worried that charges could be brought against him after his term in office, Biden responded: “Not at all.” 

Despite not attending Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial, his daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner, were in Trump Tower during the former president’s post conviction remarks Friday, a source told CNN.

Trump’s wife and son, Melania and Barron Trump, who were also not present during the trial, were also there post conviction.

None of them attended the remarks, however a source said they were there to be supportive.

A handful of Senate Republicans are warning that they will slow-walk all Democratic legislation and nominees that come to the floor in response to Donald Trump’s guilty verdict.

The move shows that Republicans aren’t just stopping at statements as they look to defend Trump from their posts on Capitol Hill. They are trying to show they are taking action too. 

The letter is signed by several Republicans including Marco Rubio, Rick Scott, Tommy Tuberville, Marsha Blackburn, J.D. Vance and others. 

In the post with the letter, Lee also wrote “strongly worded statements are not enough.”

Democratic Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware told CNN he was “stunned” by this letter, and called on his colleagues to respect the verdict of Trump’s hush money trial. 

Just hours after being convicted in his criminal hush money trial, Donald Trump dined with Republican mega-donors at a private residence in New York, two sources familiar with the event told CNN. 

Among those present was the chairman and CEO of Blackstone Steve Schwarzman, who recently came out in support of Trump after calling for a “new generation of leaders” during the Republican primary. Schwarzman’s recommitment to the former president was considered a huge win by Trump’s advisers. 

Real estate and sugar tycoon Jose “Pepe” Fanjul was also in attendance.

Donald Trump’s conviction by a New York jury on 34 felony counts is historic and unprecedented. No former president or major party presidential candidate has also been a felon.

When CNN asked readers for their questions, a flood came in. Some of the more interesting and most asked questions are below. 

Get the answers to your other top questions about Trump’s conviction.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is aiming to fundraise $10 million for former President Donald Trump as part of an upcoming multi-state fundraising push, according to a DeSantis adviser and two sources familiar with the matter. 

DeSantis will raise money for the super PAC Right for America, run by Trump ally Sergio Gor. Events are likely to begin in July and stretch through September, including states like Texas, California and Washington. Billionaire and former Marvel Entertainment chairman Ike Perlmutter is one of the PAC’s largest donors.

Perlmutter, DeSantis and a group of DeSantis donors gathered last Thursday, where Trump joined for a phone call, and they discussed the fundraising efforts, according to one person present. It lasted about 10 minutes.  

Once 2024 rivals in a bitter primary, the source said Trump and DeSantis picked at each other about their golf game and a little bit about the campaign. The pair chatted about courses they were playing. Characterizing the conversation as jovial and moving forward, the source said it was “Trump being Trump.” 

“It sounded like it was 2019 again,” the source said. 

They also said Trump asked DeSantis to help with Right for America, and DeSantis said he would. 

DeSantis and Trump spoke over the phone at least two times since they had a meeting in Florida last month, according to the two sources in the room for the call. 

NBC News was first to report.

CNN’s Kristen Holmes contributed reporting

Former President Donald Trump leaves after addressing members of the media following the verdict in his hush-money trial at Trump Tower on May 31 in New York City. 

Donald Trump is vowing to appeal after a New York jury convicted him of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records on Thursday.

The appeal can be made after he is sentenced, which is scheduled in July — just days before he is set to become the official Republican presidential nominee at the Republican National Convention.

The verdict brought the former president’s weekslong trial to a close but ushered in a new phase of the historic case.

Here’s what we know:

Do you have questions about Trump’s conviction or the other criminal cases against him? Send us your questions here.

President Joe Biden pauses while leaving after delivering remarks on the verdict in former President Donald Trump's hush money trial and on the Middle East on Friday in Washington, DC.

President Joe Biden stopped and smiled in response to a question about former President Donald Trump calling himself a political prisoner, but didn’t engage further.

As Biden was leaving the room after delivering remarks on the Middle East at the White House, a reporter asked him about Trump’s comment and how he blamed the president for his conviction.

Biden apparently heard the question and stopped, turned toward the reporter and smiled slowly. He didn’t say anything.

When the reporter urged the president for his thoughts, he paused briefly and then continued walking.

Former Vice President Mike Pence said the conviction of his former running mate Donald Trump on 34 felony counts is an outrage and “undermines confidence” in the American justice system, calling the charges “politically motivated.”

He added that the conviction “ends a terrible message to the wider world about the American justice system and only further divides us.”

Pence argued that Trump has “every right to appeal this conviction and I trust it will be overturned on appeal in a manner that will restore public confidence in our system of justice and equal treatment under the law.”

Fox News first reported on the vice president’s comments. Pence was noticeably quiet on Thursday as news of the guilty verdict broke and Trump’s allies rushed to his defense.

Former President Donald Trump attends a press conference, the day after a guilty verdict in his criminal trial over charges that he falsified business records to conceal money paid to silence porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016 at Trump Tower in New York City on May 31.

Former President Donald Trump said he was going to hold a “press conference” on Friday in the wake of his Thursday conviction in Manhattan on felony charges of falsifying business records.

Instead, Trump delivered a rambling monologue that was filled with false claims — on subjects ranging from the Manhattan trial to immigration to tax policy. 

Here is a fact check of some of his inaccurate or unsubstantiated claims related to his trial.  

Crime in New York City: Trump repeated his familiar claim that, while Manhattan prosecutors have been focusing on him, New York City has been experiencing record-high violent crime. He said, “You have violent crime all over this city at levels that nobody’s ever seen before.” 

Facts First: Trump’s claim is not even close to true. Violent crime in New York City - and violent crime in Manhattan in particular — has plummeted since the early 1990s and is today nowhere near record levels.

Michael Cohen’s crimes: Criticizing key prosecution witness Michael Cohen, Trump repeated a claim he made during the trial in April. He asserted that Cohen, his former lawyer and fixer, “got into trouble not because of me” but because of “outside deals” and “something to do with taxi cabs and medallions, and he borrowed money, and that’s why he went.” He added that Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations to try to get himself a lighter penalty. 

Facts First: Trump’s claim that Cohen got into trouble simply because of his non-Trump-related activities, such as those related to taxis and loans, is not true. First, Cohen’s case was referred to federal prosecutors in New York by the special counsel, Robert Mueller, who was appointed to investigate any connections between the Trump campaign and Russia. Second, Cohen’s three-year prison sentence in 2018 was for multiple crimes, some of which were directly related to Trump. 

Most notably, Cohen was sentenced for campaign finance offenses connected to a hush money scheme during the 2016 presidential campaign to conceal Trump’s alleged extramarital relationships — the same hush money scheme that was central to this prosecution against Trump. Cohen was also sentenced to two months in prison, to run concurrently with the three-year sentence, for lying to Congress in 2017 in relation to previous talks about the possibility of building a Trump Tower in Moscow, Russia, including about the extent of Trump’s involvement in the aborted Moscow initiative and about when in 2016 the discussions ended.

 Watch more fact-checks:

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President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the verdict in former President Donald Trump's hush money trial and on the Middle East, from the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on Friday.

President Joe Biden said that Donald Trump has the opportunity to appeal the decision in his New York criminal hush money trial.

“Now he’ll be given the opportunity, as he should, to appeal that decision just like everyone else has that opportunity. That’s how the American system of justice works,” Biden said.

Biden said, “it’s reckless, it’s dangerous, it’s irresponsible for anyone to say this was rigged just because they don’t like the verdict.”

President Joe Biden speaks on May 31, 2024, in Washington, DC, from the White House.

President Joe Biden said that Donald Trump’s conviction in the hush money trial on Thursday reaffirmed “the American principle that no one is above the law.”

He said the jury was made up of regular Americans, “12 people like you,” who heard evidence and returned a unanimous verdict.

“This jury was chosen the same way every jury in America is chosen,” Biden said, adding that Trump’s lawyers were part of that process.

“After careful deliberation, the jury reached a unanimous verdict they found Donald Trump guilty on all 34 felony counts,” Biden said.

The president, who has not made direct comments about the guilty verdict since it was handed down yesterday, said Trump “was given every opportunity to defend himself.”

This post was updated with additional comments from Biden.

Former President Donald Trump’s conviction in the New York criminal hush money trial comes just days before the trial of President Joe Biden’s son is set to begin on Monday.

The president’s son faces three charges in the case brought by the special counsel in Delaware. Prosecutors accuse Hunter Biden of buying and possessing a firearm while addicted to illegal drugs, which is a violation of federal law, and of lying on a form he submitted during the purchase about his drug use. Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty.

Lawyers said the trial could last up to two weeks, including jury selection, with the potential to go longer.

The judge in Hunter Biden’s gun case issued a series of pretrial rulings last week, handing wins to both sides and setting the contours of the upcoming trial. Federal Judge Maryellen Noreika sided with prosecutors on a key question about what they need to prove about Biden’s drug use when he bought a gun in 2018.

Read more on Hunter Biden’s case here.

Judge Juan Merchan has scheduled Donald Trump’s sentencing for July 11 — which happens to be four days before the start of the Republican National Convention that is scheduled to take place in Milwaukee.

Todd Blanche, the former president’s attorney, told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on “The Source” that they will “vigorously fight” in post-trial motions due to Merchan in a few weeks.

“If that is not successful,” Blanche said they would appeal following the sentencing.

Former President Donald Trump on Friday vowed to appeal his conviction in the New York criminal hush money case.

Trump was found guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records Thursday.

Following the verdict, Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins that the former president’s legal team plans to argue in its appeal that the jury was biased against Trump and the timing of the trial was unfair. 

Trump remained defiant on Friday after the Manhattan jury delivered a guilty verdict.

“We will continue the fight. We are going to make America great again, very simple,” he said. 

He said, “It’s a very sad thing that is happening in our country and it is a thing that I’m honored — in a way I’m honored.”

“It’s not that it’s pleasant. It is very bad for family, friends and businesses, but I am honored to be involved in it because somebody has to do it. And I might as well keep going and be the one. But I’m very honored to be involved because we’re fighting for our constitution.” 

Trump’s sentencing is scheduled for July 11 and he faces the possibility of a prison sentence or probation.

The Biden campaign blasted Donald Trump after the former president’s remarks from New York on Friday, following his conviction on 34 felony charges. In his speech, Trump attacked President Joe Biden, Judge Juan Merchan and his former attorney and fixer, Michael Cohen.

Tyler attacked Trump, saying he is “spiraling from his criminal convictions” and is “consumed by his own thirst for revenge and retribution.” Trying to draw a contrast with Biden, Tyler said Trump’s priority is not the American people.

The Biden campaign has engaged more with Trump’s Manhattan hush money trial since the jury announced its verdict yesterday evening, with Tyler saying in a statement Thursday night that the ballot box “is still only one way to keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office.”

But Biden — who was with family in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, on Thursday to mark the ninth anniversary of his son Beau’s death — has yet to weigh in, apart from a short post to social media platform X urging supporters to donate to his campaign. 

Sen. JD Vance looks on as former President Donald Trump speaks to the media during Trump's trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 13 in New York City. 

Republican Sen. J.D. Vance said he stands by Donald Trump after the former president was convicted on criminal charges on Thursday. Vance, whose name has been included in the list of possible vice presidential picks, said he will do whatever he can to help the presumptive GOP frontrunner

The Ohio lawmaker claimed the hush money trial was never about justice, instead, it was “about plastering ‘convicted felon’ all over the airwaves.”

Vance complained about Judge Juan Merchan, the jury instructions and said the trial should not have taken place in Manhattan. Trump and his allies have argued that Trump could not get a fair trial in New York.

He also claimed the case was political because Merchan donated to Biden in 2020. Merchan previously contributed $15 earmarked for the Biden campaign and made two $10 contributions — one earmarked to the Progressive Turnout Project, a voter outreach organization, and another to Stop Republicans, a subsidiary of the Progressive Turnout Project.

“I believe that Donald Trump did nothing wrong. But if you take [Manhattan District Attorney] Alvin Bragg’s argument, if you take every single thing in that indictment at face value, what it suggests is Donald Trump committed paperwork violation,” Vance said.

Former President Donald Trump's motorcade arrives outside of the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta, Georgia, on Thursday, August 24, 2023.

The hush money criminal case against former President Donald Trump was only one of four criminal cases he is juggling while running again for president.

The former president still faces criminal indictments in Georgia, Washington, DC, and Florida. Trump has pleaded not guilty to every charge in these cases. 

Here’s a recap of each case: 

Track the criminal cases against Trump.