Former President Donald Trump found guilty in Hush Money trial

joining us now is San Jose State Professor Melinda Jackson thank you so much for being with us we're hearing a lot of reaction a lot of shock that these verdicts came down the way that they did what was your reaction yes well I was also very surprised that we got a verdict so quickly um and I think the fact that it was guilty on all 34 counts and that it came out within two days really speaks to uh the strength of of the case against Trump um that this jury you know is really sending a strong message here that um there was no doubt in their minds um and obviously uh the the political implications of this remain to be seen but um despite all of Trump's claims that this was unfair and he's being politically targeted um it is never helpful for someone to be campaigning as a convicted felon um there's there's really no upside to that um and I think it will make a difference in the minds of some potential voters who are now going to look at this race differently in light of this verdict well as a surprise to No One the former president came out saying that this was rigged and a disgrace this whole trial was rigged and a disgrace I'm curious that reaction and that sort of Fury that he's most likely going to take with him through the rest of the campaign do you think that is going to help him in this race I don't think so um and we've heard it before you know he has been making those claims for um for the last four years really um and so the fact that his message may be um mostly focused on his own perceived um unfair treatment and victimhood um you know that that is a story that uh that we've all heard before and um those who support him um I don't think it's going to convince them to support him anymore more what he needs to be doing thinking ahead to the general election in November is reaching out to the people who are on the fence um who are not his DieHard supporters and trying to win their votes and I don't know that focusing um you know again on his perceived mistreatment is going to be a very effective campaign strategy to reach out to those undecided voters at this point you mentioned you were surprised how quickly the jury came back with their verdict I'm curious with the evidence presented in Court why you think that it it took as short or as long as it did well it was a complex case in terms of you know the the financial details and um you know just sorting through all of the um the the various legal um you know aspects of it um and uh you know you just never know with with a jury trial you know that is why it is the the you know the backbone of our legal system because it really does bring in um ordinary uh ordinary Americans to sit and listen to the evidence and to um sift it all through and discuss and um particularly again with with the number of counts and the the high-profile nature of this case you know um it would not have surprised me if the jury took a little bit longer to really you know thoroughly um uh reexamine everything um the fact that it was so quick and that they they asked for clarification on a few things but they had a unanimous decision within two days means that um it sounds like there wasn't a lot of uh disagreement among the jury and that um the prosecution um proved its case effectively sentencing will be on July 11th which is just a few days away from the Republican National Convention I'm curious what impact do you think that sentencing day will have on the convention yeah well it's it's hard to say I mean of this is so unprecedented um and uh you know again it can't be good right we don't know what the sentencing will hold we expect that there are going to be appeals as well um so you know the next phases of this are likely to to take months and and not be resolved before the election in November but um again it is not a good news story to be sentenced for a criminal conviction you know uh at the same time that you are running for any public office um let alone you know the president of the United States so I I do think that this will have um a chilling effect on at least some people who may have been considering voting for Trump and will not be as likely to do that now all right Professor Melinda Jackson thank you so much for being here you're welcome well we will have continuing coverage of the Trump guilty verdict in the hush money trial Sonoma State political science Professor David mccuan joins us live for his Insight we'll be right [Music] back we are continuing to follow this breaking news former president Donald Trump found guilty on all counts and the hush money trial in New York making him the first former president to ever be convicted of crimes join me live now is Sona State political science Professor David mchan Professor mchan thank you so much for being with us it's a pleasure to be with you thank you for having me so give us some perspective on the magnitude of this moment this is the first former president to be ever convicted of a crime how huge is this in history it's a big deal I mean look this is a tectonic shift in our politics it was 50 years ago this August August 20th that Rich Nixon resigned the presidency of the United States and in some ways we've come full circle from that but this is dramatically different this isn't 1968 or 1974 it's more like 1860 uh and the stakes are huge what's going on in the country is more than divisive and more more than polarized it's shaking faith in institutions so recognition of the rule of law uh is hugely important and and that's one thing we element that is reliable because legal institutions are strong so this has legal aspects the political ramifications of this case of today uh of what happens in the future with subsequent charges or subsequent developments uh is hugely political that reverberates past uh November 5th and this has huge constitutional implications so these three things legal political and constitutional are all that's at stake after today's verdict and what's going on and Donald Trump is front and center and all of that that's just the way he'd actually like to have it I want to just clarify we keep calling us the hush money trial but to be clear to be clear he was found guilty of falsifying business records to cover up the payoff to a porn star 34 counts were you surprised that he came back guilty on all 34 counts this quickly yeah it's both fast and the sense that they agreed on all of the elements because some of them are related to some of the charges are related to his revocable trust some are related to uh other entities and so it is a complex set of of business practices and a complex set uh that was laid out and so coming uh coming everybody coming together to understand the mindset uh and doing so so quickly reading back the testimony for example of pecker uh and then of and then of Michael Cohen signaled yesterday uh that things were headed in this direction but also the calendar is hugely important here because you know we have June 27th coming up uh we have the the Republican uh convention just before uh just after sentencing occurs as you mentioned uh we have another debate the election itself is only 158 away so uh that means Donald Trump uh is going to go negative way he's going to have to do this uh and he's going to have to attack while those legal things are going on and that means everyone's to kind of strap in and get ready right I mean I'm curious if this is going to really change the campaign moving forward I mean how is Biden going to react to this how should he react yeah I mean you you saw elements of this uh with Joe Biden and KLA Harris talking African-American voters who are so critical uh for what happened I mean uh 94% of African American women voted for Joe Biden uh in 2020 they need a huge turnout of African-American voters overall but they've also seen uh some changes and leakage with uh lat latinx voters Latinos and Latinas not just in Florida but across the country and they are hugely important and so the focus for the Biden Administration really needs to be on winning three states those states are Pennsylvania Michigan and Wisconsin uh they can weather losses in Georgia or Arizona or Nevada as a result but the elements of those two groups for example African-Americans and uh Latinos and Latinos are huge for the Biden Coalition they have to reassemble that while we have this up people for what's going on with young people Donald Trump tapped out at about 46 or 47% and we know that there's an element of the GOP habitual voter that will not vote for a convicted felon so what do they do they won't vote for Joe Biden do they vote for someone like RFK or a third party or do they sit out and that's an important element because 93 million people who were eligible to vote in 2016 did not cast a ballot and if you're Donald Trump you want further people staying home so you go negative early and often and this is the start of that big momentum to do that with the voting public I just want to repeat once again sentencing is on July 11th just a few days away from the Republican National Convention Professor David mchan thank you so much thank you it's good to see you hi thanks so much for watching to view more content like this we've selected some videos that we think you'll enjoy and don't forget to like or click that button here on the bottom left of your screen to subscribe

Channel: KPIX | CBS NEWS BAY AREA

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Length: 10min 1sec (601 seconds)

Published: Fri May 31 2024