Former president Donald Trump’s legal tram vowed Friday to file an appeal, after a New York jury found Trump guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records. Trump’s lawyer, Todd Blanche, told CNN and NBC’s Today that the team expected to win on appeal. Judge Juan Merchan set a June 13 deadline for filing any motions.
On Fox News, Blanche said that Trump’s legal team had been saying the trial was “unfair” for over a year. However, Blanche declined to say that Judge Merchan did not follow the rule of law in his proceedings. The jury only took nine hours to find Trump guilty for the 34 charges, which were established by the prosecution over the seven week trial.
“We don’t know what went into the decision for the jury or why they decided what they did,” said Blanche on Today. “This is a verdict we were expecting and that we are going to appeal, and we’re going to win on appeal.” Blanche went on to say that he did not expect Trump to face jail time over a class E felony, the lowest felony class. Trump also has no prior criminal record.
Blanche is likely to argue the following on appeal: that the trial was unfair due to Trump’s notoriety, Michael Cohen’s credibility as a witness, and irrelevant details from Stormy Daniels’ testimony may have unduly impacted the jury. Cohen, former lawyer for Trump and a key witness in the trial, took to the media as well to criticize Blanche publicly. On his X account, Cohen called Blanche the “Stupidest Lawyer of All Time.”
Trump and his political allies have expressed derision for the proceedings for months, even using it as political currency to gain favor with groups feeling disillusioned by American institutions. Trump said after being found guilty:
This was a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who was corrupt. It’s a rigged trial, a disgrace. They wouldn’t give us a venue change. We were at 5 percent or 6 percent in this district, in this area. This was a rigged disgraceful trial. The real verdict is gonna be November 5th by the people, and they know what happened here, and everyone knows what happened here.
The sentencing hearing has been scheduled for July 11. The Republican National Convention, where Trump is set to be selected as the party’s nominee in the 2024 presidential election, is set to begin four days later, on July 15.
Donald Trump is the first former US president to be convicted of a felony. His conviction will not disqualify him from running in the 2024 election.
This is the first of the four criminal cases against Trump. The former president faces federal and state cases related to election interference and another federal case regarding his handling of classified documents.
