10 Evangelical reactions to Trump's guilty verdict: 'A very sad day'

By Ryan Foley, Christian Post Reporter Friday, May 31, 2024

Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a press conference after being found guilty over hush-money charges at Trump Tower in New York City on May 31, 2024. Donald Trump became the first former U.S. president ever convicted of a crime after a New York jury found him guilty on all charges in his hush money case, months before an election that could see him elected president. | ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images

Several notable Evangelical leaders have reacted to a Manhattan jury's decision to convict former President Donald Trump on all 34 counts of falsifying business records in the case of The People of New York v. Donald J. Trump.

The jury reached their decision Thursday, more than a year after Trump was indicted based on allegations that the Trump campaign paid porn star Stormy Daniels in the weeks leading up to the 2016 presidential election. Trump’s former attorney-turned-adversary Michael Cohen testified to the United States House of Representatives in 2019 that his former boss “asked me to pay off an adult film star with whom he had an affair, and lie to his wife about it, which I did.”

Cohen presented a House committee with “a copy of the $130,000 wire transfer” he sent to Daniels’ attorney “during the closing days of the campaign” so she would “maintain her silence about her affair with Mr. Trump.” In 2021, the Federal Election Commission voted not to pursue charges against Trump for violating campaign finance law.

Supporters of Trump have maintained that the charges against the former president related to the so-called “hush money” payments constitute election interference in light of his status as the leading Republican candidate and presumptive opponent of President Joe Biden in the 2024 presidential election, which is just over five months away.

Leaders in the Evangelical community, which has constituted an important part of the former president’s base throughout his political career, weighed in on Thursday’s verdict. Here are 10 reactions from high-profile Evangelicals.