Donald Trump rambles for extraordinary 39 minutes as viewers plead 'Oh my word'

Donald Trump delivered a nearly 40-minute-long statement on May 31, less than 24 hours after a jury found him guilty of felony charges.

The former president of the United States stepped out in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York City to comment on the verdict on the hush-money trial delivered on May 30, which found him guilty of all 34 charges.

During the long-winded speech, Mr Trump attacked Judge Juan Merchan who oversaw the trial, US President Joe Biden and Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg, among others.

As he made claims about the trial mixed with allegations about the state of his country, many social media users went online to comment on his words and the lengthy speech.

One X user wrote: "Watching Donald Trump speech. Oh my word ramblings of a madman."

Another one said: "How long does Trump have to talk before he breaks the record?"

Not everybody, however, complained about the length of the speech, with many going online to express their support for the politician. One wrote on X: "Boy this country right now has some major problems and issues and they are doing everything to destroy President Trump!!"

Commentators noted Mr Trump had printed remarks at hand but seemingly did not read them closely.

NYMag correspondent Olivia Nuzzi wrote on X: "Trump entered the atrium of Trump Tower from a hallway, walking right past the famous gilded escalator from which he launched his 2016 campaign. He’s reading from printed remarks, but he is mostly turned away from the script to direct his gaze at the cameras."

In a second social media post, she added: "Trump is now just riffing on a variation of his standard MAGA rally speech. He stopped looking at his prepared remarks a long time ago."

CNN's Wolf Blitzer noted how Mr Trump aimed his anger at the trial's outcome at many, as he said: "He's railing against almost everything".

And the broadcaster's news anchor Erin Burnett added: "It's very disjointed."

During his speech, after which he did not take any question from the press, Mr Trump denied any wrongdoing despite the conviction and added: "This is a case where, if they can do this to me, they can do this to anyone."

The 45th US President also repeated the unsubstantiated claim his prosecution had been politically orchestrated by the Department of Justice and the Biden administration, and alleged the trial was "rigged".

However, Mr Biden has no authority on either Mr Bragg or his office and there is no evidence that the president's administration had anything to do with the case.

Mr Trump, the first former US president to have been found guilty on criminal charges, also used his long press conference to pledge he will "continue the fight" and will make "America great again".

The property tycoon, who is not barred by this verdict from running as a presidential candidate, added he is "supposed to go to jail for 187 years" - despite experts believing he is unlikely to receive jail time at all given he is a first-time, non-violent offender.

Turning his attention to the campaign trail, the former US president also made a series of allegations on the immigration levels and the state of the US economy and accused Mr Biden of planning to raise their taxes and bar people from having cars.

As his speech was coming to an end, Mr Trump thanked his supporters, claiming his campaign had raised $39 million (£30m) within hours following the verdict - against which he has confirmed he will appeal.