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 from texas.

thank you for joining us tonight. this is a fox news alert. an historic moment. president trump found guilty on all 34 counts. we'll go live to the courthouse for reaction in just a moment. but, first: >> i guess we all need, what, to shop at banana republic from now on because that's what it feels like yeah a banana republic. i wish there was something to laugh about but it's not. this is a disgraceful day for the united states. a day that america may never recover from. yeah, the jury convicted trump on all 34 counts of falsifying business records in order to interfere with the 2016 presidential election. we will break that all down for you. but, from the beginning, this case should have never been brought. this judge should never have been allowed to sit on the case. these charges should have been dismissed when the first motion was filed by the defense. the jury instructions were fatally flawed they were farcical. you don't have to be a former law clerk to know this was all a travesty. all along bragg's case was just

an extension of the otherwise doomed biden campaign this is a humiliating day for the country we all love. it makes us look like a joke to the rest of the world. is this what they meant by the american way? democrats shown who they really are. they don't intend to give up power, not ever. funny, that's what they like to accuse trump of. and if this lawfare is rewarded in november it will mean that never again will you have a real choice in the presidential election. you'll maybe be able to choose between two candidates with minor disagreements on the big issues. but you will never again be able to elect someone who makes fundamental changes again not at our border, not with these wars in places like ukraine, and not in our economic policy. think about this. donald trump gave up fame, fortune, and a very comfortable life to try to save america from the forces that are trying to

tear it down right now. and if they can do this to someone like donald trump with his means. it will be very difficult to ever turn this around. at least he has the money and the resources right now to fight the cases that are being brought against him, including this and the appeals that will follow. most people will never get this far. so are we going to establish a precedent where the president can put his political opponent in jail? because, if they can do this now, this will, i promise you, this will be the new normal. the democrats are showing you what real power is like. it's the type of power we usually see dictators exercise in china and cuba and north korea. and if anyone threatens the establishment in the future, the democrats will use the same playbook. charge someone like, i don't know, a j.d. vance or a ron desantis and the liberal jurisdiction on some bogus charges and then have a radical

judge hand down jury instructions that will make it almost impossible for a jury not to convicted them of something these great defenders of democracy would rather ruin the public's faith in the entire american system. they would rather lay waste to the constitution. destroy the credibility of the u.s. judicial system than risk the real possibility that the people will elect a common sense populist again like trump. if you allow them to get away with this, my friends, if it goes down in the history books that trump was winning until he was convicted of a crime in a liberal jurisdiction, if trump goes on to lose the presidency, then this will become the model for how the left will hang on to power forever. now, the left is gleeful tonight no doubt. we have seen them in the streets. they are cheering, they are pumping their fist. i could only imagine the coming book deal. the 12 s 12 saviors.

the interviews on today show near or gas mic on msnbc. they are thinking trump is the real loser here, really we are all the loser. if this is allowed to stand and if these people aren't thrown out of office with an exclamation point. we will be one party state for the foreseeable future. only recourse now with the appellate process as slow as it is but more importantly with you the voters. and given how things have gone. we will have more luck with the people. and if this feels bad tonight, think of how you will feel if biden and harris win again i say turn this dark day into a time recommit yourself to save america from these vindictive far left tyrants. volunteer, donate. organize. and even reach out to others who maybe haven't followed this trial. explain how this reverb united

states far beyond trump and how it threatens our ability to effect real political change in the future. today can't be the end of the line for american exceptionalism, but it will be if we sit on our hands and fall into des pair so don't get mad, get motivated. joining me now from right outside the courthouse andy mccarthy former assistant for the district of new york and jonathan turley professor at j.w. university law school. both fox news contributors. also shannon bream host of "fox news sunday." andy, i want to start with you on the question of what the jury actually concluded here and jonathan, you were touching on this earlier on fox. you made a point that the follow-on or bump up crime to make this a felony was never specified in the jury return that came in, in the actual verdict itself. although you just heard alvin

bragg say this was -- he was convicted on essentially a conspiracy to subvert democracy. so, who is right here? what trump -- what was trump actually convicted of by a unanimous jury? >> well, the charges in the indictment and i guess formally what will go down in the judgment of conviction are, as you said, laura, 34 counts of falsification of business records with fraudulent intent to conceal another crime that sounds dry. what was pitched to the jury and what was really pitched by bragg publicly in a very peculiar way from the day the indictment was returned, was this basically a scheme to steal the 2016 election. i sort of stumble over that because what is amazing to me about this is bragg is an election denier. he wears it like a badge of

honors even as election denial we are told is like the worst thing you can be in public life. i guess it depends on which election it is. but the reason i say it was very peculiar from day one is usually the prosecutor has the narrative that you want to present to the jury in the indictment. it becomes the framework that you plead the charges in. in a very strange way here, the grand jury returned a fairly bare bones indictment laid out the statutory elements of this business records crime. and co-terminusly with that, bragg put out on his own not through the grand jury what he called the statement of facts, which was this narrative narrative about trump defrauding the united states out of what would otherwise have been the delight of having the hillary clinton presidency. and i don't mean to be too snarky about it. you just need to read it. that's basically what it says. it relies explicitly on

inadmissible evidence against trump. it relies as a bedrock matter on this idea that michael cohen pled guilty to campaign finance violations and, therefore, the fact that there was this conspiracy to violate the campaign laws and thereby suppress politically damaging information was like an established fact. and that certainly is how judge merchan treated it. >> laura: well, jonathan, if that's the case, why did judge merchan not allow the former fec commissioner to testify? if this was such an open and shut case of election interference, that was aided and abetted by this so-called falsification of the business records by trump, even though he didn't personally do that why not let the jury hear what the fec was really thinking on this matter? >> well, you know, laura, the problem that i saw in that ruling is not that he said that

it is his responsibility to say what the law is. that's true. it's up to the trial judge to give those instructions. the problem is that he never gave the instructions, that is the instructions he gave did not go into any meaningful detail on what would constitute a federal election offense. it had some information but it was incomplete and that's why the defense wanted to bring in a legal expert. one of the most telling things that that expert would have brought in, smith. he said look, not only is hush money not a campaign contribution, that's been long established, even if it were a contribution, it couldn't have been part of a conspiracy to influence this election, because it wouldn't have had to have been actually revealed until after the election. so, under -- that's just a matter of dates. that's a matter of filings that are in the regulations. it's not a matter of interpretation. the jury was never told that the

jury heard because judge merchan allowed them to hear the prosecutors stated over and over again that it was an establishd fact that elections violations occurred here and that trump ordered those violations that included in the closing argument and many of us were mystified because the judge had given an instruction that cohen's plea agreement could not be used to impute the guilt of trump. and then steinglass, the prosecutor repeatedly did that and judge merchan would do nothing about it. that's the reason i don't blame this jury. what they heard in that room and the instructions they were given, probably to some of them made it look like they had no choice but to convict. and that's the problem. >> laura: yeah, i mean i'm not sure even how much it's worth unpacking this shannon because from the get-go this was a flawed and novel application of

this statute. and we all know as lawyers why prosecutors don't like using novel applications of statutes, especially in high profile cases because of the possibility likely possibility of a reversal but, in this case they don't seem too concerned about getting reversed. they wanted to get to the results. >> shannon: yeah, if the result is it oget it done and get conviction before the election then mission accomplished for alvin bragg. remember when he started talking about this more than a year ago the indictment coming together, there were people right, front and center who thought this was a very weak case a bad decision a gamble by alvin bragg that many of them including on the left did not think would pay off. they knew it was novel and yet, he was willing to roll the dice. we have seen new york juries and judgment have not been friendly to president trump. so it's a good jurisdiction for them to try something novel. there is a good chance as we all talked about many things that this trump team will put together for appeal.

many things that they can point to and even if they ultimately win it won't matter for this election. it gets you months, maybe years down the road to get to that point even if you eventually get that conviction overturned. in the meantime, it gives the biden-harris campaign a talking point to use about a conviction president trump just did an interview with fox news digital he said he has never had more support. website supposed to be fundraising arm having trouble. overloaded by people who wanted to weigh in now. this gives him that fresh talking point now saying the real verdict comes on november 5th. i would imagine him to keep using that lang wage over and over again tell people if you don't like this verdict i need to you show up in november. >> i want to go back to what i brought up with andy and also with jonathan. what alvin bragg said tonight and whether that was really born out by what the jury concluded, at least what we know about the jury concluded about that bump up crime to the felony.

watch. >> 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. 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. >> laura: andy, do we know that the jury actually unanimously concluded that? no what they unanimously concluded was the business records convictions.

the bit about the conspiracy to steal the election is alvin bragg's narrative about the convictions. but, you know, the victors write the history. if this gets upheld on appeal, i don't think it will, but, if it does, that is how it will go counsel in history. certainly laura how it will be written in the press tomorrow. >> laura: jonathan, what precedent does this set going forward for anyone who comes along to challenge an incumbent like donald trump? what precedent does this set? >> it's not good precedent. and i think that when people, perhaps some who are celebrating tonight, and the celebrations are occurring all around us, i think that some may look back at this and wonder what we have done. because there is great damage here. you know, the reference to dewey was confusing, in my view. it was maddening. dewey ran against truman. he didn't try to put truman in

jail. so, i don't see bragg as a dewey. i think that this is going to be part of a very troubling legacy for not just bragg but for the new york legal system. it's a sad day. and i know that everyone basically fulfilled their narrative tonight, right? i mean, trump was able to show that there was a political prosecution that gave him very little chance in manhattan. i think that's pretty accurate other side filled anywhere narrative is he a convicted felon. when it comes to the law, i think that we also have to take that leap of faith, to believe that we have a legal system that is stronger than all of this, that the people around here who are celebrating the demise of an individual are going to be disappointed. this isn't necessarily a demise.

trump did not look like he was surprised at all. you know, some defendants look like they are heading to jail. he looked like he was heading to dinner. he really did not register it. this is going to be a long road. >> laura: yeah. >> we're going to see how it plays out. i have faith in the legal system. >> laura: well, andy, jonathan, and shannon, all of you thank you so much. joining me now is judge jeanine pirro, co-host of "the five." trump just told fox news digital that the guilty verdict, judge jeanine is a scar on the new york justice system. he vowed to keep fighting. he maintained that the election will be the most important day in the history of our country. and i want to give props to you, judge, because when i thought i saw one or two jurors on that jury who, i don't know, seemed to me a little bit skeptical of the pro-proce whole process yout bank on it this is a new york

jury and those lawyers on the panel would have a lot of influence on the rest of the jurors. like this is our area of expertise listen to this. you were right, judge and your comment on what you saw today? >> judge jeanine: well, you know, it's a sad day. i think america went over a cliff today. i think the indictment alone but now the conviction of a former president of the united states on two dead misdemeanors that were resurrected to life by a judge who was not taken out of the wheel but literally picked out because of his anti-trump bias. and a case that was advanced before the election as opposed to those defendants who were in jail waiting for trial whose turn it is to go to trial the fact they had a magic show literally resurrected misdemeanors and brought to light through a felony nobody knew anything about with a judge saying you don't have to be than news on the specifics whether

it's a federal election campaign violation, a federal tax crime, or a bookkeeping crime. and so we'll never know whether -- which of those it was. and, of course, they had no jurisdiction over those cases either, laura. i can go on and on. but this was a magic show. where they basically said look over here, we have got stormy daniels and isn't she interesting? and look over here we have, you know, michael cohen and he was convicted of federal elections campaign violation. and david pecker, he had a non-prosecution with a federal election campaign people. and as a matter of law, michael cohen is aiding and abetting in the same allegations as our defendant. so what the judge did, he gave the jury no choice, laura. what he said michael cohen was aiding and abetting in the same agencies that this president is charged with or this defendant. so the jury did what they thought they were supposed to do and they brought back a verdict, which is not only a sad day, laura, but what it does to me as

someone who has done this for a living for 32 years, it reminds me of the power of indictment. the power of a prosecutor. and when we have george soros funded prosecutors, and we have the department of justice the biden administration dropping down prosecutors so that they can assist them with local d.a.s, we have got a kangaroo court. but make no mistake. i still believe in the system, laura, because i came up with it. this case is riddled with reversible error and it will be reversed. but, after the election. >> laura: well, how about -- yeah. you can imagine -- given how this has gone, i mean, i think people are wrong to assume, judge, that they're not going to try to put trump either behind bars or basically geo fence him in so he can't really campaign and he needs to ask permission every time he wants to do a rally and then that permission is oh, i will get back to you next week or, well, it will be

probation until november 5th. i don't put anything past them. so you have more faith in the new york judicial system, perhaps, because you grew up in it when it was truly the great d.a.s. d.a.s had who a storied history of taking down the real criminals in the city. not this nonsense with this novel application of the law. i'm very concerned about this attempt to remove trump from the campaign trail when he is cutting through with minority voters especially, in places like chicago, filly, and maybe even in l.a. which i know the trump campaign wants to do an event in. >> judge jeanine: well, i think that look, this judge has set july 11th as the sentencing date. the judge can do any one of a number of things. but this team will ask for bail pending appeal. and if it isn't granted, they will go to the appellate division to get bail. this thing has been locking donald trump down. laura, you are a trial lawyer. you were. you and i both know you don't let a jury go for seven days and

say look, come back after you have a few barbecues over the memorial day weekend. the whole intent was to keep donald trump locked down. and i agree with you, they will do everything they can to stop him. what they have done is awakened a sleeping giant. everybody listens to all the indictments out there. they have convicted a former president of the united states and probable future president of 34 felonies based on a porn think think owe call her a star and a cereal perjurer michael cohen he was the linchpin of this. if you ask an ordinary american what did donald trump do? they won't be able to tell you. so our job right now is to continue to have faith and support this man as he goes forward because he is the strongest man i have ever met, laura. >> laura: i'm going to repeat it, judge. don't get mad, get motivated. judge, great to see you as always. thank you. joining me now florida congressman byron donalds. congressman, i have to say this is happening as i alluded to

with judge jeanine at the same time that we really see trump starting to eat away at the democrats' edge with minority voters. and i think they were in a full frothy panic about biden and harris going up against trump unleashed on the campaign trail. and now they maybe will have a little more spring in their step even if their candidate does not. your reaction tonight? >> they might have a spring today but it's not going to last very long because what happened in new york is a travesty of justice. everybody knows it. you have been talking through the elements of what has occurred. i'm not going to go down the elements. you have a situation where the justice system is prosecuting, and persecuting a chief political rival. no american wants that. especially when you look at the back drop of how joe biden has been a complete disaster as president of the united states. nobody is doing well except for major democrat donors.

they are doing great. everybody else is suffering when you look at donald trump who had a great presidency, he wants to come back and be president. now you have alvin bragg and these other knuckle heads like jack mitt are out there trying to throw him in jail in the american people are trying to see through this. it's not about republican and democrat anymore. it's about americans who need a better country. we significantly need a better president. joe biden cannot do that. only one man can. and that's donald trump. >> laura: yeah, this is warning shot though across the bough, congressman. i think even to people like you. don't even think about challenging the establishment going forward. and i can't help but notice and maybe it's changed over the last few minutes, of the people who haven't come out who condemn what happened in lower manhattan. haven't heard from mitch mcconnell, again, unless it was in the last 20 minutes. mitch mcconnell stands up with the rule of law and all these great journal picks and silence.

i mean, every fair minded american in a position of leadership has to know whereby this is going to take the country. this is way past trump. this is -- this is off the cliff toward full blown totalitarianism if this is allowed to stand in an election year or frankly at any point where there is a political election in the offing. if this is allowed to stand. everyone needs to speak out tonight. >> you are 100 percent correct on this. to my republican colleagues who have been silent, what the radical left democrats are counting on is your silence and your submission you cannot bend a knee to this kind of stuff. i know the president's website went down donald j. trump.com. people get out and support president trump. >> laura: just came back up we heard. >> political arena going to stand for the american people and beat back against these establishment hacks and these radical democrats who truly are destroying our country. people got to stand up to this

stuff. this is not just about being supportive of donald trump. this is about saving america. if you allow stuff like this to occur in new york. it's not going to stop there. it's only going to grow in our country. it's going to lead to the demise of america. i don't want to see that, laura. i know president trump doesn't want to see that. that's why is he going to stand strong against this foolishness and fight for the country. >> laura: now, even these fairly typically anti-trump publications remember the never trump cover on national review back in 2016, even those publications are saying that this trial was rigid in a stunning piece in national review written by our old friend rich lowry. he said the whole thing was rigged in the beginning to the end in hopes of rigging the presidential election. if this had happened in alderman race in cook county, illinois. it happened in what purports to be the greatest city of the world and involves the campaign to become the most powerful political leader in the free

world. lauer lawyer this is even cutting through. >> absolutely correct. >> laura: beyond trump supporters. >> it is. and i think you got take a step back on this whole thing. whether you like donald trump or don't like donald trump. that's a side note. we are talking about the system of justice. we are talking about our institutions. we have been lectured by the radical democrats led by joe biden about how they were going to be here to save our institutions and to safe democracy. they are not doing any of that they are destroying every institution in this country. and it is going to take strong leadership to defeat them in november, which is what really matters. that's the real verdict here, laura. november 5th, people need to get out and vote and make sure their voice is heard. if you want to save the land of the free and home of the brave, it's not with joe biden and these radicals in our midst. it is with common sense conservatives who have no problem standing up to wrongdoing when they see it. so i'm glad that rich lowry wrote that column. other people need to stand up

against this. this is wrong. >> laura: well, congressman, thank you so much. all right. putin is smiling tonight. that's the focus of tonight's angle. >> laura: so, just to recap, we know president trump was found guilty on all 34 counts in lower manhattan. and if that's the case, i really think we have reached the subbasement of u.s. history. this once unthinkable low. so, even when it's sunny by the way in the nation's capital, when biden is speaking always expect a storm of lies and stumbles with wide bands of irony moving through. >> we can't let putin win. say it again. we can't let putin win. >> laura: ha, that's funny. putin must be laughing. watching judge merchan run his courtroom like any kremlin crony would run his own in moscow. whenever a viable threat to his power base emerges, just take it

out with soviet style justice. find a crime, any crime, and charge them with it. this is what is facing biden's likely successor now, donald trump. >> 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. you have a soros backed d.a., we didn't do a thing wrong. i'm a very innocent man and 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 will fight for our constitution. this is long from over. thank you very much. >> laura: is he absolutely

right. remember when they use accuse him of russian collusion. what they are doing is russian impersonation here. like any show trial, the jackals who cheered on the prosecution, they, of course, are going to indulge in the sickest of fantasies, close your eyes and everyone imagine trump at rikers. >> our amazing commissioner, she is prepared for whatever comes on rikers island, i'm pretty sure she would be prepared to manage and deal with the situation. >> have you had those discussions with corrections about that situation? >> yes, we have. see that woman on h left smilin, drinking the pelligrino what else would trump be f be adams d be focused on: if you think he trying to solve the problems you care about. you told every pollster you care

about? think again. their focus has been entirely on holding on to power with an iron fist. and that required their attempts to humiliate donald trump, of course, with the ultimate goal of removing him from the campaign trail which they hope the sentencing actually will do. so democrats, of course, are going to salivate over the prospect that a man with secret service protection leading in most of the polls, could be marched to have jail, whew, biden won't have to debate after all. well, they fall asleep at night thinking classy felonies, they were punishable but they do the math. what it's 136 years, total? all 34 counts if you get the maximum or trump in an orange jumpsuit? yeah. liberals once believed in preserving civil liberties. i remember those liberals. and they talked about over zealous prosecutors, the danger of prosecutors totally running out of control. but that was out the window. it was out the window with trump

because trump broke them trump revealed them. today david at "the washington post" explained that even trump -- if he avoids jail, he may be sidelined from doing rallies or any campaigning. saying trump would be required to clear any out-of-state travel with a probation officer. if trump were to serve home confinement at his mar-a-lag resort, new york authorities would likely have to work with counterparts in florida-to-a accommodate him. and liberals who once believed in protecting civil liberties, well, they love contemplating how trump on probation will also be subject to random searches and even drug tests. yeah. look. if you have been wondering when the biden campaign would actually kick into high gear? you're watching it? >> you create a bad guy, a villain, and you tell the story of the villain and you tell the

story of the rescue that's going to come at the end of this movie that we're talking about here and the end of the story in the movie is election day. >> laura: forget the economy, forget the border, forget the attacks on your freedom of movement. forget that they are even coming from gas powered cars and gas stove. just think that the guy that you were going to pull the lever for, the guy who restored our economy back in 2019 is now a convicted felon. >> what do they need to do to get those people to come home. remind those people of who donald trump is. the trial, especially if there is a conviction, helps in that effort. so they have a lot of clubs in their bag. >> laura: a lot of clubs. note the language. golf or caveman style, john? we didn't need to expose these people because they exposed themselves. >> we need an american president who is thinking about our problems not his own. i think donald trump is pretty tied up right now in a manhattan

courtroom. broad jury instruction. andy mccarthy and jonathan turley. you heard of the pick 6 lottery? this was pick 3. tax evasion. election interference or falsification of records. again, circular charge. making it completely nonsensical. flying in the face of what we all understood to be the requirement of a truly man news verdict with a nonnovel application of the law that's never been used in this type of circumstance. how convenient. even an msnbcer saw a problem here. >> these are the jury instructions, right? 55 pages long. this is incredibly difficult to understand, even though i read it four times over at this point. i still don't get it at certain points. and by the way you can't take it into the deliberation room. >> laura: my best guess is that the two lawyers on the jury were

probably instrumental in moving the jury to wherever they landed. now, this is my area of expertise, you can imagine. let me explain how this works. michael cohen is plenty incredible. you kin father intent on donald trump. so they move to their verdict. well, this was only possible, remember, because judge merchan crafted jury instructions that were so confusing, so long, so broad, that it really was almost impossible for a jury not to find trump was guilty here. but back to putin. you have to be pinching himself here. this is what they called the agreat american experiment in democracy? but, in fact, biden's protectors are just copying us. if this were happening in any other country, what we have seen in that manhattan courthouse, the u.n. would be demanding an investigation. but, in this case, it's just part of the biden campaign, you saw matthew colangelo standing

next to alvin bragg late today when they were doing their victory lap. this is, of course, what the globalists are enthusiastically supporting and that's the angle. joining me now newt gingrich, former speaker of the house, fox news political analyst. newt, the verdict handed down, the president did not seem surprised by this. as an historical matter, how significant is this? i think potentially very significant depending on what happened what happens this fall. you have now the most corrupted system going after political leaders in american history. we have never seen anything like this one is crump has grown in stature all through this experience. the number of people say to me they can't imagine how he has been age to stand up.

owe is now a bigger figure than he was when the trial started. it's one of the things the left doesn't understand. i also think that the corruption is going to change things. by the way doesn't solve any of biden's problems. people are going to go to the grocery store and find it's too expensive going to find they can't afford a house. gasoline is going to start back up again. they will find there are illegal immigrants. none of this is going to effect the long run. this happened earlier happened ironically the website for donald trump chanced this afternoon because some people went to it spontaneously. for trump deeply enraged. not only is this sad day, infuriating day. i think that the amount of energy that's going to be available for trump is going to

go up very, very dramatically while it's clear that up a cognitively impaired decaying president who can barely figure out what he is doing. >> laura: well, newt, i think the left doesn't quite understand that it's bitten off more than it can chew here. because, trump campaigned from the very beginning an an outsider. and a lot of people said well, you got into power. you're part of the now elite g.o.p. establishment, of a sort. so you can't really claim to be an outsider anymore. you already were on the inside. but he is the ultimate outsider now fighting against corrupt establishment that will each subvert justice system to cling to power at the same time democrats say trump will never leave office. if he is elected he is never going to leave office. what does it look like tonight, newt, that biden will never leave office.

>> remember, this every american has to remember a government big enough to take on a billionaire former president and frontrunner this year. a government that will take him on can destroy the rest of us this is a vote going back to the trump or establishment of a dictatorship in which the people it who are corrupt tell the rest of us do what we want you to or else we will destroy you the way we destroyed trump. i think this -- in that sense streerdly important moment. personally, i believe deeply in the american people. i do not believe the american people want government to control them. i don't think the american people want joe biden to come to nate them. and i don't think they are dumb enough to believe that any of this is fair. so, i think the net advantage will be over the next six weeks

enormous increase in strength for trump and a real problem for the left as it begins to realize that there may be nothing it can do to stop him from becoming president. >> laura: let's fast-forward to the debates for a moment, newt, and how today's news makes them more important and the way trump comports himself during these debates. given what's happened with this news. what would your best advice be, given that we know biden is going to try to egg trump on by you're a convicted felon. that's going to be the biden attack at this debate. no doubt about it. >> look, i mean, my advice would be, the smaller and pettier biden gets, the bigger and more historic trump should get. trump should go into that debate as the spokesperson for the american people, a as visionary who wants a better future. as man who delivered a far better path than joe biden.

and not get involved in mud wrestling with joe biden. now, remember, by the time you get there, you are going to have all of hunter biden's problems out in the open. you will have a lot of other things going on. and frankly a little bit like reagan who said there you go again in his debate with carter, i would just ask as often as i could in the debate have you been to a grocery store recently joe? do you have any idea what the american people are suffering? and i would just go back to that over and over again and because that is the strongest single condemnation we have a project that does a tremendous amount of polling. african-americans, latinos, asian americans, it doesn't matter. everybody in america is hurting financially trump ought to say i did everything i could to stop and it i think we are going to get a new coalition. trump is running ahead now in every one of those groups

stronger now than any republican since eisenhower with african-americans it's that big of difference. >> that's what has the left freaking out. newt, thank you, as always. all right, as i said, this is the real election interference. they accused trump of that. but that's what they are doing. it was always about getting trump off the trail. they know how powerful he is in just arguing that, remember what you felt like. remember what you were like back in 2019, and how is it working out now? they didn't want that to be the narrative. they think they flipped the narrative tonight. well, his sentencing will be on july 11th, that's just days before the start of the republican convention. the angle will be there in milwaukee. and i mentioned this briefly earlier. but it's important that everyone tonight understands the magnitude of what the jury just decided. trump faces not just jail time but probation and the probation could involve home confinement,

drug tests. random searches, and very importantly, travel restrictions. joining me now sol wisenberg, former deputy independent counsel, former law clerk justices scalia and thomas. and also former ambassador to mexico. chris, let's start with you. i wanted to believe and i was really idealistic in believing so that there was one juror who saw through what was going on but it was unanimous verdict at least on the falsification part of it. your reaction tonight? >> yeah, laura, both as a lawyer and as an american, today is a day of great sadness and shame for me. i just feel like this is not what this country is about. i think this proves once again that if a judge wants a jury to convict, the judge has myriad

ways of making that clear to the jury i think judge merchan's name go down in the annuals as a crooked and bias judge. that guy pulled a merchan today. and this is where we are in our country. so i think it's a really sad day. i think the point you just made about the potential for restrictions on trump, you know, just portends even greater miss mischief as the election season moves on. this will not be a one and done. they will try to control this man throughout the whole campaign. judge merchan and the probation officer can decide. >> laura: i mean it can effect the whole future of the country. yeah. i mean, sol, that is something, how chris just touched on this. a probation officer in west palm beach working with a probation office in new york could have an

outsized influence in the future of the united states of america, our relationship with china, what will that look like? our trade law? what will that look like? our economic system, what will that look like? our border? will that be enforced because of whether the president can campaign or not, your reaction tonight. >> i don't think his political opponents are that stupid. they were stupid enough to bring this prosecution but i don't think they that are stupid. i think it will backfire tremendously. and i just don't think it's likely to happen. keep in mind, in addition to being able to appeal, a deeply flawed trial, he can in the state system like the federal system the strength strength of your potential appeal can effect the conditions of bond that you are under. so in the unlikely condition that they really try to restrict his involvement like that, i

don't think that it will fly. keep in mind, also, the highest court in new york reversed the conviction of harvey weinstein. can you imagine anybody more unpopular and more hated in new york than harvey weinstein but that court reversed the conviction based upon improper evidence that was presented. >> laura: lawyer a year later. >> that's true. >> laura: campaign trail, sol, that's years from now: that is years from now. >> it will not help him, yeah. it will not help him in the campaign trail. and that's why i do not believe it will try to pull anything like that. also, i have to say one thing others have talked about it. this is so orwellian, thomas dewey was a great prosecutor in the 1930s and 40s the epitome of trust busting and honest prosecutor. is he a towering figure in the law it. is the antithesis of everything thomas dewey stood for to have

brought this case. he never would have brought this case. he is spinning in his grave over this. what an orwellian outrage to quote and to try to associate yourself with thomas dewey. >> laura: the best was when that reporter, if you can call it a reporter, who asked a question of bragg tonight saying well how does it feel? are you kidding me? like how do you feel tonight? like what's your favorite color? what did you have for dinner last night. most ridiculous question ever. the legal minds at msnbc, chris are thinking that this verdict may set other legal issues in motion. watch. >> there is some thuts that the supreme court may have been waiting for this verdict and we will see if that is an explanation for their delay or whether they are really are five justices who written tent in undermining the public's right to a speedy trial in the januar.

>> chris, weissman says a lot of dopey things. but the court waiting, john roberts. amy coney barrett we are waiting for judge merchan and the jury? this is just a fever dream these people have. >> yeah, that's somebody who has no idea how the court works or at least, you know, is willfully putting on a show there. i mean, let me ask you this though. judge merchan show trial is probably the strongest evidence to buttress trump's claim in the supreme court that presidents need immunity from criminal prosecution to do their jobs. i mean,. >> laura: bingo. >> official acts. but i mean this shows that you don't have to imagine hypotheticals. i mean, you know, this is right there in front of the justices. and you know, these are not -- this is not a slippery slope of what might happen. this is unfolding right in front

of them. so, you know, i think that. >> laura: sol, do you agree with that do you agree with chris's point there, sol, that this does prove or show how the abuse can be laid out in a state criminal proceeding against a former president in an election year when he is running again? >> well, i do. but, of course, not even president trump has claimed immunity for acts that he committed when he was not president. but i want to talk about, first of all, nobody should ever listen to anything andrew weissman says. he is a complete ignore rain must when it comes to constitutional law he was universally scorned. i have to tell you he did the enron prosecution. he was universally scorned. >> laura: horrible. >> by the defense bar here. democrats and republicans, also keep in mind this is forgotten when people talk about delaying these trials. trump faced two federal prosecutions. this is all starting in 23 and

going to 24. two federal prosecutions. the gene carroll libel suit. the tish james massive civil fraud trial and the alvin bragg prosecution. there is no federal defendant anywhere in the country that wouldn't get sympathy from a federal court saying i can't prepare for five trials in one year. i have to have a continuance. so the idea that there is anything unusual or improper about a delay is ridiculous when it was jack smith who delayed until 2023 before even indicting president trump. so, it's just ridiculous. this whole idea that you're duty-bound to try him before the '24 election. >> laura: proving that it's political. it's not just a regular old run-of-the-mill legal case that really needs to be resolved. it habes to done before the election. they reveal themselves at every

turn. sol and chris, thank you. all right, joining me now lee zeldin former new york congressman as well as mike davis, article iii project president, former law clerk to justice gorsuch. lee, i know you just announced on twitter that you just secured a very, very large donation for trump after that verdict was handed down. can you tell us anything more? >> $800,000 donation to president trump. his joint fundraising committee. that amount was something that you could tell the max donation was larger. i think the donation would have been larger. i saw someone else post on social media about how they were donating $300,000 immediately. and i'm sure there are plenty of people donating $5 and $25. donald j. trump.com. president trump's website. people can don't and donate right now. i know when red went down. it is back up. people are stepping up all

across this country understanding the real verdict been november 5th. >> laura: mike, you and i have now been talking about this lawfare for years. we knew that this was a possibility. i held out hope that there was one brave juror who could see through. this but i was wrong. and your reaction tonight given the glee over at some of the other nets? >> today's victory from this partisan, corrupts trial just guaranteed president trump's election on november 5th of this year. and to president biden and biden democratic goons this is a pier rick victory because you just guaranteed that president trump is going to win in a landslide. >> laura: lee zeldin, do you agree with that that this is the that you that broke the

moderates' back whether it comes to trump. you hear them, i hear them well, i don't like him. he is too brash, i don't like his tone. he talks too much about the 2020 election. whatever it is they are hesitant to support him. was this ultimately a major mistake by the left and huge overreach into really judicial tyranny in the election year? >> absolutely, people posting on social media about how they have never voted for president trump. in primaries, general elections, ever, but now they will walk on glass for him. the intensity of president trump supporters are the people who have always supported him. now they will support him more than ever. but people who were independent-minded folks who didn't even like president trump or vote for him in the past said that this was a political prosecution. when it indictment first came out a year ago, but then when you see the bias of the judge, with the jury instructions, and the fact that we're sitting here

tonight and we still don't know what the underlying charge is that was allowing president trump to get convicted, i mean, that just doesn't pass any smell test. you can't spin this right side up. i think that the damage is going to be great i think it will have down ballot consequences as well. my message for anyone out there who might be optimistic about november you need to wake up tomorrow and work harder. you can't take a seat back and say no, it's good to go. everything is going to be a fix. no, work harder. >> laura: mike, do you agree with what sol said earlier that he doubts that merchan will really be tough in the sentencing because it would politically backfire to try to hymn him in from campaigning like is he some kind of flight risk? how ridiculous would that be? do you agree with sol? i don't have any optimism about what merchan will do. >> this democrat manhattan judge

juan merchan is corrupt. he is partisan. illegally donated to biden's campaign. we just learned that he was reprimanded by the new york judicial system. that didn't deter him at all. his daughter is raising millions of dollars off of this unprecedented criminal trial over which judge juan merchan's presiding. that requires his recusal under new york statute. that's not just me saying that. -- >> laura: i know. do you think -- we know all that do you think he is going to be especially tough in the sentencing or will he just, a probation without many restrictions? put trump in prison or minimum home confinement with very strict -- >> laura: i agree. >> that hobble trump's ability to run for the presidency. >> laura: i think i agree with you.

lee, mike, thank you both. joining me now editor and chief of the federalist and fox news contributor mollie hemingway. he editor and chief fox news ben domenech. the trump campaign just confirmed he will attend a fundraiser tonight and saying we are already back to the mission. president trump will not let this sham stop the movement in this campaign to save the nation. mollie, how important is it that he wins and wins big in november given what happened today? >> that's the only reasonable response to what's happened today. this kangaroo court conviction is not going to save biden. and it's not probably going to hurt trump. it might even help him. but, what democrats have done to the country with this lawfare and with running show trials and using courts, abusing courts to go after political opponents, that does real damage to the country. now, it's not necessarily the end of the world if people fight back against it. but they do need to fight back against it because it is that

serious. i don't know if people realize how rule of law is really what has held our republic together. has enabled us to live in peace. this democrat assault on rule of law is truly an existential threat to the country. >> laura: ben, what happens if a critical mass of americans just no longer believe the rule of law, the justice system means anything anymore? what happens then to our republic? >> ben: that's a very dangerous and a very terrible thing to happen for our country, laura. and, you know, i don't want to sound like i'm being a devil's advocate here but i'm very concerned about the fact that, you know, we have been through all these things in recent years where we thought that americans would rise up and defend their own freedoms, would speak for their own liberty, and to especially during the pandemic, especially during the lockdowns. and we were disabused of that notion in a way that i think really depressed a lot of us. i'm worried that in this moment

americans may not understand the risk that they're entertaining here. if donald trump is in any way restrained from being able to campaign by this partisan judge in new york for the presidency, someone who held that office before could very well hold it again is currently leading candidate. and some how this new york judge can by fiat just imprison him effectively either within a jail or within his own house, that's something that is unacceptable. it's something that is beyond banana republic. it's something that is a laughingstock not just of the nation but of the world. we cannot accept it. it cannot happen. >> laura: mollie, i said putin is smiling tonight. we keep hearing we got to fight putin. panetta was on fox earlier tonight saying we got to fight putin. we got to beat putin. i'm going is he paying attention

to what is happening in new york? does he even get the parallels here? come on. leon. >> one of those things we used to think separated us from the soviet union we didn't do these kinds of show trials it. does show there needs to be a very strong response from, you know, any republican leadership that happens to be awake or sentient at this hour they need to fight extremely hard they need to care about rule of law and democracy in this country as much -- half as much as they care about it in ukraine. >> laura: well, when we look, ben, at this sweep of history over the last, you know, seven or eight years, i really maintain that this is a -- this is a warning shot that the left is firing across the bough. you try to challenge the establishment and we will take you down. >> ben: they have ramped this up to such a degree that i think a lot of old guard republicans never really entertained. they thought that they could

continue in this level of plightness and getting along, having some kind of coming together. that is that is not something we can gain anymore in this environment. they are trying to jail the current leading candidate for the presidency of the united states of america that is not something we can accept on any level whether we are republican or democrat it is absolutely abhorrent. >> laura: here is my question tonight liz cheney, mitt romney, mitch mcconnell, all the republicans. you might not have liked trump, but do you like this? is this america to you? mollie and ben thank you so much. make sure to follow me on social media i will continue to comment on the events of the day. don't get mad, >> jesse: a manhattan jury has convicted donald trump o