NEW YORK (AP) — Being convicted of a felony — let alone 34 of them – is the kind of blow that would normally tank any politician’s ambitions.
Donald Trump will instead try to turn what might otherwise be a career-ending judgment into campaign fuel.
Trump will return to the campaign trail with a news conference at his namesake tower in Manhattan on Friday, a day after he was convicted of trying to illegally influence the 2016 election by falsifying business records to hide a hush money payment to a porn actor who claimed they had sex. His lawyers and allies described him as defiant and ready to fight a verdict they argue is illegitimate and driven by politics.
No former president or presumptive party nominee has ever faced a felony conviction or the prospect of prison time, and Trump is expected to keep his legal troubles central to his campaign. He has long argued without evidence that the four indictments against him were orchestrated by Democratic President Joe Biden to try to keep him out of the White House.
“There is nobody who is more defiant,” said Trump spokesman Jason Miller on Fox News hours after the verdict was read. “He’s ready to get out there and start fighting again.”