Trump’s verdict speech fact-checked: what he said and whether it’s true
Donald Trump delivered a rambling, incoherent speech laden with falsehoods and conspiracy theories from the atrium of Trump Tower, a day after the former president was convicted of all 34 counts of falsifying business records in his hush-money criminal trial.
Related: Angry Trump revisits escalator where it all began – but this time as a felon
Here is a fact check of some of the things he said on Friday – and why they weren’t true.
Trump claims the Joe Biden White House was behind his prosecution
Donald Trump claimed that the judge presiding over his hush-money case, Juan Merchan, and the court was in “total conjunction with the White House and the DoJ [Department of Justice]”. There is no evidence whatsoever supporting this claim.
“This is all done by Biden and his people,” the former president said during a speech on Friday at Trump Tower.
The accusation that Biden was behind the prosecution does not line up with the case’s facts.
The elected district attorney of Manhattan, Alvin Bragg, brought the case against Trump. Bragg is a state official who does not report to the federal government.
Biden does not have any authority over Bragg or his office – and there is no evidence that the Biden administration had anything to do with the case.
Trump rails against ‘nasty gag order’ he claims no one else has faced
Trump claimed he is under a “nasty gag order, which nobody has ever been under”. He also said he has had to pay thousands of dollars in penalties – and that he was threatened with jail.
Under Judge Merchan’s order designed to protect trial participants from Trump’s abuse, the former president is barred from making – or directing others to make – public statements about witnesses concerning their roles in the investigation and at trial. It also covers prosecutors, other staffers of Bragg, and members of the court staff. However, Trump is allowed to say whatever he wants about Merchan and Bragg.
Trump has been fined $10,000 for 10 violations of the gag order for posts on his Truth Social platform and campaign website. Merchan has warned Trump that he would “impose an incarceratory punishment” for “continued willful violations” of the order.
Trump claims he wasn’t allowed to testify
Trump claimed that he wanted to testify “but the theory is that you don’t testify because … they’ll get you on something you said slightly wrong, and then they sue you for perjury”.
Trump has previously railed about being silenced and falsely claimed he was not allowed to testify at the trial. But ultimately he made the personal choice to not take the stand in his own defense.
Merchan earlier this month addressed the ex-president’s claims, saying: “I want to stress, Mr Trump, that you have an absolute right to testify at trial.” Merchan added that the gag order preventing Trump from verbally attacking witnesses did not affect his right to take the stand.
Trump claims prosecutors were not allowed to look into alleged federal campaign violations
Trump claimed that prosecutors who charged him were not allowed to look into alleged federal campaign finance violations.
In fact, Manhattan prosecutors did not charge him with federal violations but instead listed the allegations as one of three “unlawful acts” that jurors were asked to consider.
Prosecutors said the other crime for which Trump was charged was a violation of a state election law barring conspiracies to promote or prevent an election by unlawful means.
Trump claims he faces 187-year prison sentence
Donald Trump claimed the crime for which he was convicted meant that “I’m supposed to go to jail for 187 years”.
The former president was found guilty of falsifying business records in the first degree in furtherance of another crime, a class E felony in New York. That is the least serious category and is punishable by up to four years in prison.
But as a first-time, non-violent offender, it is unlikely that Trump will face a long sentence. Experts say he is unlikely to receive prison time at all.
Trump claims polling shows him ahead after conviction
Trump claimed that a Daily Mail poll taken after his guilty verdict showed that he was “up by six points”.
The poll he was referring to was an online survey of 400 likely voters that measured his favorability ratings – and not voting intention.
Of those who said the 34 guilty counts had changed their view of Trump, 22% said they had a more favorable rating compared with 16% who said they viewed him more negatively.
In contrast, a YouGov poll showed that 27% of voters said the conviction made them less likely to vote for Trump, compared with 26% who said they were more likely to vote for him and 39% who said the verdict “makes no difference” in how they’ll vote.
Trump claims defense wasn’t allowed to use its election expert
Trump claimed that the judge did not allow his defense team “to use our election expert under any circumstances”.
Merchan did not bar the defense’s campaign finance expert, Bradley A Smith, from testifying in the trial. Smith was permitted to testify.
Instead, Trump’s lawyers decided not to call on Smith after Merchan declined to broaden the scope of questioning the defense could pursue.
