What happens now that Trump has been convicted in his hush money criminal case

with another first in American history Donald Trump now the first and only man who's held the presidency to face a felony conviction there you see the verdict sheet filled up by a New York jury of seven men and five women guilty on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records as part of an illegal scheme to corrupt the 2016 election that made him president this is the third time this year that citizen jurors have held Trump accountable in January an 83.3 million judgment for defaming egene Carroll in February a $450 million judgment for civil fraud in his business dealings juries ordinary people doing their Duty under enormous stress demonstrating Civic courage remarkably convicted felons can run for president so this year in this extraordinary time American voters will be the ultimate jurors we're going to cover all the Fallout of this unprecedented event we start with Aaron cki at the courthouse in Manhattan good morning Aon George good morning to you this was extraordinary trial and it is unlike any other in American history we are expecting to hear from former president Trump today here at Trump Tower after a guilty verdict that will now Echo throughout this year's presidential election this morning Donald Trump is a convicted felon a jury of 12 New Yorkers found the former president and presumptive Republican nominee guilty is charged of all 34 counts the historic verdict marks the first time a former president has been convicted of a crime Manhattan district attorney alv Bragg said he simply did his job and while this defendant may be unlike any other in American history we arrived at this trial and ultimately today at this verdict in the same manner as every other case that comes through the courtroom Doors by following the facts and the law and doing so without fear or favor after 5 weeks of gripping testimony from 22 Witnesses the jury convicted victed Trump of falsifying business records so voters wouldn't find out he paid hush money to adult film actress Stormy Daniels is a culmination of a lot of um a lot of the pressure that she's been under the last few years and the assault really in the social media realm upon her and you know just the fear of going through something like this and uh and then coming to court and testifying for two days uh there was a lot of emotion the payment to Daniels was meant to silence her claim of a sexual with Trump he denied the trist but prosecutors said he feared the story would sink his 2016 presidential campaign they called it the subversion of democracy the jury deliberated nearly 10 hours over 2 days and seemed prepared to go home before a dramatic turn in the courtroom judge Juan Maran Was preparing to dismiss the jury for the day then jurors signaled they had reached a verdict Trump who had been joking and laughing with defense attorney Todd blanch suddenly rigid stone-faced looking down as the jury read the verdict count by count it took 2 minutes Trump shut his eyes and shook his head and he lashed out as he left court it's a just a disgrace and we'll keep fighting we'll fight till the end and we'll win Trump and his allies cast doubt on his conviction harnessing Trump's political power and his grip on the Republican party to Rally supporters around calls for retaliation ahead of the election this fall the real verdict is going to be November 5th by the people outside Court the stunning conviction became a moment of Celebration and star witness Michael Cohen who the defense called the greatest liar of all time hailed what he called an important day for accountability and the rule of law Cohen saying the truth always matters Trump's lawyer said there will be an appeal as soon as we can appeal we will in the process in New York is there's a sentencing and and then and then and then we appeal from there the sentencing hearing is coming up on July 11th that's just days before the Republican National Convention George the former president faces up to 4 years in prison George Aon Cy thanks we are joined now by the star witness Michael Cohen Michael thanks for coming back good to see you you were here with us sitting in that chair in March 2023 you predicted this outcome so you're not surprised no I'm not in fact next month George is when you and I sat down for that historic change in my life that was July 1st of 2018 6 years ago when I turned around and I told you that my wife my daughter my son and my country have my first loyalty and this has been one heck of a journey in order to keep one heck of a journey how about that time in the courtroom what was the toughest moment for you I really didn't have a single moment that was tougher than the 21 hours that they had me on the stand whether it was on Direct or on cross-examination the whole thing was very tough it's emotionally draining because you have to be perfect I knew that any mistake that I made would be just um it would it would become the topic of conversation that would just explode and so I really just needed to stay focused and it wasn't easy with Todd banch he's a meanderer as it goes to um questioning he called you the greatest liar of all time you've been convicted for lying are you done lying yeah you know I want people to also remember I take responsibility for what I did but remember that the LIE we have to remember what it was it was the number of times that I claimed to have spoken to Donald about the fail Trump towa Moscow project I stated three versus 10 I shouldn't have done it but I did it in coordination and at the direction of Donald J seculo Ivanka Jared Abol taob there was a whole group of people involved in the creation of that document I don't I don't ignore my responsibility I accepted it and in part went to prison for it but I don't want people to think you know just because you lied about that I didn't really think it was all that material but I took responsibility for it and you're done now absolutely done did you have any moments in the courtroom where you actually had some kind of contact communication with Donald Trump only once the rest of the time he had his eyes closed he was slump back not sure whether he was sleeping or just resting his eyes as he would say um but there was very limited interaction not to mention where you sit it's very difficult to see the defendant the way that the um the judge's um box versus the witness box uh to see the defendant who's more to the right I had a better view uh to the left of me of the jury than I did of Donald I'm just wondering what that was was like for you you spent years fighting for Donald Trump bullying people for Donald Trump even lying as you just said for Donald Trump in coordinating with his people do you wish you'd never met him I do I do this has been enormously difficult on my family more than anything um it's been hard on me but as hard as it is on me watching my family suffer as a direct result of my actions and the Mis loyalty that I gave to Donald it's something that haunts me every day so how did you feel when you heard that first guilty I let out a just a gasp of air I camp six years remember the first time that I met with the district attorney of New York's people I was a prisoner in Otisville I was in my greens and they came back two more times after that three times I met with DA for New York while I was at Otisville so this has been a long time coming for accountability as you know there a lot of Republican office holders out here including the Speaker of the House are saying this is a disgrace they are still backing Donald Trump what's your message to Republican politicians and voters who are still considering voting for Donald Trump for president I'm not sure how it makes any sense this is not just now a felon convict but it's also a man who has openly stated he wants to rewrite the constitution on day one he wants to be a dictator not my words his words he wants to he wants to destroy our tripartite system of government he wants to get rid of the Judiciary and the legislative branch and confer all power to the executive branch meaning himself turning himself into a king a monarch this country for 259 years has followed one simple principle democracy based on the Constitution he wants to rewrite it as if he could it's it's just terrible so how it is that he's still even in the running why anybody would want to vote for somebody who is anti-democratic makes no sense to me so the verdict is in start of a new chapter for you I have to figure it out I'm really not even sure where to go don't forget um it's another year before I can even reapply for my law license um my business I've lost you know Banks very difficult to work with they certainly don't make it easy for people coming out uh to reintegrate into society I'm a little bit more fortunate than the average but it's still difficult nonetheless thank you for coming in today great to see you again George Michael all right thank you George let's go now to chief White House correspondent Mary Bruce and Mary the president has not commented on the verdict yeah Michael he has not the president himself has not waited on this but his campaign says this shows that no one is above the law they are though trying to walk a fine line obviously they want to take advantage of this politically but the Biden campaign has also been careful not to celebrate this too much they don't want to feed into Trump's baseless narrative that this was all somehow orchestrated by the president instead the Biden campaign is hammering the point that while Donald Trump may be a convicted felon he can still win in November the campaign in a somber somewhat muted statement saying today's verdict does not change the fact that there is still only one way to keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office saying it is at The Ballot Box adding convicted felon or not Trump will be the Republican nominee for president pres now don't expect the Biden campaign to completely upend its messaging because of this I'm told they're going to continue to focus on what is at stake in this election highlighting abortion rights and the threat to democracy the big question now is just how much will President Biden and his campaign lean in to Trump's conviction Biden has stayed largely silent on this trial he is expected to comment on the verdict at some point Michael he is back at the White House this morning we'll see if he takes our questions and we know you'll be covering it for us Mary Bruce thank you so much for that and one of the big questions what will the verdict mean to voters our political director Rick Klein joins us now good morning Rick yeah good morning Michael this was a long trial with a lot of embarrassing developments for Donald Trump but if anything Donald Trump is stronger now than he was at the start of the trial you see this very narrow lead that's been pretty persistent Donald Trump leading by about two points uh as of now but that said there are Trump voters who have said that a verdict in this matter would would make a big difference this was from our poll from a couple of weeks ago we saw 80% of Trump's supporters say they would you to support him no matter what but that's another 20% total that would either reconsider or withdraw their support based on a conviction that's one in five Trump voters which is an enormous number in an election that is expected to be as close as this one and here's just one example of how that plays out in practice this is a poll from just a couple of weeks ago like many other polls a narrow Trump lead if you just asked the straight head-to-head 44 to 40 but if you you you add that condition you ask people what if he's convicted you see Trump support dropping by Five Points by Biden's growing by three points a much different race suddenly if you talk about a conviction the bottom line is we are on Uncharted Territory there is really no precedent for this and we've talked to some voters undecided voters who say they're they're more firmly in Biden's Camp even some who say this is pushing them toward Trump but we're not going to know and the bottom line is in in an election this close everything can matter this clearly could be a huge development George okay Rick thanksor Chief legal anst Dan abs and Rachel Scott is covering the Trump campaign Dan let me begin with you walk us through what kind of sentence Donald Trump will be facing anything from no time to up to four years we hear the term 34 counts yes it's true but effectively for sentencing that's one count it would all be served uh concurrently at the same time there's no way this would be happening consecutively the the real question's going to be even if there is no jail time which most people expect no jail time first time offender correct low-level felony lowest level in New York state but the question becomes okay what about the possibility of Home confinement what about the possibility of community service what about the possibility of Probation and question two is when would it be served and it would likely happen after all the appeals one other question on that in Florida convicted felons cannot vote until after they serve their sentence but there's a quirk in the New York law that will allow Donald Trump to vote in this right because Florida law defers to the place where the conviction occurred the conviction occurred in New York so New York law applies and in New York the only way you can't vote is if you are a felon currently serving time in prison so it won't prevent him from voting and Rachel remarkably and yet predictably Republican politicians falling in line just to support a convicted felon Donald Trump has a very tight grip on the Republican party and the indictments didn't really matter for most of the Republican Party neither does this conviction on all counts in this case the speaker of the house is second in line to the presidency who showed up outside of that Manhattan Courthouse to show a support for the former president called this a shameful Day saying this was a political exercise not a legal one even some of Trump's toughest critics in the past Florida Governor Ronda santis his former rival who once said the indictment sucked out the oxygen out of the Republican primary he blasted this verdict as did Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell who we know has a very icy relationship with Donald Trump in a lot of ways George the Republican party is now closer to the former president even after this guilty ver what do we know about what Trump is going to do next you know look the reality is is that the playbook for Trump Remains the Same it doesn't really matter matter what exactly the verdict was going to be the the Trump campaign was going to fundraise off of this he was going to use it as a ring cry but for a lot of Trump's advisors this was something that was Unthinkable a year ago the idea that this case would even be brought to Daylight the idea that not alone he'd be convicted on all 34 counts Donald Trump is now faced with something we have never seen before in American history he is going to be campaigning as a convicted felon and the question now how does that settle with the American voters completely unch started Waters thank you both very much Rebecca all right George

Channel: ABC7 News Bay Area

Views: 107,869

Keywords: abc7 news, abc news, new story, abc, trump, donald trump, trump trial, trump verdict, what happens next trump, hush money trial

Id: tPPHKEo8yQE

Length: 15min 2sec (902 seconds)

Published: Fri May 31 2024