Closing summary
The day ended with a bang with the conviction of former president Donald Trump’s business empire, the Trump Organization, being convicted on all counts in a criminal fraud trial in New York. Trump himself was never charged and former CFO Allen Weisselberg took the bullet. The parallel civil case in New York, in which Trump and his family are directly accused, continues.
This blog is closing now, but very shortly Guardian US is launching a brand new special politics liveblog to follow the culmination of the Georgia Senate run-off race between Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker. My west coast colleague Maanvi Singh is the reporter on this and will bring you all the developments as they happen tonight.
Here’s how the day went so far:
Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg said that the fraud conviction against the Trump Organization exposed a criminal case that was all about “greed and cheating”.
New York state attorney general Letitia James tweeted about the criminal conviction and noted that her parallel civil case against the Trump family business show that “former presidents must be held to the same standards as everyday Americans”. Trump himself is accused.
The Trump Organization, the family business empire of former US president Donald Trump, was convicted on all 17 counts by jury in the company’s criminal trial in New York. Trump himself was not charged.
Law enforcement officers, receiving medals today for defending the US Capitol against the insurrection by extremist supporters of then-president Donald Trump on 6 January 2021, snubbed Senate and House Republican leaders Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy when they proffered their hands to shake.
The bipartisan House special committee investigating the Capitol attack is expected to make criminal referrals to the justice department soon. Panel chair Bennie Thompson indicated that decisions have been made on whom to blame.
It’s the last day of voting in the Georgia Senate run-off. Polls close shortly this evening and there could be a result tonight … stay tuned.
Updated
Here’s former Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg being frogmarched into court today.
TRUMP ORG GUILTY ON ALL COUNTS! pic.twitter.com/SScjJHbhFo
— Sandi Bachom (@sandibachom) December 6, 2022
Here are some reactions from legal-watchers in the media.
NY jury CONVICTS Trump Organization on all counts. Two important takeaways: 1. this likely spells the end of Trump Org, and 2. this increases the odds of a NY prosecution of Trump himself, given that the prosecution argued “Evidence shows Trump
— Glenn Kirschner (@glennkirschner2) December 6, 2022
'explicitly' OK'd tax fraud.”
A reminder that Trump didn’t extricate himself from his business interests when he won the 2016 presidential election. See this thread.
The damage to his reputation is real—banks don't want to lend to companies convicted of felonies, insurers don't want to insure, etc. And it's not great for Trump's reputation as a businessman who knows what he's doing. https://t.co/pf6kdMVKjU
— russchoma (@russchoma) December 6, 2022
Trump’s having a fraught fall.
Hard to imagine a worse first month of a presidential campaign than Trump has had:
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) December 6, 2022
-SCOTUS gives House Dems tax returns
-Appeals court throws out lawsuit over Mar-a-Lago search
-Secret court ruling requires ex WH lawyer to testify in Jan. 6 probe
-NY jury finds Trump org guilty
Updated
