Jimmy Kimmel has mercilessly mocked Donald Trump after the 45th President was found guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records as part of a conspiracy to corruptly influence the 2016 presidential election.
On Thursday night (30 May), Kimmel opened his late night show Jimmy Kimmel Live! by announcing: “We have a verdict in the case of the people versus OJ... I mean DJ... Donald John Trump is guilty of 34 felony charges.”
He added: “After seven long weeks, the courtroom is empty and Donald Trump's diaper is full.”
The unanimous decision by the New York court marks the first-ever criminal conviction of an American president, who will now campaign once again for the White House as a convicted felon and fraud.
“You do have to hand it to him,” joked Kimmel. “No president has ever been convicted more than Donald Trump. How long before he starts bragging about this?”
As part of his monologue, Kimmel donned a judge’s robe to act out the delivery of the verdict, with sidekick Guillermo Rodriguez playing the jury’s foreman. He then played footage of Trump raging outside the courtoom that: “This was a rigged, disgraceful trial.”
Trump continued: “The real verdict is going to be November 5 by the people, and they know what happened here,” referencing the 2024 presidential election.
“I’m a very innocent man,” he added. “We’ll fight till the end, and we’ll win.”
Kimmel then cut in, jabbing: “And if we don’t win, we’ll say we won anyway.”
The comedian repeatedly reiterated the total of 34 felony convictions, joking: “We should automatically make those jurors the new Supreme Court.”
He went on to highlight the fact that Trump was joined in the courtroom by his son Eric, and that Eric had later posted on social media: “May 30 2024 might be remembered as the day Donald J Trump won the 2024 presidential election.”
“Or,” suggested Kimmel, “it will be remembered as the day a jury in New York spanked your dad even harder than Stormy did with that Forbes magazine.”
Yesterday, ahead of the verdict, Kimmel had poked fun at Trump for likening himself to Mother Teresa.
The jury in Manhattan deliberated for nearly 12 hours before returning a unanimous verdict to New York Justice Juan Merchan. An emotionless Trump sat at the defense table as the foreperson read “guilty” for each of the 34 counts against him.
The former president – who refused to testify in his own defense – faces up to four years in jail and thousands of dollars in fines when he will be sentenced on July 11 at 10am ET.
