NEW YORK, June 1, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - President Joe Biden branded Donald Trump
"reckless" Friday after the Republican lashed out in rambling, angry comments
at verdicts in New York making him the first former US president to become a
convicted felon.

The dramatic climax to Trump's hush money trial came five months before the
November 5 election, when the tycoon hopes to unseat Biden and make a
shocking return to power.

Speaking in New York, Trump, 77, confirmed he would appeal the verdict, which
he branded a "scam."

He billed the event as a press conference but did not take questions, instead
launching into an extraordinary 35 minutes of insults, non-factual claims and
non-sequiturs that reflected his seething anger.

Trump called Judge Juan Merchan, who presided over his trial, a "tyrant" and
claimed that he "literally crucified" witnesses.

"This man who looks like an angel, but he is really a devil," Trump said in
the remarks, which were carried live by all the major US television networks.

Speaking at the White House, where he was announcing a major new peace
proposal for Gaza, Biden said Trump's attacks on the court were "dangerous."

"It's irresponsible for anyone to say this was rigged just because they don't
like the verdict," Biden said.

"The justice system should be respected. We should never allow anyone to tear
it down."

"The American principle that no one is above the law was reaffirmed," Biden
said.

Biden's election campaign described Trump as "confused, desperate and
defeated."

- Sentencing on July 11 -

On Thursday, a jury found Trump guilty on all 34 charges of falsifying
business records to hide a hush money payment to silence porn star Stormy
Daniels.

Prosecutors successfully laid out a case that Trump was afraid that Daniels
would fatally harm his 2016 presidential campaign by going public with an
alleged sexual encounter, prompting him to pay her -- then illegally hide the
transaction.

Trump, speaking in his signature Manhattan Trump Tower, repeated previous
assertions that he had done nothing wrong.

But he frequently veered into attacks on Biden, as well as against illegal
immigrants, who he said were speaking "languages unknown" and include many
terrorists, as well as "a lot of people" released from prisons.

"They're coming in from all over the world into our country, and we have a
president and a group of fascists that don't want to do anything about it,
because they could right now. Today, he could stop it. But he's not. They're
destroying our country," Trump said.

Trump faces a potential prison sentence but is much more likely to receive
probation.

Merchan set sentencing for July 11 -- four days before the Republican
National Convention in Milwaukee, where Trump is due to receive the party's
formal nomination.

- From court to campaign -

Although the verdict does not prevent Trump from continuing his election bid,
it does cast the already tense contest into even more unpredictable waters.

Trump's campaign immediately made a fundraising pitch after the verdict
featuring a picture of the 77-year-old and the claim: "I am a political
prisoner!"

According to the campaign, $52.8 million in donations flooded in, crashing
the website.

"From just minutes after the sham trial verdict was announced, our digital
fundraising system was overwhelmed," the campaign said.

In addition to the New York case, Trump faces three far more serious criminal
indictments over his attempts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Biden and
hoarding of top-secret documents at his home in Florida.

Those cases, however, are not likely to go to trial before the November
election.

Biden has so far been cautious about making Trump's multiple legal
difficulties an election issue. As president, he is keen to avoid giving
ammunition to Republicans who claim he is meddling in the justice system.

Meanwhile, there was criticism from a spokesman for President Vladimir Putin,
whose rule has seen dozens of political opponents, journalists and human
rights campaigners murdered. He claimed that the jury trial was a "de-facto
elimination of political rivals."

"I would say that's a classic case of projection," countered US Secretary of
State Antony Blinken, while attending a NATO meeting in Prague.

In Italy, the far-right deputy prime minister, Matteo Salvini, said Trump was
the "victim of judicial harassment."