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new york hush money trial. >> this was a rigged, disgraceful trial. >> the only voice that matters is the voice of the jury, and the jury has spoken. >> juju: a jury deliberating for ten hours to convict trump of falsifying business records, to buy the silence of adult film star stormy daniels over their alleged sexual encounter in the runup to the eelection. >> i relish the day i get to face him and speak my truth. >> juju: will the verdict impact voters in november? could the former president go to prison? what we're learning tonight. pain means pause on the things you love, but... green... means... go! ♪ cool the pain with biofreeze. and keep on going. biofreeze. green means go. [♪] if you're only using facial moisturizer in the morning, and keep on going. did you know, the best time for skin renewal is at night? olay retinol24

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♪ >> juju: thanks for joining us. tonight, an epic courtroom drama as the guilty verdict was handed down against donald trump. stunning courtroom observers and the former president himself. >> how does it feel to be a convicted felon? >> juju: tonight, history made. donald trump becoming the first former president in american history to be criminally convicted. new york city, where he built his fortune, his name embossed on countless buildings. the same city finding him guilty, making him a convicted felon. the 12 new yorkers on the jury finding trump guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business

records in the stormy daniels hush money case. prosecutors proving that trump falsified checks, invoices, and business records to conceal a $130,000 payment to adult film star stormy daniels to keep the story from voters just days before the 2016 election. the historic verdict coming after nearly ten hours of deliberations. inside the courtroom, an extraordinary moment. judge juan merchan had indicated he was going to excuse the jury for the day when suddenly jurors signaled they had reached a verdict. it was emotional whiplash. the former president's mood shifting dramatically. the jury avoiding eye contact with him as they took their seats inside the courtroom. the foreperson reading the verdict count by count. at count four, the former president shook his head and then 30 other guilty counts were read. >> guilty! >> reporter: cheers could be heard in the crowd outside of the courthouse as the verdict was being handed down. >> guilty! >> reporter: an outraged trump speaking just outside the

courtroom moments after he was convicted. >> this was a rigged, disgraceful trial. the real verdict is going to be november 5th by the people. >> reporter: trump maintaining his innocence. >> we didn't do a thing wrong. i'm a very innocent man. >> juju: in true new york fashion, the former president caught in rush hour traffic before returning to trump tower, his fist raised in defiance. manhattan d.a. alvin bragg, who brought the 34 charges against trump, speaking out after the dishistoric verdict. >> the 12 everyday jurors vowed to make a decision based on the evidence and the law. and the evidence and the law alone. 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. >> juju: trump's republican defenders repeatedly called this a political persecution. >> the president's actions in this matter were previously reviewed, and no charges were filed. why is that? because there's no crime here. it's painfully obvious that we are now six months out from an election day, and that's the reason. it's all about politics, and everybody can scene. >> juju: the trial lasting seven weeks. 22 witnesses taking the stand, including the woman at the center of it all, stormy daniels, who spoke about the trial earlier this year on "the view." >> and i relish the day that i get to face him and speak my truth. >> juju: daniels alleged in a "60 minutes" interview she'd had sex with trump in 2006, just months after his wife, melania, had given birth to their son barron, something trump denies. >> did he mention his wife or child at all in this? >> i asked, and he brushed it

aside, said, "oh, yeah, yeah, don't worry about that, we have separate rooms" and stuff. >> juju: her lawyer releasing a statement after the historic verdict. "stormy is relieved that this case is now over. no man is above the law. these jurors should be respected and appreciated." trump's former fixer and lawyer, michael cohen, also testifying. trump's defense team calling him the greatest liar of all-time. cohen also reacting to trump's verdict in a statement. "today is an important day for accountability and the rule of law." trump never testifying in his own defense. the former president still faces dozens of felony counts in three other criminal cases, including his mishandling of sensitive classified government documents, an alleged plot to subvert the transfer of power in the 2020 elections, an alleged scheme to overturn the 2020 election in georgia. trump denies all wrongdoing. late tonight, he attended a political fund-raising event in new york city. his campaign saying the guilty

verdict has fired up donors for his 2024 presidential race. so let's get right to abc's senior investigative correspondent, aaron katersky outside the courtroom. aaron, you've been covering this historic trial from the start. what was the scene like inside the courtroom when donald trump's verdict was read? >> reporter: it was such an incredible change, because everybody thought we were going home without a verdict until the judge told everyone to wait and informed the court there is a verdict. the mood instantly changed. former president trump was laughing with his attorneys, and everyone was sort of almost giddy. and then everybody turned rigid. the jury filed in, and then one by one, the jury foreperson answered "guilty" for each of the 34 counts. juju, it was about count four when it seemed that former president trump may have realized the gravity of the moment, because that's when he started to shake his head, perhaps realizing he had just become the first convicted

former american president. >> juju: jurors were cautioned about relying on the president's former fixer, michael cohen's testimony, alone. so what was the crucial corroborating evidence in this case? >> reporter: we may never know, but the jurors certainly focused on a piece of corroborating testimony from david pecker, who prosecutors really viewed as the star witness even though michael cohen was the one who really linked former president trump to the scheme to corrupt the 2016 election. the jury asked for a read-back of testimony from michael cohen, to hear how he described an august 2015 meeting at trump tower where prosecutors said the scheme was hatched. and david pecker gave testimony that was largely consistent with cohen's account. pecker said he became the eyes and ears of the trump campaign. said he would inform cohen and trump of any negative stories, buy them up, and bury them so the american voters wouldn't find out. >> juju: aaron, you followed this trial every step of the

way, thank you. >> reporter: thanks, juju. >> juju: let's bring in our chief legal analyst, dan abrams. sentencing is set for july 11th, days before the republican convention. legal analysts like yourself think prison time is unlikely. why is that, and what are the other possible punishments? >> it's unlikely but possible. the range is anything from zero to up to four years. the reason that most people believe it's unlikely is, this is the lowest-level felony in new york law. a class "e" felony. this is a defendant in donald trump who has no criminal record. so typically in those kinds of cases, the person does not end up getting prison time. but there are a lot of other factors to incorporate, as they do in every case, in evaluating a possible sentence. and there's also a possible other compromised, nuanced sentences that could happen. things like probation, community

service, home confinement. those are all on the table as well. >> juju: interesting. we watched president trump or former president trump, rather, walk out of the courtroom today with no bail. how does the verdict impact his ability to travel, to speak out against the case or the judge, for that matter? or even affect his ability to run for president? >> it doesn't. he is going to be able to run for president as a convicted felon. he's going to be able to vote in the election as well. >> juju: is the gal order now lifted? >> the gag order will soon be lifted. again, he's always been allowed to criticize the judge. he's also been allowed to criticize the d.a. the gag order has specifically related to witnesses in particular, family members of certain people associated with the court. >> juju: we know he's facing other criminal charges. those likely won't go to trial until after the election.

how do those cases compare to this one? >> the federal cases will go away if he wins. the georgia case will probably get postponed to 2029 if he wins. if he doesn't win, those cases will then move forward. which makes this election particularly high stakes for him on a personal level. >> juju: if he does win, can he pardon himself in this particular case? >> no, not on the state charges. but i do think that if he wins and the sentence has not been served, which it probably won't be before the election, it is certainly possible that the supreme court would say in the end that the president of the united states can't have to serve either community service or prison time, et cetera, while he's the president of the united states. and as a result, that could mean that the sentence ends up getting moved to 2029, as well. >> juju: a fascinating set of legal options. thank you, dan abrams, as

always. >> all right, juju. >> juju: abc's senior congressional correspondent rachel scott has been covering trump campaign. how's the republican party reacting to the verdict tonight? >> reporter: the republican party, largely unified behind the former president. the speaker of the house, mike johnson, the second in line to the presidency, called today a shameful day, insisting this was a purely political exercise, not a legal one. of course, johnson is one of 37 republican officials who visited that manhattan courthouse to show their support for the former president. even donald trump's former rivals, including florida governor ron desantis, who once said that trump's indictment sucked the oxygen out of the primary, blasted this guilty verdict. the bottom line, this is a party that has only grown closer to the former president even after this conviction. but we have never seen anything like this in american history. a republican presumptive nominee, now a convicted felon, still campaigning for the white house. by the way, that sentencing date

just days before the republican national convention. bottom line, juju, this is a republican party that has only grown closer to the former president even after today's guilty verdict. >> juju: rachel, thank you. there's been little reaction from the biden administration following the verdict. a spokesperson for the white house counsel's office saying simply, "we have respect for the rule of law and have no additional comment." abc's chief white house correspondent mary bruce is in washington. mary what should we make of the silence coming from the white house? >> reporter: juju, tonight we have not heard from president biden directly reacting to this, but his campaign says today shows no one is above the law. there is no question that politically this verdict is a huge gift to democrats and the president. but his campaign is being careful here not to celebrate this too much. they don't want to feed into donald trump's narrative that this is all just a political hit job, something that the president adamantly rejects. instead in a somber, somewhat muted statement, the campaign said, today's verdict does not change the fact that there is still 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. president biden is expected to weigh in at some point. we'll see if he takes any of our questions. >> juju: mary bruce, thank you. when we come back, our powerhouse roundtable dives deep intohat the verdict could mean for donald trump's political future. ♪ ♪ i got the power of 3. i lowered my a1c, cv risk, and lost some weight. in studies, the majority of people reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it. i'm under 7. ozempic® lowers the risk of major cardiovascular events such as stroke, heart attack, or death in adults also with known heart disease. i'm lowering my risk. adults lost up to 14 pounds. i lost some weight. ozempic® isn't for people with type 1 diabetes. don't share needles or pens, or reuse needles. don't take ozempic® if you or your family ever had medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2,

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♪ >> juju: welcome back. joining me now are abc's executive editorial producer,

john santucci, and abc's deputy political director, averi harper. thank you for joining us. we know that you know donald trump and his inner circle quite well. what is the mood in trumpland tonight? >> it's an interesting mix of surprise. surprise at how quickly this verdict came down, but not a lot of surprise at what it was. in the sense that this was a case in new york. they always felt that this would be one that could not go his way. but i think just the speed of it really threw everybody for a loop. remember, there was a weird 15 minutes here where it sounded like the jury was going to go home for the day. i left the building thinking it wasn't going to be today. for everybody around donald trump right now, the surprise. the anger at all of this. and knowing that this is obviously not good for them, quickly finding a way to pivot. >> juju: what impact, if any, will this have on the political campaign? there was a recent poll that said 24% of committed trump supporters might reconsider if he's convicted? >> right. i think it's important to remember that the vast majority

of trump supporters said they were going to stick with former president trump in the event he was convicted of a felony. but it's also important to note that many of those poll numbers were taken before this verdict came down. so we're going to have to wait and see. the fact that is americans have not confronted a choice like this. we're going to have to actually just see what happens in november. >> juju: when we say historic, we mean it's historic. we know the former president has campaigned off all his criminal cases. he's already doubling down on this verdict tonight. he can't be happy with what's happened? >> he's not happy, but let's be clear. he already left trump tower today and went and fund-raised after leaving court. that shows you the way they are quickly trying to make this pivot. no, you're exactly right, he's not happy about this at all. look at the way he emerged in the courtroom. we've seen that anger, but it was a different donald trump that came out of new york. and think about that image of him driving back uptown. in some ways, the traffic of it error the fact that he was literally sitting on the fdr,

having to take it all in. donald trump once flew across the manhattan skyline with barbara walters and talked about wanting to have an impact on it. the impact that new york has now had on him can't be understated. >> juju: we also know that in many ways his poll numbers are gravity-defying. in many ways, the gop party is still locked and loaded for donald trump? >> i think it's indicative, when you look at the reaction of gop lawmakers and prominent republicans from all sides of the spectrum. there has been a real effort to rally around former president trump in the aftermath of this verdict. i think that's reflective of the fact that this is his party. he's the presumptive presidential nominee for the republican party and accept that nomination in july, days after his sentencing for this case. >> juju: we saw eric trump, one of the president's sons, by his side, but notable absences. namely, ivanka and melania. >> nowhere to be found, either in the courtroom or the campaign

trail. ivanka trump was the first one to introduce donald trump, the presidential candidate. so far this cycle, around the court cases, his campaign, she months where to be found. we've seen one image of melania voting with him in the floridian primary. i think it shows the fact that this is a different race for donald trump. for thinks children, things have changed. as one person said to me, donald trump now, versus 2015? a whole different world. >> juju: the biden camp has been fairly muted about all of the criminal cases as they proceed, and yet tonight, they issued a statement saying that many ways, this campaign is increasingly unhinged and that a second trump term means chaos. what does this signal to you? >> i think there's a reason why that statement came from a campaign spokesman, not the president himself. they have tried to keep their distance from these case because they don't want to further the narrative that former president trump is some sort of political mart stir. i think in this phase of the

campaign it's important for them to try to define the choice for american voters between themselves and former president trump. and this case, this conviction, is going to be a big part of that. >> juju: and john, you have mentioned repeatedly that he will go home tonight? >> yeah. >> juju: watch cable tv and start making phone calls. why is that such a natural reflex for him? >> that's the usual playbook for him, right? i mean, he wants to see the coverage of it. he takes it all in. then he's going to start working the foechbs, asking people what do they think? what i think many people are going to say to him, "let's move forward, let's get back on the campaign trail, get a running mate, turn the page." >> juju: john santucci, averi harper, thank you both for your insights as always. we'll be right back. go without daily hiv pills. good to go unscripted. good to go on a whim. with cabenuva, there's no pausing for daily hiv pills. for adults who are undetectable, cabenuva is the only complete,

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♪ >> juju: that's "nightline" for tonight. more coverage of the historic trump verdict on "abc news live" and on "gma" in the morning. watch full episodes on hulu. we'll see you back here same time tomorrow. thanks for staying up with us. good night, america.