"I'm A Political Prisoner": Trump In Fundraising Appeal Amid Hush Money Trial

Donald Trump's campaign website began redirecting visitors to a fundraising page Thursday declaring he was a "political prisoner" moments after he was convicted in his New York hush money trial.

"I was just convicted in a RIGGED political Witch Hunt trial: I DID NOTHING WRONG! They've raided my home, arrested me, took my mugshot, AND NOW THEY'VE JUST CONVICTED ME!" the message read.

The page crashed within minutes of launching, however, as a surge of Trump supporters overwhelmed WinRed, the official Republican Party donation platform.

The site was down for around an hour, reverting to a message telling visitors that "something went wrong" and that engineers had been notified.

"The American people see through Crooked Joe Biden's rigged show trial. So many Americans were moved to donate to President Trump's campaign that the WinRed pages went down," the Trump campaign posted on X.

A New York jury convicted Trump of 34 counts of false accounting in his hush money case in a development that could have major repercussions in his bid to unseat Biden.

The verdict makes Trump the first criminally convicted former US president but does not prevent him from campaigning for another term. He will be sentenced July 11.

Biden, who has been reluctant to discuss the New York case, took advantage of Trump's legal woes to do some fundraising of his own.

"There's only one way to keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office: At the ballot box," his campaign posted on X. "Donate to our campaign today."

Trump regularly characterizes his legal woes as a battle against the evil forces of the "deep state" and Biden's White House, casting himself as a martyr willing to sacrifice his liberty to stand up for his supporters.

In April he compared himself to South African anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela, sparking quick and virulent criticism from Biden's campaign team as he welcomed the prospect of going to jail for violating a gag order in the New York trial.

"If this Partisan Hack wants to put me in the 'clink' for speaking the open and obvious TRUTH, I will gladly become a Modern Day Nelson Mandela - It will be my GREAT HONOR," Trump posted on his social media platform.

Trump had  previously compared himself to Mandela at a 2023 rally, and has also likened himself to Jesus Christ.

"Imagine being so self-centered that you compare yourself to Jesus Christ and Nelson Mandela all within the span of little more than a week: that's Donald Trump for you," Team Biden said in a statement.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)