>> judge jeanine: i did not. this is a very sad day for all of us. larld harold i agree with you. >> judge jeanine: irrespective of party or affiliation. we have seen the criminal justice system weaponized to bring down a candidate for president and a former president. it is historic. this has never happened before in america. i think everyone should take a deep breath before they get upset about anything or accuse anyone of anything else. >> harold: amen, i would agree. >> dana: just wrapping up here on "the five." donald trump found guilty on all 34 counts many alvin bragg will give a press conference at 6:30 p.m. stick around for fox. we're going to have amazing conch tonight from bret baier's show jesse's show laura ingraham exclamation point all the way through tomorrow morning. conch of the trump verdict continues. >> this was a rigged, disgraceful trial. the real verdict is going to be

november 5th by the people and they know what happened here and everybody knows what happened here. >> bret: former president trump just moments ago. good evening. i'm bret baier. historic day in the united states of america. donald trump is the first former president to be convicted of felony crimes after a new york jury found him guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records in what prosecutors called a scheme to influence the 2016 election through payments to adult film actress. that verdict exposes the president to prison time. not likely as a first offender. as a republican presidential nominee seeks to return to the white house. the judgment presents voters of another test willingness to accept the former president. he said the ultimate vote here will be the american people on november 5th moments ago after all 34 counts were read and agreed to by the jury members.

correspondent nate foy is outside the new york supreme court with the latest in what has been a very interesting day. >> former president donald trump did not show any emotion whatsoever as the jury returned a verdict of guilty on all counts in the first criminal trial ever involving a former u.s. president after 11.5 hours of deliberating the jury found trump guilty of falsifying business records to unlawfully influence the 2016 presidential election. as for what comes next, trump now has 30 days to appeal. jail time is considered unlikely because trump has no criminal history and these are nonviolent crimes. trump will now be interviewed by a probation officer before his sentencing hearing on july 11th. the former president faces four years for each of the 34 counts. but new york law limits the maximum sentence to 20 years for this level of felony.

manhattan d.a. alvin bragg posted on x writing after the verdict, quote: today a jury found donald j. trump guilty on all 34 felony counts. bragg watched from the courtroom as the guilty verdict came in. he is expected to hold the news conference later tonight. trump attorney todd blanche argued the only way that the jury reached a guilty verdict is if they believed michael cohen's testimony. blanche asserts cohen lied on the witness stand during this trial. judge merchan denied blanche's motion. cohen is the only person directly connecting trump to auto stormy daniels pay off leading up to the 2016 presidential election. as we look forward, bret, with the legal and political calendar, the sentencing hearing i mentioned is on july 11th. that's just four days before the republican national convention in milwaukee. bret? >> bret: nate foy, great job covering this from beginning to end. we appreciate it. i want to note about the politics. >> thank you. >> bret: thank you. that the trump donor site for

the campaign is currently down. it went down some 10 minutes right after the verdict. we don't know what that means. waiting for some reaction from the campaign. they are saying this could be their biggest fundraising day as they look at this and reaction to it. let's gets some analysis on the legal side and the political side. trey gowdy former federal prosecutor, district attorney and former congressman from south carolina. fox news chief legal correspondent, anchor of "fox news sunday" shannon bream and jonathan turley professor at the gegeorge washington university w school. you all have been digesting this all day. let's just go down the line, shannon, john, trey, your thoughts on this and how it all developed? >> shannon: well, i think the more that we heard from judge merchan, the way that he was ruling on objections in the courtroom, the way that he allowed some evidence in and barred other evidence. and the jury instructions he ultimately gave yesterday a lot of people started to feel like this jury, first of all, is going to be very confused potentially but also that they

are given so many different off ramps that lead them to conviction that it would be surprising probably the best case scenario was going to be a hung jury. now, there are a lot of things that i mentioned there that many people feel are reversible error potentially meaning that on appeal there is a good chance that this trump legal team can score some victories. maybe this conviction is ultimately overturned but bret, you know, that's going to take weeks, months, years, potentially and certainly past this election, which makes a lot of other things coming down the pike very important, including that immunity decision. we're waiting on from the supreme court could get that as soon as as next week, bret. >> bret: jonathan, the appeal process is a lengthy one usually through the new york appellate process is there a way this gets off ramped because ever the election in particular. >> i think we are out of runway needed to appeal this. go to the new york appellate

court. there could be an earth to go to the u.s. supreme court to cut that short. i don't see the supreme court likely granting that type of expedited process any more than they did for jack smith. so, he is very likely going to be in that new york appellate process for a while. this is a target-rich environment for appeal. many of us believe there are layers of reversible error here. and in the end, he very well could be vindicated. i think that that's part of what people have to understand. that you can disagree with this decision. i'm disappointed in it because many of us feel this was a legally flawed case and that it was political in its motivations by alvin bragg and others. but we are a nation committed to the rule of law. we have ways and people waiting to review this case. i think that review is likely to go in trump's favor but it may take a while. it may go into the federal

system. but, being in that courtroom today, you could feel the weight of history for a lot of people in that room it was clearly thrilling, many of us thought it was a sad moment. it was also a bizarre moment. because the judge had basically said the jury could not come to a verdict and people were leaving the courtroom when the judge basically said my mistake, we have a verdict. and there was just an absolute hush in the room and it changed immediately. of all the pima room, the pressure was clearly building. but the one who didn't seem to show it was former president trump. he didn't show any emotion at all as this mantra of 34 guilty verdicts was heard from the foreperson. >> bret: we're looking live at trump motorcade as it makes its way through the streets of new york, heading back to trump tower. trey, we also have on the screen that district attorney alvin

bragg is set to hold a news conference at 6:30 eastern time. we will take that live here on fox. the district attorney, obviously ready to crow about a successful guilty on 34 counts. but, in order to get there, trey, as we have talked about many times, he had to do some at a. >> trey: they took a misdemeanor and put a tuxedo on it and called it a felony. keep in mind, bret, he ran for office promising to do what was done today if that's where we are as a country where we are going to elect the chief law enforcement officer who promises to go after people not crimes you couple that with the evidentiary rulings from this judge. as you know, bret, i was a prosecutor. i enjoyed some pro-prosecution

judges. i have never seen one like judge merchan. never saw a judge whose evidentiary rulings undercut the defense that doesn't even get to the jury instructions which were essentially a road map to a guilty verdict only as good as the information they are given. the verdict does not surprise me. >> bret: the fact that the time, shannon, it seemed like guilty was probably the way this was going just by the timing of it as we were looking at it. we were going to have a lot of time to digest the politics and the political fallout. the latest poll that we could find was a marist poll that dealt with this, specifically. if donald trump is found guilty in the hush money trial in new york, are you more likely to vote for him 15%, less likely 17%, or will it make no difference in your vote 67%. the question is what does it mean politically as it legal process continues to play out?

>> shannon: yeah, you remember, bret, over a year ago before he was indicted in this first case about alvin bragg he was talking about we drop out if he indicted he said no, it would help his numbers. it's helped with fundraising. you mentioned their website is down right now. has it been crashed because people showed up there and responded to their texts calling for fundraising. it's helped him in the polling. helped him get rid of all of his rivals in the g.o.p. primary as each of them were forced to go out and disenkd him against what they have been calling a political prosecution through these cases. there has been definitely some political upside. you heard the president come out, after the verdict today, he was pretty subdued but he was fighting. and that's what his folks like to see, his supporters want that. they like that about him. they feel like he is fighting for them as well. so he said this is far from over. and now the decision, the verdict comes to the people on november 5th. and i think that will be the line going forward. seems to really rally his base. whether it connects with independents, we know there is a

very small group that's movable at this point. and we will see how they feel. >> bret: as we are looking at the trump motorcade going live through manhattan. we have had a flurry of statements from political figures. most of them on the right. we did have a statement from the biden campaign. we expect something more from, perhaps, the president himself. but, speaker mike johnson put out a pretty lengthy statement in which he, in part, said today is a shameful day in american history. democrats cheered as they convicted the leader of the opposing party on ridiculous charges predicated on the testimony of a disbarred convicted felon. this is a purely political exercise, not a legal one. continuing the american people see this as lawfare. they know it's wrong and dangerous. president trump will rightfully appeal this absurd verdict and he will win. we talked a little bit about the appeal process and what is going to happen. let's take a look really quickly at what comes next. specifically in this legal process for former president trump. correspondent c.b. cotton is outside the new york state supreme court as well tonight.

good evening, c.b.? >> hi, good evening, bret. this appeals process could buy former president donald trump time to challenge this conviction before the november election. trump's team has 30 days to file a notice of appeal with new york's appellate division. there, trump's legal team can request any sentencing penalties to be put on hold while the appeals process plays out. as for the conviction, trump's lawyers can appeal that, too. legal experts argue there are several grounds, trump's team can pursue. one theory, trump's defense team may argue that stormy daniels testimony was prejudicial. now, during daniels' testimony defense attorney todd blanche argued for a mistrial basically saying that daniels recounting of an alleged sexual encounter with the former president had, quote: nothing to do with the charges in this case. judge juan merchan said the level of details daniels provide was, quote, unnecessary but ultimately he denied both requests and said the defense

was partly to blame for allowing that testimony to stray. trump's lawyers may also appeal over the prosecutor's novel legal strategy that we have been talking about. again, trump was charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. those are typically a misdemeanor under new york state law. but, again, the d.a. charged those counts as felonies, alleging the records covered up a second crime, a violation of the new york state election law, which makes it a crime to promote a candidate's election through, quote: unlawful means. now, bret, if this conviction is upheld upon appeal, trump could then try to appeal to new york's highest appeals court. and then at that point he could take this case all the way to the u.s. supreme court. you may remember more than two decades ago in bush v. gore the u.s. supreme court did become involved finding that florida could not reassess those votes. therefore, upholding the election that bush won. back to you. >> bret: okay. c.b., thank you.

again, reaction come in. fast and furious. one of the first people putting out a statement former secretary of state former cia director mike pompeo saying the future of this country should and will be decided by the american people in an election, not by 12 new yorkers in a travesty of a politicized courtroom. tom cotton, senator from arkansas as we look live at the trump motorcade, again, getting to trump tower. tom cotton saying the trump jury made a mistake partly because the nakedly partisan judge biased the trial at every turn from allowing an unconstitutional indictment in the first place to excluding key today rigging the jury instructions. the american people see right through joe biden and the democrats' weaponization of the legal system against senator cotton there. speaking of the democrats and the reaction so far, we have only gotten reaction from the biden-harris campaign. let's talk about that and that reaction from white house correspondent peter doocy. is he live on the north lawn. good evening, peter. >> peter: bret, good evening.

there is white house reaction coming from the council's office and falls way short of some of the reporting about what we might hear from the white house and officials calling president trump officially convicted felon donald trump. instead the counsel's' office spokesman says we respect the rule of law and have no additional comment right now. there is nothing official from president biden and you can count on one hand the amount of times that he has referenced this case over the last few months. he said at one point he knows trump is free on wednesdays, which is when court was out. and he has joked trump is busy. but the first -- the closest thing to biden reaction is coming from the campaign in wilmington and the communications director who says, in part, donald trump is always mistakenly believed he would never face consequences for breaking the law for his own personal gain. but today's verdict does not change the fact that the american people face a simple reality. only one way to keep donald

trump out of the oval office at the ballot box. convicted felon or not, trump will be the republican nominee for president. this is going to have no difference in the ways 67% of voters are going to approach november in the new npr, marist poll, 17% saying a guilty verdict makes them more likely to back trump. 15% say less likely, speaker mike johnson is saying. [siren] >> bret: let's listen in and see if we can hear anything. hold on. [shouting] >> guilty. >> bret: motorcade arriving trump tower gave the fist pump and walking in. he has had a number of truth social posts today. and we expect something more we

saw perhaps the cameras right after he left the courtroom. peter, we interrupted there. you were making the point that i made earlier about how many people this effects, potentially in the election. does the biden campaign see that or are they looking to capitalize, obviously, on this moment? >> it seems like they do see it because they are still trailing in a lot of polls and decided that yesterday, after weeks of a trial, they had to finally go to new york and address all the cameras. i will point out, they said they only did that press conference in new york outside the trial because that's where all the cameras are. well, next week all the calm are as are going to be right by campaign hq wilmington delaware for hunter's gun trial. we don't expect to hear much from president biden about that or this. he is not here at the white house. he and the rest of the first family are in delaware right now. they are marking today, which is the ninth anniversary of beau biden's passing. so, the first on camera reaction or at least the first chants at that is going to be at some

point tomorrow either when the president is coming back or when he is hosting the kansas city chiefs for their super bowl presentation here at the white house. bret. >> bret: peter, what is next physically for the president as far as a campaign trail? do we have anything on that? >> they are going to use the world stage to try to show that the president is the diplomat in the race because we don't think is he going to have anything all weekend and then at the beginning of next week, he will fly to france for the 80th anniversary of d-day which fits in with the whole biden campaign theme of the last couple months, that he is a defender of democracy. we also hear joe biden talk a lot about a report that donald trump and his allies dispute in the atlantic that trump went to france for a different anniversary five years ago and called the people that were buried there suckers and losers. you can expect next week to be a lot more of president biden bringing that back while he talks about democracy and threats to item crazy and

freedom vs. fascism but in terms of actually going to the great lakes blue wall states or the sun belt states, that's not going to come for a couple more weeks it. seems like the big -- they are building up for a trip to europe and then practice for the debate which is in less than a month. >> bret: that's right. okay, peter doocy, stand by if you would. thank you. i want to go back to the legal eagles really quickly jonathan and trey and shannon. jonathan, we talked about the appeal process. it's expected that this is going to be filed, at least quickly. we have heard that the sentencing from judge juan merchan is going to come down on july 11th. again, that's four days before the start of the republican national convention. what are the possibilities for sentencing and if an appeal is filed before that, does the sentencing get delayed? >> it can be delayed if those appeals are successful. it's unlikely. you know, it's also unlikely that he would get jail time.

it's the first offender. these are not violent offenses. i also believe that judge merchan will have to recognize how he would set off a cascading problem. if you try to even put a -- the leading presidential candidate on home confinement, in new york. so, you're going to have multi tracks going forward. there is going to be appeals taken while he does. the president will be subject to an interview with a probation officer, then a sentencing most of us assuming there is not going to be jail time. the judge obviously has some leeway i also expect you are going to find some three-point shots. they might try to leapfrog to the supreme court. as unlikely as that is. the important thing is people have onto remember around here very upset people here and also many people who i can only describe as an ecstasy over this verdict. but for most americans i think

they have to recognize that these moments are a leap of faith in our system. can you disagree with this verdict. not hate the jury for it. you can really believe in the system enough system can be reversed. i think what you were just repeating bret, a lot of people seem to be taking that view. they are not taking the verdict on its faces a validating these charges. there is a feeling that the president can't seem to escape this vortex of new york that he is being pulled from courthouse to courthouse. control that message certainly regain control over the legal side as he picks what appeals to take as it unfolds in the coming days. >> bret: shannon, in fact, judge merchan made a point in one of the q&as back and forth after the defense stood up and ended a statement saying that this could end up with the former president

in jail he said no, that's a ridiculous, outrageous statement because i make the sentencing suggesting it's not going to be that i guess what mark levins and other constitutional folks are saying is that this is a due process situation for the election not necessarily for the candidate but for the american people, the voter and whether that expedites some kind of roadway to the supreme court or not. >> shannon: yeah, that would be something if you are the trump legal team, why not try it? it doesn't mean it's going to be successful. it has a chance like anything else you would put out into the legal universe. it takes a number of votes. generally to take up a case five for something that's considered an emergency petition. but, for something to jump from a state court, something that starts out as solely a state court case over to the supreme court doesn't happen a lot but if you can show an issue of federal constitutional issue with the justices, you know, i think that mark is the one who

referred to bush v. gore and some of the legislation happenings in florida in 2,000 that got to the supreme court there can be times you push into that question. now, as we know there are two other cases the supreme court is already considering right now we're waiting on those from them that could impact president trump in a big way legally. they a unanimous decision earlier this year to keep him on the ballot when there were a number of states that tried to kick him out under the 14th amendment. they are loathed to get into issues unless drawn into them as a general rule. so i think that that appeal, if it came directly from this, from the trump legal team is worth a try i would not put the probability that the justices would take it very high. >> trey, last thing we are waiting again bottom of the hour we expect the district attorney alvin bragg to come out and present in front of the reporters and it said that it's a news conference. we will see what that develops

into what do you expect him to say having been a prosecutor on the winning side of 34 counts finding the former president of the united states guilty? >> >> trey: i think he will feign humility. he will talk about the rule of law. it's hard for those of us not from new york to find a crime for which you actually can't be imprisoned in new york. they are not known for being really top on felons. so, and especially not alvin bragg. remember, he came into office with a very long list of things that he would not bother to prosecute. so, he will gloat a little bit but he may have won the battle and lost the war. i will be surprised i will be surprised if the rest of america reacts the way that manhattan and the press corps reacted to this verdict. i think it's a sad day for people who like a justice system that actually is blind.

>> bret: okay, legal eagles if you will stand by, please. let's bring in our panel political moore. hugh houthi, leslie marshall, democratic strategist and byron york chief political correspondent of "the washington examiner." hugh, your reaction today? >> it's not surprising but i'm very disappointed. it's actually a travesty in the justice system, bret there are so many grounds on which to appeal beginning with the conflicts that the judge has that are obvious. the sort of conflicts that dick durbin and sheldon whitehouse are arguing should get alito off of a case having to do with the j. 6 defendants. the conflicts this judge had are many and we could go through them but i won't waste the time. i will simply say in addition to that we had a charging document that didn't specify the crime. we had brad smith not allow to testify to the full extent of his knowledge. we had very confusing jury instructions and we had the admission of guilty plea by cohen and pecker that audited not to have been admitted.

so it's a travesty and politically i think that's going to help president trump. you sow a wind i you reap the whirlwind. avalanche of donations to donald trump. i expect the whirlwind will be huge uptick in turnout and contribution. yeah as mentioned the donation site was down we will see if it's back up. whether that is from traffic or something else we will see. leslie, your thoughts how this effects the election how did democrats take this? are they going to jump on that term "convicted felon" and is this going to be part of this plan ahead of the election as far as threat to democracy and convicted felon all the way to november? >> let's be clear that the doj, the feds had passed on this. our own shannon bream had said in an earlier interview that it is not president biden that brought this, nor ised it democratic party. i mean, this was brought by the state. one, i'm kind of surprised at the verdict. i didn't think it was going to

be guilty on all 34 counts. two, the reason i don't think this is politically motivated, bret, and i said it before and i will say it again because i will agree with you this helps donald trump it helps check writing and money coming into his campaign. helps people who weren't going to support him say i'm 100 percent all in now. latest poll on those numbers is npr and pbs. guilty or not, it doesn't make a huge difference. i think if anything it could hurt the former president just a little bit because he is going to be campaigning on the whoa is me platform and i'm not sure how much steam that has if joe biden is talking about this is what i have done and what i'm going to do for voters and for america. >> bret: website is back up we're being told by campaign folks byron. >> check writing. >> bret: the statement that came out right after the -- he left the courtroom was pretty brief we played a little bit of it. here's another piece.

>> i'm a very innocent man. it's okay. i'm fighting for our country. i'm fighting for our constitution. our whole country is being rigged right now. this was done by the biden administration in order to wound or hurt an opponent, a political opponent. and i think it's just a disgrace. and we'll keep fighting. we will fight until the end and we will win. >> bret: so he is clearly going to use this to advantage rhetorically on the campaign trail, thinks it helps. how do you see it? >> it does. he is talking to his supporters right there and his rallies sometimes he will say you know, they are not coming after me, they are coming after you, i'm just in the way. so, covering the primaries and the caucuses this year, republicans are pretty much unanimous in the belief that trump has been unfairly pursued

here, that he was the victim of politicized prosecution. and obviously they have a case. the district attorney who brought this case is an elected democrat in manhattan. he was actually elected on a platform of pursuing trump. and he did bring in a former number three at the biden justice department to help pursue or prosecute this case. the judge is a biden donor. and the jury came from a district in which president biden won by about 85%. in 2020. so, the trump supporters have a point when they talk about the political aspects of this case. now, i do think among trump supporters there is going to be kind of a shock effects. even if you are expecting something, when it actually happens, it can kind of take your breath away. i think that may be happening right now among those supporters, but they have really already processed and they have

placed this episode in what they think is a long line of unfair pursuit of trump going back to the trump-russia investigation. so i don't think it's going to change any of their support maybe make it more intense. >> bret: all right. robert f. kennedy jr. is on x now live. talking about the politicization of the legal system saying that the doj, his dad changed the doj not to ever practice politics. not specifically defending trump but suggesting politics played a role in this time, obviously set independent candidate in all of this, let's bring in on the phone florida senator republican marco rubio senator rubio thanks for joining us, your reaction? >> they just elected donald trump president. so politically i think it's good. unfortunately they have made a travesty, a mockery of our criminal justice system i think all over the world right now watching news reports what has

america turned into us third world country, dictatorship literally have a judge that supported joe biden in 2020. he supported him. his daughter makes money off political campaigns. the jury polled from one of the most liberal counties in america. a prosecutor that basically ran on the promise that i'm going to get trump. i don't know what i'm going to get him on yet but i will get him on something. charges that basically turned a misdemeanor into a felony by tying it -- we don't know yet what the crime is because they introduced a new crime in the jury instructions saying oh, by the way in addition to the federal election interference he was never charged with you can also tie it as a felony -- can you also turn it into a felony by tying it to some tax law in new york. something they never mentioned throughout the entire trial. the list goes on and on and on. i think it's terrible. i think what this showed today is that they can go after a former president with a ridiculous charge like this and gain a conviction. they can go after anybody.

most people can't afford to fight this stuff off. i think the shock and i'm not sure byron york or saying about the shock. >> bret: yeah, byron. >> the shock is not that they went after him. they have been doing this against trump for seven or eight years. the shock is that this could happen in america. i grew up to people tell me about show trials and thing that happen in cuba. this is a show trial. like a roman coliseum -- listen television when the verdict come in. you could hear one of the people on the camera off camera sort of she shriek. kill him, kill him. this derangement has poisoned american politics and the harr thunderstorm has done to our system of justice is teenager. raised money in 30 minutes. website crashed. people that didn't like donald

trump this is ugly blemish to our reputation around the world and basically to the basic concepts people have of our justice system here in the country. >> bret: quickly, senator, how do you think in this environment with this reaction, 34 counts, guilty by this jury, and all the reaction that we are seeing pour out. the biden campaign already saying in new york today we saw that no one is above the law, how in this environment, are we as a country going to come back together. this is going to be a bumpy five months before november. >> there has to be a point had in which we say people love to talk about the rule of law. they have have manipulated and violated any rule they can over the last seven years. they think that their hatred for donald trump that he somehow is not worthy of the same protections everybody is. that's why they tried to impeach him after he was out of office. they have tried to bankrupt his company. they have four charges in four

different jurisdictions. equal application of the law. they get away [inaudible] they would never say about other candidates in the past. this is truly there is a level of derangement here where these people hate him so much you saw [inaudible] this guy out of his mind, you know, the way is he acting on the streets there in new york. it's a derangement that i think blinded them to common sense and dignity to the point where i think it's really pushing americans to be polar opposites. i do think there is a large number of americans that are scratching their heads saying this is too much already. this has gone way too far. i think you will see it in the polls and november and saw it already today with the amount of money came pouring in the last 30 or 45 minutes. >> bret: all right. senator rubio, we appreciate your time. thank you for joining us on the phone. again, we are waiting for alvin bragg, the district attorney to hold a news conference running a bit late there. we expect to take that live here on fox to hear his thoughts

about this case. the trump defense attorney todd blanche will be on "jesse watters primetime" at 8:00 p.m. tonight and you will hear directly from him as he obviously argued this case in front of judge juan merchan. bring back our political panel. hugh, you heard senator rubio. i think you are going to see a cavalcade of republicans come to this pointed. but do we fully appreciate. can we fully appreciate what this verdict means for independents, for you is burr ban women, for somebody who is not paying attention who didn't listen really into the dynamics of the trial but understands that something happened with jurors and firntedding guilty on 34 counts. >> i don't think we will know for some time, bret, it's hard

to measure disgust and the impact of disgust. it's very disgusting to see people celebrating this. and i noted senator rubio's comment about being on set on cnn. very difficult to measure how people who are not typically connected to the political arena get motivated but people who don't like the government generally who don't believe in the government working efficiently and followed at all the pursuit, the dogged relentless pursuit of donald trump from 2015 forward, i think their disgust is going to be very immense and move the polls in favor of donald trump. we may not see it for a while. we will hear about it on the june 27th debate. we will hear about it at the convention. but this judge did the country a dirty deed. and i believe -- i'm not blaming the jury. those instructions were almost impossible to follow for a lawyer. i'm just thinking the disgust with the political system rebound to the benefit of donald trump and pretty quickly. >> bret: byron, do you agree with that?

where do you think this falls? again, sentencing is july 11th, four days before the rnc convention. we don't know what this judge is going to do. it's unlikely that he is going to give prison time but there could be some sort of probation four days before he has to get to milwaukee. >> we do have some polls in which people were asked if you are inclined to vote for donald trump or if you are open to voting for donald trump, maybe yyou haven't fully decided, woud it matter in your decision if he were convicted of a felony? and some small number of americans say that it would. so, if those are actual votes that trump loses, i mean, just look at the polls, i mean, it's really, really close. it's very close between trump and biden nationally. and it's close in the key swing states. so it actually could make a difference a lot has got to happen between now and then and i would say one last thing which is trump will certainly spend

the next several months sowing doubt and undercutting any validity of this decision. he may make some converts on that. on the other side some americans believe joe biden is too old. that his physical and mental health is not good enough to serve until he is 86 years old. that's an unfixable problem and we may have a really, really unusual dynamic going on in this campaign. >> bret: current governor of north dakota doug burgum we had on set last night with a statement saying this verdict is a travesty of justice. the judge was a biden donor. the prosecutors were biden supporters. this lawfare should scare every american. the american people will have their say in november. leslie, a lot of potential v.p. candidates weighing in very loudly on x and other places. and very predictable what they are going to say they are hoping to be number two on the ticket

with former president donald trump. look, to both you and byron's comments, i would disagree issues, whether it is, you know, donald trump being found guilty or if he had been acquitted or joe biden's age, those are just not the top of mind issue among voters and even more really matter when it comes down to the matters politics a numbers game. you have six states, a sliver of people, mostly independents within those states that i think are very much like you said, bret. something happened in new york, not guilty what sure what it's all about. those are not the kitchen table issues that people are voting on. i don't think that's going to put donald trump over the finish line. i think the people that are outraged about this verdict already support him and i think even in my own party, you know, there are many of us that wish that joe biden 35 but they know it's not the case and they know the choice is going to be between two older men. just lastly i would say senator rubio, a little bit of drama. there were no lions or tigers

attacking the christian former president being thrown into the coliseum to his death. >> bret: bring in the former president's attorney will scharf appellate team handling the other cases. will, your reaction to this and what comes next? >> bret, i think this is one of the darkest day in the american republic. when james madison wrote in the federalist papers about the use by political faction of new fang gelled and artificial reasons to to oppress their opponents, i think he had a case like this in mind. >> this is a made up case. this was a sham trial in front of a deeply, deeply irretrievably biased judge. it's absolutely shameful. the only thing that today's verdict proves is that joe biden and hits political allies have successfully weaponized our legal system wimszsed courts unprecedented in american

history and in a way that should alarm all americans who are concerned about the future of our constitutional republic. >> will, what is the future of appellate this case is replete with reversible error going through the first day continuing through jury instructions. every aspect of this case is ripe for appeal. we are going to appeal as quickly as we can. we will seek expedited review of this case. and we're going to trust that the appellate courts in new york understand the dangerous pandora's box that this lawless judgment as opened and they understand the potential ramifications of legal system if this unjust verdict is allowed to stand. >> what about the mark levins of the world that say there is a way to get outside the new york appellate system to go directly to the supreme court as an issue about due process for the voters since this will be the

republican nominee ahead of the november 5th election? >> all options are on the table. and we are actively considering all options that could lead to justice for president trump here. because justice has not been done in this new york courtroom today. >> bret: have you talked to the former president? how does he view this? did he see this coming? did he expect this is what was going to happen? >> i was with the former president earlier today. >> president trump believes we are going to take back the country next november. that the american people will ultimately have their say. and that they want him back in the white house where he can go about making this country great again. i doubt if this is going to really effect him in that way all that much. because he knows that he has the american people on his side. >> the district attorney alvin bragg in moments, we're told is going to address the media about this verdict the 34 guilty counts on all those charges what

do you expect him to say? >> >> i think alvin bragg is going to spike the football. i think it's tragic that he has allowed so much violent crime in new york to go unpunished he resurrected this absurd swlom buy case to persecute the principle political rival of joe biden of his political ally. it's outrageous abuse of his office. i think alvin bragg should be ashamed of himself. unfortunately i don't think we will see any since of shame from him tonight. >> bret: will, if you will stand by, we are going to wait for the district attorney to come on. we will get some reaction afterwards. i'm going to go back to the legal panel shannon, trey and jonathan. jonathan, that line, i'm sure we're going to hear it. it is true there just are questions whether this case in the way it was tried and the way that the judge dealt with it was fair to both sides.

>> oh, i think there is going to be lasting questions to that effect. the law here was being written as the trial unfolded. you have a case that even people on other networks has admitted -- have admitted would never have been brought against anyone but trump. in fact, had you another analyst on another network saying that they would never be able to secure a conviction outside of manhattan. i think that's part of what really undermines the legitimacy of this verdict. it fulfills the narrative that the former president has been stating for years that there is this weaponization of the legal system. i happen to think that that's accurate here. we can talk about the other cases. but this is a manufactured criminal case that zapped a dead misdemeanor into life. and converted into 34 felony counts. and i just looked at the jury verdict. there is no indication that i

saw of what the second crime was. so i still don't know what the president was convicted of. they were unanimous in saying that a second crime was committed and that these record -- that's these falsified documents were furthering that unlawful means. they just don't say what each of them concluded was that second offense problem on appeal work trump's favor that that verdict form did not include that information. you can't make that catwalk backwards. if they did not record it, they could have reached a verdict that was 4, 4, 4. where four people found falsification, four people found a federal election violation, and four foundt know at this ste and i'm not sure we will ever know. and that will be a problem for a

lot of appellate judges. >> bret: sure. and shannon, it was very complicated. and we talked about that about 455 pages. it took an hour and a half, almost, for judge merchan to read it to the jury how they reached that decision is going to be fascinating when they talk to jurors. politically former president of the united states who is a convicted felon, much simpler, fits on a bumper sticker and d.a. bragg is probably going to come out and make it very simple. >> he probably will. we know there has been a lot of discussion within the biden harris campaign how they wanted to message this what language they were going to use. that comes at the same time hunter biden is heading into his first federal trial next week on gun charges. >> bret: shannon, let me interrupt. >> he could become a convicted felon. bret? >> bret: thank you, shannon, manhattan district attorney alvin bragg reacting to the guilty verdict of the former

president of the united states. let's listen in. >> >> evening, first and foremost, i want to thank the jury for its service. jurors perform a fundamental civic duty. their service is literally the corner stone of our judicial system we should all be thankful for the careful attention that this jury paid to the evidence and the law and their time and commitment over these past several weeks. 12 everyday new yorkers and, of course, our alternates heard testimony from 22 witnesses, including former and current

employees of the defendant, media executives, book publishers, custodians of records, and others. they reviewed call logs, text messages, and emails. they heard recordings. they saw checks and invoices, bank statements and calendar appointments. this type of white collar prosecution is core to what we do at the manhattan district attorney's office. in the 1930s, district attorney thomas dewey ushered in the era of the modern independent professional prosecutor. for now nearly 90 years dedicated professionals in this office have built upon that fine tradition. a major part of our practice during that nearly 90 years has been public integrity work, including cases involving

jurists, local and state electeds, public servants and others. i want to thank this phenomenal prosecution team embodying the finest traditions of this office, professionalism, integrity, dedication, and service. they are model public servants. and i am proud and humbled to serve side by side with them. the 12 everyday jurors vowed to make a decision based on the evidence and the law and the evidence and the law alone. their deliberations led them to a unanimous conclusion beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant, donald j. trump, is guilty of 34 counts of

falsifying business records in the first degree to conceal a scheme to corrupt the 2016 election. 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 to the courtroom doors. by following the facts and the law and doing so without fear or favor. i want to conclude by expressing deep gratitude to the nypd and the officers of -- the officers of the court administration for securing the courthouse, all of our safety, making sure that the court house and all of the other matters that are important in their own right continued seamlessly. they will continue to be and

always been incredible partners. thank you. [[inaudible] question] do you plan to request a prison sentence? [broken audio] >> multiple violations. >> the judge scheduled a sentencing for july 11th. we will speak in court in that time. he also set a motion schedule. we will speak in our court filings as we have done throughout this proceeding. [inaudible question] >> i do not. [inaudible question]

how do you think of all that now seeing the results today. [inaudible] >> i did my job. our job is to follow the facts and the law without fear or favor. and that's exactly what we did here. and what i feel is gratitude to work alongside phenomenal public servants who do that each and every day in matters that you all write about and make the press and lots of matters that you don't. did i my job. we did our job. many voices out there. the only voice that matters is the voice of the jury and the jury has spoken. >> mr. steinglass, many people said the prosecution was masterful and flawless. i want to know how you feel at this moment? how do you feel? >> mr. steinglass, i think some you have probably saw him speak

for a little bit the other day. [laughter] >> so he has done his job as has this team and he just told me tell them how i feel enormous gratitude. our system, i talk about the jurors at the beginning of my remarks. we have a phenomenal system. 12 everyday new yorkers listened to the judge's directions, they followed the evidence. you saw them in court every day. they were careful and attentive. and so i feel deep gratitude to work alongside them to be a part of this system. and i just wanting to echo that this is what we're doing every single day. i mean, during this trial, just this week ghost gun indictment. i can't malady's wage theft plea resolutions. sex crimes obviously

consequential matter. this is what we do every day. we follow the facts and the law without fear or favor is the jail sentence in the cards likely trump and his attorneys would stay that sentence pending an appeal. if a that were the scenario would your office october to staying sentence? >> i'm going to let our words in court speak for themselves when we get to the sentencing matter. i'm not going to address hypotheticals. they raise arguments. we'll respond. and i think your question really underscores an important point. this is active ongoing matter. we have other phases of this going ahead. we will continue to do our speaking about this matter about issues like that in court. >> from day one, the viability of this case has been questioned in all sorts of media outlets

all over the place, including from the defendant himself. can you respond to any of that how you feel now that you have gotten the conviction? >> so my response, again, is i did my job i think particularly i talk about the history of the office, my personal history i started as a prosecutor in 2003 in the public integrity unit in the new york state attorney general's office. i served also in the public integrity unit in the southern district of new york. these are the kind of cases i have done personally and it's a hallmark of the tradition of this office that i'm proud lead i don't want to go into the body of the legislation we now have a federal court decision ruling on the legal theories. we had state court decision on the omnibus motions but most importantly, today, we have the most important voice of all and

that's the voice of the jurors. they have spoken. donald j. trump has been convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records. thank you. >> mr. district attorney your office has been investigating this case -- >> -- are you concerned about retribution if trump is elected president? >> you went to the supreme court twice. >> bret: district attorney alvin bragg and over his left shoulder was matthew colangelo who he hired as former senior justice department official in the biden administration. touting the 34 counts now convictions of former president donald trump. let's quickly bring in trump attorney will scharf who was with us earlier. your reaction to the district attorney what he said there. >> i think alvin bragg just lied to the american people. he insisted repeatedly that this is a normal case brought in the normal course of business for the d.a.'s office when that couldn't be further from the truth. there's nothing normal about resurrecting dead misdemeanor business records charges from seven years ago and bringing them against the leading

presidential candidate in the country at the height of a presidential election. there's nothing normal about seeking a wildly unconstitutional gag order against a political candidate or, for that matter, any defendant. there is absolutely nothing normal about this sham of a case. i believe the american people will see through his shallow words. and i believe the american people will support president trump even more so because of these injustices that he is being subjected to by this lawless prosecutor and lawless judge in this lawless new york court. >> bret: so, for people watching this, that may be trump supporters, what do you say to them? they probably are throwing up their hands or throwing things at the television saying this is not fair and it may effect the election. you're on the legal side of things and fighting the appellate process. what do you say to a trump supporter tonight who looks at this and feels pretty dismayed? >> i think it's very important

that we all remember where this comes from. it was joe biden himself who said that he would attempt to prevent president trump from winning the presidency again through quote, unquote, constitutional means. meaning the weaponization of our legal system against his political opponent in a fashion reminiscent of banana republics or the soviet union. >> bret: let me interrupt, will. we have gone around this block. obviously can you make the tangential argument and say this looks like it's all connected. do you have hard evidence that the biden machine, in the white house, the campaign, or the doj, is somehow directly tied -- i mentioned matthew colangelo being a former doj attorney, directly tied to what we saw here in this courtroom? >> i think when you look at all of the litigation going on against president trump in the country, it is very clear that it is being coordinated out of the biden administration. you mentioned the former number

three at the biden doj who mysteriously quit his job to become a local prosecutor essentially in new york to bring this case. we have seen records of fani willis suspiciously being in the white house counsel's office. she and her special prosecutor, nathan wade, including on the very day that jack smith was appointed special counsel. when you look at these cases, all as one instead of individually, it is clear, it is clear as day that this is a concerted campaign of lawfare that is an attempt to take the presidential election away from the ballot box where it belongs and put it into courtrooms across america, which is absolutely outrageous and i believe deeply unamerican. >> bret: i have 15 seconds, here, will. is there a process you think an appeal will win and how long will that take. >> we will appeal this case ultimately we will win this case on appeal.

this case is replete with reversible error. we are looking forward to getting down to doing that work in the days ahead. >> bret: will, we appreciate your time and the reaction today and to district attorney bragg. thank you. >> thanks, bret. >> bret: well, this has been an historic day, no matter what side of the aisle you sit on. no matter how you think about politics. this is history in the making. it is the first time a former president of the united states has been criminally prosecuted, and found guilty by a jury of his peers. 34 counts against former president donald trump who says the ultimate determination will be by the american people on november 5th and he says he will keep fighting. weep keel covering it, all of it, fair, balanced and unafraid. here's laura. >> laura: good evening. i'm laura ingraham reporting tonight