Donald Trump’s lawyer, Todd Blanche, spoke to The Associated Press about Trump’s reaction to being found guilty, which was surprising to him. Blanche was seated next to Trump in the Manhattan courtroom when the jury foreman repeated “guilty” 34 times.
“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.”
Blanche added that Trump appeared composed the day after the verdict, despite expressing dissatisfaction with the trial’s fairness as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.
“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, who is leading Trump’s defense in both the New York and Florida cases.
A jury in New York convicted Trump on all charges of falsifying business records, a felony that could result in imprisonment, probation, or a fine.