Former President Donald Trump was widely mocked after he griped about the "rigged" charges against him in his ongoing hush money trial and attempted to compare himself to Mother Teresa, who was admired by many for her charity work, received the Nobel Peace Prize, and was canonized by the Catholic Church as Saint Teresa of Calcutta.
The criminal trial in New York revolved around accusations that Trump falsified business records in an attempt to conceal hush money payments made to adult film performer Stormy Daniels in order to silence her ahead of the 2016 presidential election. On Thursday afternoon, Trump was found guilty on all 34 felony counts.
On Wednesday, after hearing Judge Juan Merchan's instructions to the jury, Trump took the opportunity to speak to reporters outside the courtroom about the "confliction" in a "corrupt trial" and added:
"Mother Teresa could not beat these charges. These charges are rigged. The whole thing is rigged."
"The whole country's a mess between the borders and fake elections and you have a trial like this where the judge is so conflicted he can't breathe. He's got to do his job. It's a disgrace."
“I mean that: Mother Teresa could not beat those charges, but we’ll see. We’ll see how we do. It’s a very disgraceful situation. Every single legal scholar said there’s no case and it shouldn’t be brought.”
You can hear what he said in the video below.
That Trump would compare himself to the Catholic saint was bold even for him—and exposed him to immediate mockery.
Before the start of deliberations, Merchan provided jurors with directives on the law to guide them in weighing the case. Early in his instructions, Merchan emphasized that his comments during the trial should not be interpreted as suggesting Trump's innocence or guilt.
Merchan also instructed jurors not to consider the possibility of Trump winding up in jail when rendering their verdict. He said jurors "may not speculate with matters related to sentencing or punishment" because it is ultimately "my responsibility."
On Thursday, after having re-heard parts of witness testimony as well as Merchan's jury instructions, the jury continued deliberations until around 4:20pm at which point they informed the court that they had reached a verdict. It was subsequently announced that they found Trump guilty on all 34 counts of falsification of business records in the first degree.
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