Queens man convicted

Former Jamaica Estates resident donald trump, who was found guilty of nearly three dozen criminal charges by a jury in Manhattan on Thursday, May 30, 2024. AP photo by Seth Wenig

By Jacob Kaye

Former Jamaica Estates resident Donald Trump was convicted by a Manhattan jury on Thursday of 34 counts of falsifying business records in an effort to cover up a sex scandal he feared would ruin his chances of winning the 2016 presidential election.

The jury’s verdict, which came after only two days of deliberations, makes Trump the first president from Queens – or anywhere in the United States, for that matter – to become a felon.

The conviction puts an end to the trial in Manhattan Criminal Court that began a month and a half ago, and brought hundreds of journalists and spectators of all stripes to the aging courthouse at 100 Centre Street.

The trial was overseen by another man from the World’s Borough, Justice Juan Merchan, who was raised in Jackson Heights.

Despite their shared hometown, Trump had no love for his fellow Queens man following the trial’s conclusion on Thursday.

“This was a disgrace,” Trump said. “This was a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who was corrupt.”

Though the trial has ended, Trump’s visits to the courthouse are not over. Trump will return for his sentencing on July 11, less than a week before he is expected to receive the Republican Party’s presidential nomination.

The jury of 12 on Thursday found the former president guilty of each of the nearly three dozen charges brought against him by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

Prosecutors said that Trump illegally falsified business records in an effort to cover up payments he made to his former fixer Michael Cohen, who in turn used the funds to pay off Stormy Daniels, a porn star with whom Trump had an affair.

The Manhattan DA’s office said the payments amounted to election fraud.

Despite the conviction, Trump was released on his own recognizance Thursday, being spared a trip to Rikers Island, the home of the city’s notorious jail complex which happens to be part of the same borough the former president was raised in.