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A senior ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin says Russia is not bluffing about using tactical nuclear weapons against Ukraine and warned that the conflict could spill over into other countries.

Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chair of the Security Council of Russia, made the comments after President Biden quietly authorized Kyiv to launch U.S.-supplied weapons at military targets just over the border in Russia that are supporting an offensive against the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.

‘This is, alas, neither intimidation nor bluffing,’ Medvedev said Friday, speaking on the potential to use strategic nuclear weapons, per Reuters.

Russia has been using staging locations just across the border to enable its attacks against Ukraine and Biden has given Ukraine the go-ahead to use American weaponry to hit back at Russian forces hitting them or preparing to hit them. Germany has also backed the move.

The White House says the policy is limited and prohibits the use of army tactical missile systems (ATACMS) or long-range strikes inside Russia. 

In March, the U.S. quietly delivered long-range ATACMS to Ukraine for the first time – which the Ukrainians have since deployed against Russian military forces inside Ukraine.

Medvedev said Friday that ‘Russia regards all long-range weapons used by Ukraine as already being directly controlled by servicemen from NATO countries.’

‘This is no military assistance, this is participation in a war against us. And such actions could well become a casus belli (an act that provokes a war),’ Medvedev said Friday, per Reuters. 

Medvedev, who served as Russian president from 2008 and 2012, said that the West’s ongoing support of Ukraine could lead to an escalation of the 27-month-old full-scale invasion.

‘The current military conflict with the West is developing according to the worst possible scenario. There is a constant escalation when it comes to the firepower of NATO weapons being used. Therefore, nobody today can rule out the conflict’s transition to its final stage,’ Medvedev said.

The comments come as depleted Ukrainian troops are losing ground in the war – and just weeks after the U.S. agreed to send an extra $60 billion in aid to the war-torn country. In the border region of Kharkiv, Ukraine has endured a Russian onslaught this month that has stretched Kyiv’s outgunned and outmanned forces.

The White House says that Russia’s forward progress has stalled and that Russia will not be able to capture Kharkiv. 

Russia has only moved forward by a few kilometers and its forces are under relentless barrage by the Ukrainians and suffering at an extraordinary cost, the White House tells Fox News. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that it’s only a matter of time before Ukraine utilizes the Western weaponry to strike Russian territory.

The developments and threats of escalation came just weeks after Gen. Charles Brown, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said NATO military trainers will eventually be sent to Ukraine, according to a report in the New York Times.

Ukrainian officials have asked their U.S. and NATO counterparts to help train 150,000 new recruits closer to the front line for faster deployment, per the report. 

Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz., told Fox News Digital at the time that deploying military trainers would lead to a wider war in the region.

Friday’s comments by Medvedev are not the first time he has taken a hardline stance against the West. In January, he warned the U.K. that putting boots on the ground in Ukraine would amount to a declaration of war against Russia.

In January, he also raised the prospect of nuclear war, warning NATO allies that a defeat for Russia in Ukraine could provoke a nuclear war. 

‘The loss of a nuclear power in a conventional war can provoke the beginning of a nuclear war,’ he said in a Telegram post.

‘Nuclear powers have [never] lost major conflicts on which their fate depends,’ the Kremlin official added. 

Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin, as well as Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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Former President Donald Trump joins a growing list of world leaders convicted after leaving office, with many critics in the U.S. claiming that such measures hurt the country’s image as a global leader. 

A New York City court found Trump guilty of falsifying business documents related to payments made to Michael Cohen, who had paid porn actress Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election. World leaders largely offered restrained comment on the verdict, but some of Trump’s closest allies criticized the decision and urged him to ‘keep fighting.’ 

Many have argued that the former president was targeted for political reasons, citing the fact that other cases were opened against him around the same time – though the other three cases, such as the Georgia trial, were delayed – as well as Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg campaigning on his promise to go after Trump. 

Trump insisted that his trial, which included a gag order preventing him from discussing the case, occurred to keep him out of the upcoming election because Democrats ‘can’t win at the ballot box.’ Biden, meanwhile, has blasted any efforts to undermine the decision as ‘reckless’ and ‘irresponsible’ while quipping that he had ‘no idea I was that powerful’ in response to claims he had orchestrated the trial.

Here are some other countries where opposition leaders or candidates have faced prosecution, sometimes even ahead of elections. 

RUSSIA

No case in modern politics of opposition suppression stands as notorious as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ongoing saga to keep his chief political rival Alexei Navalny out of office: Russian courts determined Navalny had violated probationary terms by leaving the country, during which time he suffered an attempt on his life while in Germany.

The Russian court ultimately convicted Navalny on charges of extremism and sentenced him to 19 years in prison, where he ultimately died due to brutal conditions during his confinement. U.S. intelligence officials in April determined that Putin likely did not order Navalny’s death, even if they ultimately hold him responsible for the treatment that led to the politician’s death. 

HONG KONG

Trump’s verdict overshadowed news out of Hong Kong that 14 opposition figures had been convicted of ‘conspiring to subvert state power,’ drawing condemnation from watchdog groups such as Amnesty International, who called the decision ‘unprecedented’ and ‘the most ruthless illustration yet of how Hong Kong’s National Security Law is weaponized to silence dissent.’ 

Former lawmakers Leung Kwok-hung, Lam Cheuk-ting, Helena Wong and Raymond Chan are among the dozen defendants who could face life in prison when sentenced later this year, ABC News reported. 

Prosecutors went after 47 democracy advocates who took part in an unofficial primary election that would have undermined the government’s authority through a potential constitutional crisis. 

INDIA

Critics have accused Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi of using the courts to prevent his main political rival Arvind Kejriwal, chief minister of the capital Dehli, from running and campaigning for the upcoming elections.

Several leaders of an opposition alliance remain under investigation, and Kejriwal’s party has accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of ‘political conspiracy,’ according to Reuters. Kejriwal remains in pre-trial detention while awaiting a decision on his appeal against an arrest for alleged corruption related to Delhi’s liquor policy.  

India’s top court provisionally released Kejriwal from jail so he could campaign for the elections, which he has dramatically claimed will determine whether India ‘remains a democracy’ and accused Modi of targeting rivals with criminal probes. 

BRAZIL 

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva won re-election in 2022 after leaving prison due to the country’s Supreme Court nullifying his conviction on money laundering and corruption charges, citing serious biases in the case against him. 

Lula, arrested as part of ‘Operation Car Wash,’ allegedly had traded favors with a construction company in exchange for the promise of a beachfront apartment. His arrest and conviction deeply divided Brazil and led to heated legal back-and-forth over the following years. 

VENEZUELA

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has seen a number of his opponents jailed for various crimes, with opposition leader Nelson Pinero of the center-right Encuentro Ciudadano party recently jailed on charges of incitement to hatred, El País reported. 

The Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (Sebin) allegedly entered Pinero’s house without a search warrant. Another politician, presidential candidate Delsa Solorzano, denounced the arrest, saying that ‘Nelson is one more political prisoner of this dictatorship, which has taken 300 citizens to jail for thinking differently.’

Maduro also saw government opponents jailed in 2017 in a strong crackdown against a new government, jailing opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez and veteran politician Antonio Ledezma for planning to flee the country and violating house arrest terms by making political statements to the media, Reuters reported.

CAMBODIA

Kem Sokha, the Cambodian opposition leader, was convicted of treason and sentenced to 27 years in jail. He appealed his charges, which Amnesty International condemned as ‘baseless’ and urged the country’s authorities to ‘end their ongoing crackdown against opposition groups.’ 

‘Anyone who dares to speak out against the government is at risk,’ Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Research Montse Ferrer wrote ahead of the appeal hearing.

‘Cambodian authorities must respect, protect, promote and fulfill the human rights of everyone in the country including the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association, and end the increasing restriction of civic space,’ he added. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Donald Trump is touting ‘record shattering’ fundraising fueled by his convictions in the first trial of a former or current president in the nation’s history.

The former president’s campaign announced on Friday morning that it had hauled in $34.8 million in fundraising from 6 p.m. ET to midnight on Thursday, immediately after Trump was found guilty of all 34 felony counts in his criminal trial in New York City.

And on Friday evening, the Trump campaign announced an update — nearly $53 million raised in the 24 hours following the verdict through their online digital fundraising platform.

The campaign touted that the fundraising was ‘nearly double the biggest day ever recorded for the Trump campaign on the WinRed platform’ and emphasized that the guilty verdicts ‘have awakened the MAGA movement like never before.’

The surge in contributions comes as Trump aims to close the fundraising gap with President Biden as they face off in a 2024 election rematch.

‘From just minutes after the sham trial verdict was announced, our digital fundraising system was overwhelmed with support,’ Trump campaign senior advisers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles wrote in a statement on Friday morning.

They spotlighted that ‘not only was the amount historic, but 29.7% of [Thursday’s] donors were brand-new donors to the WinRed platform.’

And pointing to the autumn election, LaCivita and Wiles reiterated that ‘President Trump is fighting to save our nation and November 5th is the day Americans will deliver the real verdict.’

Minutes after the verdict was read in the first trial of a former or current president in the nation’s history, Trump’s team put out a fundraising appeal to supporters.

‘Friend: Is this the end of America?,’ Trump asked in the email. ‘I was just convicted in a RIGGED political Witch Hunt trial.

‘My end-of-month fundraising deadline is just DAYS AWAY!’ Trump emphasized in the email, which included a photo of the former president labeling him a ‘political prisoner.’

WinRed, the GOP online fundraising platform used by Trump’s campaign, among others, briefly shut down within an hour of the verdict.

Trump campaign senior adviser Chris LaCivita advised donors encountering a WinRed error message to sign up for Trump’s text messaging list or log back onto the site and try again. 

‘If you are one of the millions of American Patriots wanting to donate to Donald Trump’s campaign and you get an error message from @WINRED …don’t give up! Log back on and try again ! or Text TRUMP to 88022,’ LaCivita wrote in a tweet.

Trump’s campaign website also directed donors to Anedot, another fundraising platform used by various GOP campaigns.

Trump’s team also fired off a warning shot to the campaigns of down-ballot Republicans not to try and raise money directly off of the former president’s conviction, to prevent the ‘siphoning’ of donations headed to Trump’s coffers.

Meanwhile, the former president’s top pollsters put out a memo on the eve of the verdict arguing that a conviction would not have any electoral consequences.

Trump holds a trio of top dollar fundraisers in California at the end of next week.

Biden’s re-election campaign also quickly sent out fundraising appeals following the verdict.

‘Despite a jury finding Donald Trump guilty today, there is still only one way to keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office: At the ballot box,’ the Biden campaign wrote in a fundraising text to supporters Thursday evening. 

And it urged that ‘if you have been waiting for the perfect time to make your first donation to Joe Biden’s reelection campaign, we’re here to tell you today is the day.’

Trump has been aiming to close his fundraising gap with Biden. In April, his campaign and the Republican National Committee for the first time out-raised the Biden campaign and the Democratic National Committee.

While Trump has stepped up his fundraising, the Biden campaign still enjoyed an $84 million to $49 million cash-on-hand advantage at the end of April.

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Donald Trump is wasting no time in getting back on the campaign trail now that the verdict is in and his historic criminal trial in New York City is over.

The former president and presumptive Republican presidential nominee headlined a campaign fundraiser just a couple of hours after being convicted. On Saturday he’ll attend a UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) match in Newark, New Jersey, Fox News confirmed. And on Sunday he’ll sit for a ‘Fox and Friends’ interview.

‘We’ll be fighting hard,’ Trump told Fox News’ Brooke Singman in an interview soon after he was found guilty of all 34 felony counts in his case, the first in which a former or current president stood trial.

Trump emphasized that he was excited to get back on the campaign trail. 

On Friday, as he addressed reporters from the atrium of his Trump Tower in New York City, where he launched his first White House bid nine years ago, the former president vowed that ‘we’re going to fight.’.

For six weeks, Trump had been confined to the courtroom in Lower Manhattan, which prevented him from campaigning across the country other than on weekends and Wednesdays, when there was no trial.

But Trump’s campaign touted that even during the duration of the trial, the candidate was able to generate ‘billions of dollars’ in media coverage as well as host rallies and fundraisers.

The former president’s tenure in court also didn’t seem to put a dent in the slight edge he enjoys in the polls over President Biden in the key battleground states that will likely decide the outcome of their rematch.

And the former president’s top pollsters put out a memo on the eve of the verdict arguing that a conviction would not have any electoral consequences.

‘We are already back to the mission,’ the Trump campaign told Fox News Digital on Thursday evening. ‘President Trump won’t let this sham stop the movement of this campaign to save the nation.’

Longtime Republican strategist David Carney, a veteran of multiple GOP presidential campaigns who is now steering a pro-Trump super PAC, told Fox News that ‘the show trial is over and Trump is unleashed to campaign at will again. With the miscarriage of justice out in the open, he will have the wind to his back.’

Trump enjoyed an initial burst of fundraising courtesy of his guilty verdicts.

The former president’s campaign announced on Friday morning that it had hauled in $34.8 million in fundraising from 6pm ET to midnight on Thursday, immediately after the verdict went viral.

On Friday evening, the campaign updated their fundraising total – nearly $53 million over 24 hours.

The campaign highlighted in a release that they raked in ‘a record shattering small dollar fundraising haul and said it was ‘nearly double the biggest day ever recorded for the Trump campaign on the WinRed platform.’ They emphasized that the guilty verdicts ‘have awakened the MAGA movement like never before.’

Trump will continue his fundraising blitz with a swing at the end of next week in California.

The former president heads to the blue bastion of San Francisco on June 6 for a fundraising dinner hosted by tech investors David Sacks and Chamath Palihapitiya, two of the heaviest hitters in Silicon Valley and co-hosts of the hot ‘All-In’ podcast.

Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, a Trump ally and potential 2024 running mate who spent time a few years back in San Francisco working for hedge funds in the tech sector, was instrumental in putting the top dollar fundraising together.

Trump heads south to Beverly Hills for a June 7 fundraiser and a June 8 finance event in Newport Beach in Orange County.

The trip doesn’t mean the Trump campaign thinks overwhelmingly blue California may be in play. 

Instead, Trump’s swing and two fundraisers in the Bay Area on June 5 headlined by Vice President Kamala Harris are the latest proof that the Golden State remains a crucial ATM for campaign cash.

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A handful of winners and losers have emerged following the unprecedented trial of former President Trump that found him guilty on all counts. 

Trump was found guilty on all counts Thursday after the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office charged him with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. 

Trump pleaded not guilty and has maintained his innocence. 

Here are some of the winners and losers following the verdict who were involved in or surrounded the case after six weeks of court proceedings. 

WINNER: DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE 

Prosecutors in District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office finished the Trump trial victorious with the jury finding Trump guilty. 

‘I did my job. Our job is to follow the facts and the law without fear or favor. And that’s exactly what we did here. And what I feel is gratitude to work alongside phenomenal public servants who do that each and every day in matters that you all write about. … I did my job. We did our job. Many voices out there. The only voice that matters is the voice of the jury. And the jury has spoken,’ Bragg said Thursday evening. 

‘The 12 everyday jurors vowed to make a decision based on the evidence and the law, and the evidence and the law alone. Their deliberations led them to a unanimous conclusion beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant, Donald J. Trump, is guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree to conceal a scheme to corrupt the 2016 election,’ Bragg continued in the press conference, adding that such white collar crimes are at the ‘core to what we do at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.’ 

The office, however, did face widespread condemnation from conservatives who argued the case should never have been brought in the first case, especially amid the 2024 presidential election when Trump is leading in many polls. 

WINNER: DONALD TRUMP 

Though Trump was found guilty on all counts, his base has apparently not been swayed by the trial. Google searches for ‘Donald Trump donation site’ spiked when the verdict was announced, while campaign donation site WinRed experienced an outage. The campaign is anticipated to receive a windfall following the verdict Trump slammed as ‘disgraceful.’ 

‘Very disappointed, I wanted him to be acquitted,’ a male Trump supporter told Fox News Digital outside the courtroom.

‘Just very sad. I wish this case had not been brought.’

Additionally, a recent New York Times poll, which was released amid the trial, found Trump is leading Biden in a majority of key battleground states, including, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Arizona.

WINNER: DEMOCRATS 

The Democratic Party and its lawmakers took a victory lap following Trump’s guilty verdict, including President Biden’s re-election campaign touting: ‘In New York today, we saw that no one is above the law.’

‘Donald Trump has always mistakenly believed he would never face consequences for breaking the law for his own personal gain. But today’s verdict does not change the fact that the American people face a simple reality. There is still only one way to keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office: at the ballot box. Convicted felon or not, Trump will be the Republican nominee for president,’ Biden campaign spokesperson Michael Tyler said in a post-verdict statement.

Other Democrats who frequently tussle with Trump and Republicans, such as Democratic California Rep. Adam Schiff who said that ‘despite his efforts to distract, delay, and deny – justice arrived for Donald Trump all the same.’

‘It matters that the Republican nominee for president is a convicted criminal,’ Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn. posted. 

‘Boom,’ Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., said in a brief post to X.

LOSER: LEGAL SYSTEM

‘Lawfare’ became a top word punted around by legal experts amid the case, with Trump himself arguing that the Biden administration promoted the case in a bid to hurt his chances of reclaiming the White House come November. 

‘Bragg’s scheme was to manipulate the legal system by bringing specious criminal charges to damage or delegitimize Trump’s candidacy for president.  It is classic ‘lawfare’ —weaponizing statutes not because the law has been broken but because the accused poses a political threat,’ Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett wrote in an opinion piece published by Fox Digital this week. 

Jarrett’s comments echo what many other legal experts have said throughout the trial: lawfare is at play, and the case has thus damaged the legal system overall. 

‘We see a legal system that is really disassembling, that is devolving,’ Turley said on Fox News when addressing the ‘selective prosecution’ of Trump. 

‘One of the things that is also in jeopardy right now is our judicial branch, and it’s our system of government itself. And I don’t think we can say often enough here, how much that has been abused under this administration with local prosecutors, state prosecutors, and at the federal level, who are using lawfare,’ Speaker of the House Mike Johnson said in a press conference outside of the Manhattan courtroom earlier this month. 

New York Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik also filed an ethics complaint against presiding Judge Juan Merchan for an alleged conflict of interest related to his daughter’s role representing Democrat politicians and political action committees. And sent another letter to the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct and the Office of the Inspector General of the New York State Unified Court System, warning of ‘potential misconduct’ regarding Merchan’s repeated assignments to cases involving Trump or his allies. 

‘One cannot help but suspect that the ‘random selection’ at work in the assignment of Acting Justice Merchan, a Democrat Party donor, to these cases involving prominent Republicans, is in fact not random at all,’ Stefanik wrote in the letter.

LOSER: DONALD TRUMP

Trump’s guilty verdict could land the 45th president behind bars, or he could even be sentenced to home confinement. Trump could still run for the White House from behind bars, as the Constitution does not place restrictions on presidential candidates based on criminal record. It stipulates that those pursuing the White House be natural-born citizens who are at least 35 years old. 

The 45th president will be sentenced on July 11, which is just four days before the Republican National Convention kicks off in Milwaukee that month. Trump vowed Thursday to ‘fight till the end’ after the ‘rigged, disgraceful trial.’

‘This was a rigged, disgraceful trial. The real verdict is going to be Nov. 5 by the people,’ Trump said outside the court Thursday. 

‘This was a rigged decision right from day one. With a conflicted judge who should have never been allowed to try this case. Never. And we will fight for our Constitution. This is long from over.’ 

LOSER: ROBERT DE NIRO 

Actor Robert De Niro faced backlash at the tail end of the trial when he headlined a Biden-Harris campaign event in Manhattan, where he claimed in public remarks that Trump could ‘destroy the world.’

‘Donald Trump wants to destroy not only the city, but the country. And eventually he could destroy the world,’ De Niro said at the press conference this week. President Biden nor Vice President Kamala Harris were present during the campaign event. 

Following his remarks, De Niro was shouted down by supporters as a ‘washed-up actor,’ ‘trash,’ and accused of being a ‘paid actor for the DNC.’ 

‘You’re a f–king idiot,’ De Niro shouted at one of the pro-Trump protesters. 

The event was subsequently slammed on social media by critics as a ‘terrible look for Democrats,’ and compared to satirical political comedy show ‘Veep.’ 

‘​​This was so over-the-top as to simply be useless. And what a stupid mistake on the part of the Biden campaign. More reason why Democratic leaders are probably going to be concerned that he’s the likely nominee of their party,’ Fox News contributor Karl Rove previously said of De Niro’s comments. 

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Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. had some harsh words for President Biden and the Democratic Party following former President Trump being found guilty in his New York City criminal trial on Thursday.

Kennedy, a thorn in the side of Democrats who are worried he might derail Biden’s chances at winning re-election, wrote in a post on X that the verdict would ultimately ‘backfire’ and accused his former party of attempting to destroy democracy.

‘The Democratic Party’s strategy is to beat President Trump in the courtroom rather than the ballot box. This will backfire in November. Even worse, it is profoundly undemocratic,’ Kennedy wrote. 

‘America deserves a President who can win at the ballot box without compromising our government’s separation of powers or weaponizing the courts. You can’t save democracy by destroying it first,’ he wrote. ‘The Democrats are afraid they will lose in the voting booth, so instead they go after President Trump in the courtroom.’ 

Kennedy said the difference between his campaign and efforts by Democrats to take down Trump through the judicial system was that he was challenging the latter on his record as president, including on the coronavirus pandemic, his environmental record and his ‘support for the war machine.’

‘These are the issues that shape American lives. I’ll challenge him on these things, but the Democrats won’t. You know why? Because they pursue the very same policies.’

Shortly after the verdict against Trump was handed down, Kennedy responded to an interview question live on X about a ‘convicted felon’ running for office, and whether that was something he supported. He responded that the only constitutional requirements to be president were the minimum age requirement, being a citizen and being born in the U.S.

‘Technically, if you were in prison, convicted of murder or some other crime, you could still hold the office of President of the United States,’ he added.

Trump was found guilty on all counts in his historic and unprecedented criminal trial, making him the first former president of the United States to be convicted of a crime. 

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged Trump with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree.

Trump pleaded not guilty to all counts.

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Donald Trump is cashing in on his convictions in the first trial of a former or current president in the nation’s history.

The former president’s campaign announced on Friday morning that it had hauled in $34.8 million in fundraising from 6 p.m. ET to midnight on Thursday, immediately after Trump was found guilty of all 34 felony counts in his criminal trial in New York City.

The campaign highlighted in a release that they raked in ‘a record shattering small dollar fundraising haul’ as Trump battles President Biden in a 2024 election rematch.

They said the haul was ‘nearly double the biggest day ever recorded for the Trump campaign on the WinRed platform’ and emphasized that the guilty verdicts ‘have awakened the MAGA movement like never before.’

‘From just minutes after the sham trial verdict was announced, our digital fundraising system was overwhelmed with support, and despite temporary delays online because of the amount of traffic, President Trump raised $34.8 million dollars from small dollar donors,’ Trump campaign senior advisers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles wrote in a statement.

They spotlighted that ‘not only was the amount historic, but 29.7% of yesterday’s donors were brand-new donors to the WinRed platform.’

And pointing to the autumn election, LaCivita and Wiles reiterated that ‘President Trump is fighting to save our nation and November 5th is the day Americans will deliver the real verdict.’

Trump earned applause from supporters as he commented Friday morning on what he described as ‘record’ fundraising. 

Minutes after the verdict was read in the first trial of a former or current president in the nation’s history, Trump’s team put out a fundraising appeal to supporters.

‘Friend: Is this the end of America?,’ Trump asked in the email. ‘I was just convicted in a RIGGED political Witch Hunt trial.’

‘My end-of-month fundraising deadline is just DAYS AWAY!’ Trump emphasized in the email, which included a photo of the former president labeling him a ‘political prisoner.’

WinRed, the GOP online fundraising platform used by Trump’s campaign, among others, briefly shut down within an hour of the verdict.

LaCivita advised donors encountering a WinRed error message to sign up for Trump’s text messaging list or log back onto the site and try again. 

‘If you are one of the millions of American Patriots wanting to donate to Donald Trump’s campaign and you get an error message from @WINRED …don’t give up! Log back on and try again ! or Text TRUMP to 88022,’ LaCivita wrote in a tweet.

Trump’s campaign website also directed donors to Anedot, another fundraising platform used by various GOP campaigns.

Trump’s team also fired off a warning shot to the campaigns of down-ballot Republicans not to try and raise money directly off of the former president’s conviction to prevent the ‘siphoning’ of donations headed to Trump’s coffers.

Meanwhile, the former president’s top pollsters put out a memo on the eve of the verdict arguing that a conviction would not have any electoral consequences.

Biden’s re-election campaign also quickly sent out fundraising appeals following the verdict.

‘Despite a jury finding Donald Trump guilty today, there is still only one way to keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office: At the ballot box,’ the Biden campaign wrote in a fundraising text to supporters. 

And it urged that ‘if you have been waiting for the perfect time to make your first donation to Joe Biden’s reelection campaign, we’re here to tell you today is the day.’

Trump has been aiming to close his fundraising gap with Biden. In April, his campaign and the Republican National Committee for the first time outraised the Biden campaign and the Democratic National Committee.

While Trump has stepped up his fundraising, the Biden campaign still enjoyed an $84 million to $49 million cash-on-hand advantage at the end of April.

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Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., received backlash on social media in response to her reaction to the criminal conviction of former President Trump in a post where she mocked the former president.

‘Trump shut your mouth!’ Waters posted on X following Trump’s conviction. 

‘You talk about saving the Constitution? You’re the one who has disrespected the Constitution and you have supporters who believe we should get rid of the Constitution! Just shut your mouth, you’re convicted on all counts!’

The post, which ignited an immediate push back from conservatives on social media, received over 1 million views on X.

‘Woman who implored supporters to physically get up in the faces of any Trump administration official has thoughts to share…,’ Fox News contributor Joe Concha posted on X.

‘Literally no one who supports Trump nor Trump wants to get rid of the Constitution,’ former U.S. Attorney and Executive Director of Right on Crime Brett Tolman posted on X.

‘These people are mentally ill,’ radio host Mike Sperrazza posted on X. ‘TDS is real.’

‘Such ugliness and I bet it goes all the way to the bone,’ author Juanita Broaddrick posted on X. 

‘This woman is a corrupt criminal who has laundered over a million dollars in campaign cash to her daughter,’ Red State writer Bonchie posted on X.

Fox News Digital reached out to Waters’ office for comment but did not receive a response.

Waters was widely criticized for what many labeled a call to violence in 2018 when she encouraged her supporters, ‘If you see anybody from that Cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd and you push back on them and you tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere.’

Waters denied that she had promoted violence.

Trump was found guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree on Thursday. Each count carries a maximum prison sentence of four years. In total, Trump faces a maximum sentence of 136 years. 

Moments after the verdict was delivered by the jury, the former president spoke to reporters in the hallway outside the courtroom. 

‘This was a disgrace. This was a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who was corrupt, as a rigged trial and disgrace. It wouldn’t give us a venue change,’ Trump said. ‘We were at 5% or 6% in this district, in this area. This was a rigged, disgraceful trial.’ 

Trump said ‘the real verdict is going to be Nov. 5 by the people.’ 

Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman contributed to this report.

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Former Vice President Mike Pence reacted on Friday to the criminal conviction of former President Donald Trump in a New York City courtroom and said a ‘terrible message’ has been sent.

‘The conviction of former President Trump on politically motivated charges is an outrage and disservice to the nation,’ Pence told Fox News Digital. 

‘No one is above the law, but our courts must not become a tool to be used against political opponents,’ Pence continued. ‘To millions of Americans, this was nothing more than a political prosecution driven by a Manhattan DA who ran for office on a pledge to indict the former president and this conviction undermines confidence in our system of justice.’ 

‘This conviction also sends a terrible message to the wider world about the American justice system and only further divides us at a time when the American people are struggling under the failed policies of the Biden administration at home and abroad,’ he added.

Pence continued, ‘Having been convicted in a court of law, the former president has every right to appeal this conviction and I trust it will be overturned on appeal in a manner that will restore public confidence in our system of justice and equal treatment under the law.’

Trump was found guilty on Thursday on all counts in his historic and unprecedented criminal trial, making him the first former president of the United States to be convicted of a crime. 

Moments after the verdict was delivered by the jury, the former president spoke to reporters in the hallway outside the courtroom. 

‘This was a disgrace. This was a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who was corrupt, as a rigged trial and disgrace. It wouldn’t give us a venue change,’ Trump said. ‘We were at 5% or 6% in this district, in this area. This was a rigged, disgraceful trial.’ 

Trump said ‘the real verdict is going to be Nov. 5 by the people.’ 

Pence joined a long list of Republicans who are defending Trump against the conviction and has previously voiced opposition to the indictment against Trump.

‘I think the unprecedented indictment of a former president of the United States on a campaign finance issue is an outrage,’ Pence told CNN in March 2023. ‘And it appears to millions of Americans to be nothing more than a political prosecution.’

Pence, whose relationship soured with Trump after the Jan. 6 riots, wherein the president faulted him for refusing to send disputed electoral slates back to state legislatures in his then-role as president of the Senate, said in March he is not endorsing the former president.

‘It should come as no surprise that I will not be endorsing Donald Trump this year,’ Pence told Fox News at the time.

‘I’m incredibly proud of the record of our administration. It was a conservative record that made America more prosperous, more secure and saw conservatives appointed to our courts in a more peaceful world.’

Fox News Digital’s Charles Creitz and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.

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Former President Donald Trump’s Republican presidential primary opponents offered a variety of reactions to the guilty verdict in his New York City trial, ranging from blasting Democrats for pursuing the charges against him to complete silence.

The jury found Trump guilty Thursday on all 34 counts of falsifying business records related to the hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in the lead up to the 2016 presidential election.

South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott posted a video of himself on X blasting what he called a ‘hoax,’ a ‘sham’ and evidence of an ‘obsolete injustice justice system.’

‘DA Bragg and the judge should be ashamed of themselves. This isn’t just ridiculous, this actually erodes the confidence that Americans have in the justice system. Unbelievable,’ Scott said.

‘But good news is coming. DA Bragg, hear me clearly. You cannot silence the American people. You cannot stop us from voting for change. Joe Biden’s injustice, Joe Biden’s two-tier injustice system, weaponizing the justice system of the United States of America against a political opponent, un-American. Joe Biden, you’re fired. We the people stand with Donald Trump.’

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum wrote, ‘This verdict is a travesty of justice. The judge was a Biden donor. The prosecutors were Biden supporters. This Lawfare should scare every American. The American people will have their say in November,’ while entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy predicted the trial’s outcome would ultimately backfire, referencing District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s promise to ‘nail Trump,’ and Judge Juan Merchan’s daughter being a ‘Democratic operative.’

Former Vice President Mike Pence told Fox News Digital Trump’s conviction was ‘an outrage and disservice to the nation.’

‘No one is above the law, but our courts must not become a tool to be used against political opponents. To millions of Americans, this was nothing more than a political prosecution driven by a Manhattan DA who ran for office on a pledge to indict the former president and this conviction undermines confidence in our system of justice,’ he said. 

‘This conviction also sends a terrible message to the wider world about the American justice system and only further divides us at a time when the American people are struggling under the failed policies of the Biden administration at home and abroad. Having been convicted in a court of law, the former president has every right to appeal this conviction and I trust it will be overturned on appeal in a manner that will restore public confidence in our system of justice and equal treatment under the law.’

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wrote, ‘Today’s verdict represents the culmination of a legal process that has been bent to the political will of the actors involved: a leftist prosecutor, a partisan judge and a jury reflective of one of the most liberal enclaves in America — all in an effort to ‘get’ Donald Trump.’ 

‘That this case — involving alleged misdemeanor business records violations from nearly a decade ago — was even brought is a testament to the political debasement of the justice system in places like New York City,’ he wrote. ‘This is especially true considering this same district attorney routinely excuses criminal conduct in a way that has endangered law-abiding citizens in his jurisdiction.

‘If the defendant were not Donald Trump, this case would never have been brought, the judge would have never issued similar rulings, and the jury would have never returned a guilty verdict. In America, the rule of law should be applied in a dispassionate, even-handed manner, not become captive to the political agenda of some kangaroo court.’

Conservative commentator Larry Elder called the verdict an ‘outrage’ and declared that ‘a monster has been unleashed.’

‘If Democrats don’t think Republican AGs and DAs can’t unleash lawfare on Democrat politicians, think again!!!’ he added.

Businessman Perry Johnson wrote, ‘Today marks a troubling chapter in American history. This was always a political maneuver, not a legal one. The Biden Administration’s weaponization of the justice system is evident, showing that Democrats will go to any lengths to silence and eliminate political rivals.’ 

‘The American people recognize this as lawfare, and they understand its peril. President Trump will rightly appeal this unjust verdict — and he WILL WIN!’ he added.

Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a staunch Trump critic, took a different, not-so-surprising approach, calling on the verdict to be respected.

‘It is not easy to see a former President and the presumptive GOP nominee convicted of felony crimes; but the jury verdict should be respected. An appeal is in order but let’s not diminish the significance of this verdict,’ he wrote.

Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez and former Texas Rep. Will Hurd have so far remained silent since the verdict was handed down.

Representatives of Haley did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. A spokesperson for Christie declined to comment.

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