Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump’s sons react to guilty verdict in hush money trial

(NEW YORK) — Ivanka Trump delivered a brief — and indirect — social media post late Thursday in the wake of her father’s conviction at his hush money trial.

The former presidential adviser, who has stayed out of the limelight during the trial, posted a photo on her Instagram Stories of her and her father when she was a child, writing, “I love you dad.”

Donald Trump Jr., the former president’s eldest child, was the first to come out in defense of his father just minutes after Donald Trump was found guilty in his hush money trial on Thursday, laying the blame at Trump’s political rivals.

“The Democrats have succeeded in their years-long attempt to turn America into a third-world s—hole,” Trump Jr. said in a statement to ABC News.

Referencing the upcoming presidential election, Trump Jr. said, “Nov. 5 is our last chance to save it.”

The former president’s middle son, Eric Trump, took to X to proclaim that Thursday’s guilty verdict would signal a win for Trump in November.

“May 30th, 2024 might be remembered as the day Donald J. Trump won the 2024 Presidential Election,” Eric Trump wrote.

There was no immediate reaction from other family members.

For his part, Donald Trump called the verdict “rigged” and also railed against Democrats just over five months before Election Day.

“This was a disgrace,” Trump told reporters outside of the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse on Thursday, adding, “This was a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who was corrupt. It’s a rigged trial, a disgrace.”

In his remarks, Trump took aim at the Biden administration, saying, “This was done by the Biden administration in order to wound, to hurt an opponent, a political opponent.”

Trump was on trial in New York City, where he was convicted on all 34 felony charges related to a 2016 hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.

Last April, Trump pleaded not guilty to a 34-count indictment charging him with falsifying business records regarding the payment his then-attorney Michael Cohen made to Daniels in order to boost his electoral prospects in the 2016 presidential election.

On Thursday, a Manhattan jury found Trump guilty on all 34 counts.

As the first former president charged with a criminal offense, Trump also now becomes the first former president to be convicted of a crime.

Trump’s sentencing has been set for July 11.

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