Donald Trump has been found guilty of falsifying documents to cover up a payment, which was made to silence the porn star Stormy Daniels, ahead of the 2016 U.S. Presidential election.

There had been some speculation that it would be hard to deliver a guilty verdict since unanimity was required – and it would be difficult to avoid a situation where at least one or two Trump fanatics would end up on the jury. Against that backdrop, the 12-member jury took two days to arrive at a verdict. However, when they did, it was momentous. They announced that they had unanimously found Donald Trump guilty on all 34 counts, making him the first U.S. President to be found guilty on a criminal charge.

The presiding Justice, Juan Merchan, set sentencing for 11 July, just three days before the start of the Republican National Convention, which is expected to formally nominate Trump as the Republican Party’s candidate for the Presidency. However, the assumption is that Trump – who (Hilariously - Sub-ed) denied any wrongdoing – will appeal.

The presidential election is set to take place on 5 November 2024. It is likely to see Trump face off with the current incumbent, Joe Biden of the Democratic Party.

"This was a disgrace,” Trump said after the verdict was announced. "This was a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who is corrupt. The real verdict is going to be 5th November by the people."

The former President and disgraced businessman is obviously entirely unencumbered by even an ounce of honesty or objectivity.

"I am a very innocent man," he added, badly misquoting Billy Joel.

With a guilty verdict now hanging over him, Trump faces a maximum sentence of four years in prison. However, that sentence would be at the higher end of expectations, if the anticipated appeal falls on deaf ears.

One of the oddest features of this ongoing soap opera is that being in jail would not prevent Donald Trump from standing in the election – or from taking office as the President of the United States of America, if he were to win.

How the guilty verdict will play with voters remains to be seen. Opinion polls have generally shown Trump ahead of Joe Biden, most notably in swing states which are crucial to the outcome. However, recent polling by Reuters/Ipsos suggested that a guilty verdict might lose Trump some support from among independent and Republican voters.

The verdict was arrived at in dramatic circumstances. At 4:15pm (9:15pm Irish time) Justice Merchan had gathered legal representatives from both sides to inform them that he planned to dismiss the jury for the day at 4:30pm. He then left the court room.

About 20 minutes later, he returned and told the court that, at 4:20pm, the jury had sent a note, which was signed by the foreperson, indicating that they had reached a verdict.

It took a further 30 minutes for the jury to fill out the verdict form. What the judge then read may yet prove devastating for the infamous pussy-grabber, golf cheat and former reality TV star.

The jury found Trump guilty of falsifying business documents to hide the nature of payments made to the porn star Stormy Daniels. The actress gave sometimes hilarious evidence in the case about a sexual encounter she had with Trump in 2006. Trump was married at the time to his current wife, Melania. In a book published in 2018, Daniels described Trump’s penis as being smaller than average – "but not freakishly small" – and looking like a toadstool.

It is in honour of this revelation that Donald Trump has been rechristened The Notorious S.M.A.L.L – a nod to the rapper The Notorious B.I.G., who was murdered in a drive-by shooting in 1998.

Trump denies ever having intercourse with Ms Daniels – though very few people believe him..

Trump's so called 'fixer' Michael Cohen testified during the court case that Trump approved a $130,000 hush money payment to Ms Daniels in the final weeks of the 2016 election. Trump was already facing multiple accusations of sexual misbehaviour and his campaign team feared that one more accusation might completely derail his efforts to reach The White House. In the event he was elected President, despite losing the popular vote to the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton.

Cohen testified that he had handled the payment, and that Trump approved a plan to reimburse him through monthly payments, which were disguised as paying for legal work.

In all, Donald Trump is facing four criminal prosecutions. This New York was regarded as the least serious. However, the others are unlikely to go to trial before the November election, as a result of procedural challenges mounted by Trump.

If he is elected, Donald Trump could – and almost certainly would – quash two federal cases in which he is accused of illegally trying to overturn his 2020 election loss; and mishandling classified documents after leaving office in 2021. However, he would not have the power to stop a separate election-subversion case taking place in Georgia.