A guilty verdict? Donald Trump and allies are bracing voters for the worst [View all]

When former president and 2024 candidate Donald Trump claims that the judicial system wants to put him in jail, he's not just protesting the ongoing hush money trial. Trump is also bracing voters for the possibility of a guilty verdict.

At political rallies, on social media, and to reporters gathered at the courthouse in New York, Trump's attacks on the trial are designed in part to persuade voters to disregard a bad verdict, according to aides, legal analysts, and a review of his remarks. "The New York judicial system has been absolutely abused," Trump told reporters Friday. "The whole world is watching."

Trump is accused of improperly influencing the 2016 presidential election by paying hush money to women, seeking to keep them from publicizing sexual liaisons. He has pleaded not guilty.

Trump has not explicitly said he expects a guilty verdict, and occasionally expresses public optimism about the outcome of the trial. "Many good things are going on in the case," the former said Thursday. But he has spent much more time claiming political bias by the judge, prosecutors and the jury pool, and argues without evidence that his political opponents will do anything to put him behind bars.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/05/11/trump-guilty-verdict-allies-prep-voters/73630657007/