03 June 2024 , 07:40
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Donald Trump has admitted his conviction has been "tough" on his wife Melania and son Barron after he was found guilty of all 34 counts of falsifying business records over a hush money payment to adult actress Stormy Daniels.
The former president was found guilty by a New York jury on Thursday following a five-week trial and is now preparing for his sentencing on July 11 where he could face up to four years in jail. Trump, who is expected to appeal, became the first former US president to be convicted after prosecutors claimed he tried to "corrupt" the 2016 election by hiding a $130,000 payment to his lawyer Michael Cohen to Stormy..
Stormy alleged she and Trump had sex, which he denied. However, throughout the trial, Melania Trump and her son Barron were notably absent and instead decided to stay at their Mar-a-Lago home in Florida during the testimony - prompting questions over how they were responding to the lurid allegations.
Trump admitted the trial had been "tough" on his family (Fox News)In an interview with Fox & Friends Weekend, the former president admitted the trial had been "very hard" for Melania and "tough" for his family. "It's tougher, I think it's probably in many ways it's tougher on my family than it is on me," Trump said. "I have a wonderful wife who has to listen to this stuff all the time," he added. "I think it's very hard for her, you know she has to read all this c**p."
Trump praised his son 18-year-old son Barron, who graduated from Oxbridge Academy during the trial. "He's amazing. He's tall, good-looking, he's a very good student", the ex-president said. "He's applied to colleges and gets into everywhere he goes, you know? He's very sought after from the standpoint, he's a very smart guy. He's a very tall guy and he's a great kid. He's cool. He's pretty cool, I'll tell you."
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Melania and Barron were absent from the trial (AFP via Getty Images)Meanwhile, Trump's lawyer said he was surprised at his client's stoic demeanour as he listened to the verdict that made him the first former US president convicted of a crime. Todd Blanche was sitting to Trump’s left in the Manhattan courtroom as the verdict was read — the jury foreman repeating the word “guilty” 34 times.
Trump praised "smart guy" Barron (CRISTOBAL HERRERA-ULASHKEVICH/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)“I was shocked at how he took the verdict,” Blanche said. “He just stood there and just kind of took it. And I think had a lot of appropriate solemnness for the moment that made me very proud to be sitting next to him when it, when it was happening,” said Blanche, adding that he thought Trump was still handling himself well on Friday, the day after the verdict, even as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee railed that the trial was unfair.
“He’s not happy about it, but there’s no defendant in the history of our justice system who’s happy about a conviction the day after. But I think he knows there’s a lot of fight left and there’s a lot of opportunity to fix this and that’s what we’re going to try to do,” said Blanche, Trump’s lead lawyer in the New York case and his classified documents federal criminal case in Florida.