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One day after being found guilty on all 34 counts in his hush-money trial, Donald Trump remained brash as he addressed reporters at Trump Tower where he repeated many of his grievances with the case and vowed to appeal.
Trump spoke on Friday morning from the atrium of the New York skyscraper, steps away from the golden escalator he famously rode down in 2015 when he kicked off his first bid for president.
Nearly nine years later, and after becoming the first U.S. president to ever be convicted of crimes, Trump said in a rambling speech that he will continue to fight against the legal battles that have consumed much of his third White House bid.
"If they can do this to me, they can do this to anyone," Trump said as he kicked off his remarks, which were filled with falsehoods about the case. "These are bad people. These are, in many cases, I believe, sick people."
Trump then dove into some of his signature campaign rhetoric, going after migrants coming to the United States and economic competition with China. But his attention quickly returned to the New York criminal trial, and remained there for much of his 35-minute remarks. He did not take any questions from the press.
While Trump avoided directly naming Judge Juan Merchan and his former attorney Michael Cohen, citing the gag order against him, he made references to both. He alluded to Cohen as a "sleazebag" and the judge a "tyrant."
He also sought to portray himself as a political martyr -- a theme that has been central to his 2024 campaign.
