Abc News Live. Tonight, major breaking news, the historic conviction of former President Donald Trump on all 34 counts. This was a rigged, disgraceful trial. The real verdict is going to be November fifth by the people, and they know what happened here, and everybody knows what happened here. This jury in New York City, a jury of his peers finding the former President guilty on every single felony count. Defend it. 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. I feel that in the end, he will be vindicated and he will be President again. It sends a signal across the world that no one is above the law. Good evening, everyone. I'm Lindsay Davis. Thanks so much for streaming Coming with us. We do begin tonight with that historic breaking news. The former leader of the free world, Donald Trump, now a convicted felon, guilty on all 34 counts in the criminal trial here in New York City. Trump is now the first former President in US history to ever be convicted of a crime. It took 10 hours of deliberations for the jury to find Trump guilty of all 34 counts of falsifying business records in his New York hush money trial.

The former President blasted the verdict as he left the courthouse headed for Trump Tower. This This is a rigged, disgraceful trial. The real verdict is going to be November fifth by the people. Here you can see all 34 of the charges all coming back guilty. A short time later, DA Alvin Bragg addressed the verdict after many initially questioned the viability of him bringing this case forward. 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. Seven men and five women, all New Yorkers from Trump's home city, came to this decision. The conclusion of this dramatic trial after weeks of testimony from key witnesses, including Trump's former fixer and lawyer, Michael Cohen, who Trump's defense team called the greatest liar of all time. Also testifying adult film actress Stormy Daniels, who described in Laura detail her alleged sexual encounter with Trump. After it all, today, Trump returned to Trump Tower, gave that little fist pump before walking inside. Trump's sentencing is now set for July 11. That is just four days before the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

As far as how this will reverberate across the country for both the Trump and Biden campaigns and the American people, Our team is standing by to cover it all. Our senior investigative correspondent, Aaron Katursky, leads us off. Tonight, former President Donald Trump, defiant, arriving home at Trump Tower after being found guilty as charged of all 34 counts of falsifying business business records. Trump, now a convicted felon. The historic verdict coming after nearly 10 hours of deliberations. A unanimous jury of 12 New Yorkers made Trump the first President in history to be a convicted criminal. It was an extraordinary turn in the courtroom. Just moments before jurors signaled they had a verdict, Judge Juan Mershon indicated he was going to excuse them for the day. Then a dramatic shift. Trump went from joking with his attorneys to sitting stone-face, looking down as the jury read the verdict count by count. Prosecutors proving Trump falsified business records to conceal a $130,000 hush payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels to keep her story from voters before the 2016 election. The former President then marching out of the courtroom with his lawyer, Todd Blanch, by his side. This was a rigged, disgraceful trial.

The real verdict is going to be November fifth by the people. An outside court. Cheers could be heard in the crowd as news of Trump's conviction spread. The trial lasting seven weeks, 22 witnesses taking the stand, including Trump's former fixer and lawyer, Michael Cohen, who Trump's defense team called the greatest liar of all time. Cohen, late today, releasing a statement saying, Today is an important day for accountability and the rule of law. While it has been a difficult journey for me and my family, the truth always matters. And Stormy Daniels in a statement tonight saying, No man is above the law. Trump, seen leaving the courtroom late today, getting into his SUV, surrounded by security. Judge Juan Marshawn, thank the jury for their handling of a very stressful and difficult task, saying, You were excused with the gratitude of the court. Court dismissed. The sentencing date for Donald Trump, July 11th, just four days before the Republican National Convention. What a day. What a time. Aaron Kutursky joins us now from the courthouse where you've been covering this trial day in, day out. Aaron, that sentencing, of course, we know comes July 11th, and former President Trump is facing jail time, four years maximum.

But how likely is that? It's unimaginable to think about a former American President, Lindsay, serving time behind bars. And while the four-year maximum is what he potentially faces, and we I know the US Secret Service has had some informal discussions about that possibility. It's hard to imagine that a first-time non-violent offender is actually going to be sentenced to prison time. We'll find out on July 11th. Throughout this trial, the former President has been none too kind to Judge Juan Rashaun, who will hand down the sentence. The sentencing is just four days before the Republican National Convention. Conventions are often a party for the chosen candidate. Can it still be a party for President Trump if he happens to be sentenced to time in jail? It still could be because the Republican Party has shown no willingness to distance itself from the presumptive nominee. But it would certainly create something of a cloud. And politically, it may hurt him with donors and with those voters who said that a conviction would actually change their mind. But that's a political question. Legally, he can still run for President, and in all likelihood, he'll be able to vote the way the laws are written.

Aaron Kutursky, our thanks to you from the very beginning. Joining us now, criminal defense attorney, Arthur Idali, has been with us throughout the whole thing. First, just want to get your immediate reaction. The former leader of the free world, tonight, a convicted felon. Yeah, it's not a good day for America. I don't care how you want to look at it. You could slice it up a lot of ways. I don't agree 100% with what the district attorney just said, because the judge, and we spoke about this the other night, the judge did not tell the jurors that they had to be unanimous, that the false records were created to affect the election. They could have said they were created to create this false 1099 that was created to Michael Cohen or a state election laws. Once the judge gave the charge to the jury, Lindsay, I was like, All right, he's getting convicted because the judge made it- Really? So prior to that, you thought- I thought it may be a hung jury. It may be hard to decide because I was under the impression, and when I say this, it's not like I don't know the law.

This is a unique case. This is the first time this has ever been done, don't forget, you're talking about misdemeanors outside of the statute of limitations that are brought back inside of the statute of limitations. If there's an underlying crime to commit a felony, the judge did not insist that the jurors be united Economists on what that underlying crime is. He gave them a menu. He said, you could say it was to create tax fraud, it could be to create election fraud, or any other crime that could be a felony. There are real appellant issues here. After we hear about a conviction, everyone says, Oh, there's going to be an appeal. There's going to be an appeal. The majority are not successful. I'm not saying this is going to be a successful appeal, but whoever the lawyer is who crafts this appeal, it will be real legal gymnastics. It will be the height of lawyering to really focus on the issues here and whether this case should have and could have been brought to begin with. So on what grounds would you appeal if you were actually Trump's attorney? Well, I can tell you the way Judge Mishon allowed Alvin Bragg's team to bring this case, there are other judges who I've spoken to who said, I wouldn't allow this to come forward.

These are cases that are beyond the statute of limitations. But isn't this vindication Is there something for Alvin Bragg today that twelve everyday New Yorkers as you describe them? Obviously, it's a sense of vindication. I don't want to make this too personal, but I lived this. Then Harvey Weinstein decision came down. He was found guilty of all charges. There was the exact same press conference. The witnesses who were there, they had a press conference. Then years later, the Court of Appeals said it wasn't a fair trial. Then the defendant has a day of vindication. I'm not saying that's going to happen here because it is naive to say politics does not play a role here. You're in a very democratic area. The judges on the appellate division, I believe, are all appointed by democratic governors. To say that that's not going to have an effect, I think, is naive. If this trial took place in the county of Richmond, which is Staten Island, New York, I don't believe the same verdict would have been achieved. Look, Donald Trump right now is probably the most joyful of his whole team. I've been in the position to lose a big case.

All the air comes out of your lungs, and it's a sense of loss, a sense of failure. You're very upset. I've been on the other side, too. Right now, the prosecutors are in some room somewhere where no one could see them. It's very private, and they're celebrating as they're allowed to. They worked very, very hard. They gave up weekends and birthday parties and all kinds of events to work on this case. These are what trials are all about. But as objective as I could be, someone like Donald Trump in Manhattan, where we know the jury pool comes from the voter logs, and the voters here voted for Joe Biden, I think '83 to '17, they had an uphill battle to begin with. Okay, so July 11th is the sentencing. You were talking about appeals. Just I'm going to put a pin in this for a moment. But as far as appeals go, this could take years, as you know, personally. Then speaking of this being political, it's too late with regard to, as we've seen in the polls, about 20% of people who had said that they would support Trump now as a result of him being a convicted felon.

They're saying, I might actually reconsider that felon. Yes. I am not qualified to talk about the effects that this could have on an election. But I will tell you, I think the greatest challenge for Judge Mershon, maybe right now, what do you sentence Donald Trump to? Now, I will tell you this. It would be the height of hypocrisy, Lindsay, if the district attorney's office asks for jail time. This is a process- Even though he could. Up to four years. Even though he It would be fair game. Even though he can. Yes, absolutely, he can. But this is a DA who has run on giving people second chances on alternatives to incarceration, on basically anything but jail, even in violent felony cases. This is the lowest level felony in It goes from A to E. This is the lowest level. It's a paper case, meaning there's no violence. Forget that he was the former President. He's a man who's almost 80 years old, who's never been in trouble in his life. Those are just not cases where people go to jail. Let me just say, this Right after we saw this every day, pretty much, he was railing on Judge Mershon, right?

He's called him a tyrant. Oh, he's called him a lot of things. He now has the power to decide his fate. And so there are a few options, right? We talked about potential for four years in prison, home confinement. He could do community service, probation. What do you think is the most likely? And if you were his attorney, would you have said maybe ixnay on the insulting of the judge? So, truth I must be told, I was asked to be part of the Trump team several different times, and one of the reasons why I wouldn't, and it wasn't the only reason, but I knew he would be a hard client to control. I absolutely would be like, Mr. President, this is the guy who may sentence you at the end of the day. Maybe we should chill out, but he wasn't going to do that. I think Judge Mishon is going to have a hard time figuring out a sentence. Again, I don't think Judge Michonne is going to sentence him to any jail time. I think that would be ridiculous in this case. It would be a logistical nightmare. I mean, it could cause civil unrest.

I just don't think. I think Judge Mishon is going to ask Albany, that capital in New York, to show me the statistics. How many E-felonies, which is this case, do people go to jail on. And I think he's going to find the answers close to zero. So for him to all of a sudden say, on this one case, I'm going to send someone to jail. It's a big problem. I think he's got to come up with some form of community service that makes Manhattan a better place. So he might be picking up No, I think he's got to do something bigger than that. I want Mr. Trump, I want you to come to me and you tell me how you could use your stature, your financial status, to make New York a better place, whether it be for senior citizens, for children, the Police Athletic League, but something to make New York a better place. I don't see him telling the President of the United States, Would you, Secret Service, guys, go to a park and clean graffiti? And there may be a financial aspect, but I don't think there's enough... The judge has enough power to give a financial fine that's going to hurt Donald Trump at all.

Last question for you. What do you think about... You have Michael Cohen, many people who had been questioning his credibility, right? He had said at one point, years ago, I would have taken a bullet for Donald Trump. Now, does it seem to you that he was the key, potentially, to his undoing? Well, it was definitely, and it was Pecker, too. In other words, if I'm the prosecutor and I go to sleep last night and the juror's notes, or I want to hear from Mr. Pecker, who is the National Enquiry guy, their first witness, they led with their strongest witness, as they should. You only get one chance to make a first impression with a jury, and they did with Mr. Pecker, and they said, Hey, let's see if Pecker and Cohen's testimony, when they read back, jive. And they did. And that was, I guess, the support that a few of the jurors, or maybe all of the jurors, needed to say, Okay, don't forget Lindsay, it was acting in concert. The prosecutor didn't have to prove Donald Trump did all of this. They just had to prove that he had an agreement with other people to do this.

And the Pecker-Cohen meeting at Trump Tower, for the jury, clearly, that was a relevant point because that's the readback they asked for. So if you look at it, the first witness they heard from was Pecker, and then the last witness they heard from because that was the readback he asked for. I could talk to you all night, Arthur Idala. We thank you so much. Well, this has been a pleasure for me. It's been a highlight covering this case and getting to know you and having the honor of being on your show. Thank you. Thank you so much. Our next guest is Lee Zeldin, former congressman from New York Trump campaign surrogate. Mr. Zeldin, thank you so much for joining us. House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a statement, quote, This was a purely political exercise, not a legal one. The weaponization of our justice system has been a hallmark of the Biden administration. Is that a sentiment that the Trump campaign agrees with, that this was simply the result of the Biden administration? Well, yeah. I mean, in this particular case, the number three at the Biden Justice Department, Matthew Calangelo, was moved over to Bragg's office to to prosecute this case.

This isn't just some stand-alone isolated case. You have several cases, both criminally and civilly, that have been going after President Trump to try to incarcerate him for the rest of his life, to bankrupt him and his family. There are cases and other efforts that are underway to try to remove Donald Trump altogether from the ballot. Ultimately, I would say that there's no greater threat against democracy than preventing Americans from choosing for themselves in November who they want to be the next President. This is election interference. This is a weaponization of the criminal justice system. There is, in many respects, this is a campaign pledge being fulfilled by Alvin Bragg. He campaigned on taking down Donald Trump without any idea or any articulation of what that charge was, what that crime was going to be, that he was going to take down Donald Trump. He's not the only elected official who was campaigning on taking down Donald Trump. We saw it with Alvin Bragg, we saw LaTisha James, we saw it with Fannie Willis. This, again, it's not an isolated theme. There's a tremendous amount of bias and prejudice, and this is an opinion where really many Americans, including people who don't even like President Trump, have spoken up saying that they believe that this is a political prosecution.

A judiciary chairman, Jim Jordan, also called this trial a partisan and unfair process. If you were still in Congress, would you expect hearings on this issue? Listen, I think that on many respects, Americans would love to be able to get more into it. You're talking about this with your last guest, what is the underlying in charge. I was a prosecutor, we would tell the accused upfront exactly what they're going to be charged with so that they can have time to prepare their defense. They could cross-examine witnesses. They could present their own witnesses. The government has a burden to prove the elements of the crime. These are misdemeanors. With a statute of limitations that have run, in order to charge it as a felony, they have to prove that there was an underlying crime. In this particular case, they never told the accused what that underlying crime was and suggesting that there's different federal offenses, and they could pick whichever one they want. They don't have to agree with unanimity. The reality is in this particular case, the Department of Justice looked into it, and they declined trying to prosecute. The FEC didn't go after this.

Alvin Bragg's predecessor refused to go after this. So as far as United States Congress, yeah, no, there's an issue when you have district attorneys, if they're coming from the bluest area of America or they come from the reddest area of America, deciding to take down a president of the United States and using a federal law, a mysterious federal law that is still unidentified as the reason to be able to take down a president of the United States in the middle of a presidential campaign. The Trump legal team has vowed, of course, as you know, to appeal this decision. What would you point to as the basis of that appeal? Well, gosh, there's a lot to point to. For one, is what we were just discussing. I mean, we still don't know what that element of the crime was that the jury ran with. We don't know if there was a unanimous vote. The jury instructions were encouraging the jury to convict without being unanimous vote, saying that if you all are disagreeing on what that element is, what the underlying crime is, so that jury instruction, other jury instructions, there might be a conversation as it relates to allowing extra commentary by one of the witnesses, Stormy Daniels, that might be prejudicial, unrelated to the actual charge.

So whether it is the process or whether it's the substance, I'm sure that there is a lot to choose from as far as what would be grounds for appeal. I would expect this to be overturned on appeal, but the issue is that this might not be overturned on appeal until after you get past November's election. For those who are in pursuit of the talking point, and we saw the pivot instantly, being able to call President Trump, referring to him as somebody who's been convicted, now you can say that for the rest of the campaign, even if it was the day after When in the election, this was overturned on appeal, it wouldn't matter. They had the talking point for the campaign. Deciding that the sentencing was going to be just a few days before the convention, give me a break. I mean, Rashaun was convicted, was conflicted. He should have recused himself. Why Rashaun was the same exact judge on a Trump organization case, the Weiselberg case, and the Banon case? There's no other judges inside of the state of New York to choose from. His daughter's working for a firm that's making millions of dollars by fundraising off of this case for Democratic candidates.

The judge was a Biden-Harris donor and was reprimanded for making that donation. There's a lot to criticize with this case. I think that- But let me just say, I just want to interrupt just because we're running out of time. But I just want to take your point there because even if all of that is true, right? And Trump says himself that this trial was rigged. And yet you still had a jury of his peers, 12 Americans, two of them who are lawyers who know the law really well, who found him guilty on all counts. So I'm just curious how you square the two. Well, for one, just because somebody has a pulse doesn't mean that they are a peer of President Trump. You are in one of the most Democrat, bluest counties in the entire country. The jury instructions were leading this jury to convict. It was teeing up a conviction prosecution and was ruling, by the way, there was a lot of back and forth when deciding on the jury instructions and the prosecution makes their case, the defense has their argument, and then the decision was made on what the jury instruction should be.

Then time after time, once One time after another, Juan Marshawn is deciding on particular jury instructions that lead the jury to convict, again, without identifying what the underlying charges and without requiring unanimity. Lee Zeldin, our thanks to you for your time and insight. Really appreciate it. Thank you, Lindsay. And now we're joined by ABC News investigative reporter Olivia Rubin. Olivia, of course, you have covered this trial from the beginning, and we're there in the courthouse today for the end. Just paint a picture for us. Give us the color in that moment as the verdict was read. Well, it was Donald Trump as we saw him so frequently during this trial, Lindsay, essentially motionless, reactionless, at certain points, looking down at floor as this 12 group of New Yorkers delivered his fate to him late afternoon. But what was so stunning about that reaction is what Donald Trump was projecting just moments before. He had been called into the room, initially told that he was going home. Marshawn, just after four o'clock, said that he would be dismissing the jury at 4:30 and sending them on their way. And Donald Trump appeared just gitty at the defense table.

He was talking to Todd Blanch, his attorney, whispering in each other's ears, laughing so hard at times. You could hear it in that courtroom. But then, of course, Marshawn coming back moments later and saying there was a verdict, and it was an instant energy shift. Lindsay Donald Trump, for most of the part from there on, just sat, again, motionless at the defense table as he heard his verdict, which was really remarkable here. Then, of course, before leaving the courtroom, getting up, looking down at the floor, watching the jury leave, adjusting his jacket, taking a look at the room, and how he went from that courtroom after seven weeks in there. What else struck you as the verdict was being read? Well, how quickly, quite frankly, the jury came to this verdict. It took them just 10 hours to get to that point. They had reviewed some of the most key testimony, and many people thought that it might take a lot longer. They were complex charges charges when you looked at the way that this case was brought. I think your previous guest, a supporter of Donald Trump, was hinting at this, talking about how that there were underlying charges that they needed to find Trump committed in order to make this a felony.

But it was misinterpreted the way he said it, that it was some ambiguous, false way of convicting Trump. He couldn't believe that Mershon told them they didn't have to agree. But that Lindsay, it's important for our viewers to know, is the law in this case? There was nothing inaccurate about the way that Mershon charged that part of the law. They had three options that they could choose from. They didn't all have to agree on what they were, and he wasn't charged with that in order to make it a felony. So given that, it was a complex way of charging this case. And Donald Trump's attorneys had tried to poke holes in that wherever they could, attacking the witnesses, attacking the theory. But ultimately, the jury needing only 10 hours, Lindsay, to pass through seven weeks of a trial. Olivia Rubin, so appreciate your coverage from the very beginning. Thank you. For more now, we're joined by Barbara Comstock, ABC News Political Contributor and former Congresswoman from Virginia. Ms. Comstock, I know you wanted to respond to what our earlier guest right before Olivia Lee Zeldin was saying. So I'm just going to give you the floor.

Oh, sure. I was just going to say, you've had Donald Trump first attack our election system for four years. And of course, we've had hundreds hundreds of convictions from his supporters because of that. You've also had many of his supporters, like his former campaign manager, go to jail, his lawyers and other people go to jail, and now you have him now have these 34 felony convictions tonight. Now, of course, he can appeal that conviction, and that is his right. But for him to be attacking the judicial system is It's very sad. And to see the party of law and order attack the very system and attack the jurors is really sad, too. So they can go and they can appeal the case. But to attack the jurors and to attack our legal system after they've been attacking the election system for four years is just really out of line. And I hope Republicans will do a lot better than what we've seen over the past four years. And what are Are you hearing from your Republican colleagues tonight? Well, I mean, unfortunately, we are hearing a lot of that from Donald Trump, and we've got to do better than that because we need to stand up for the rule of law.

A jury considered this, and the proper response, if you don't like what a jury has done, is to appeal the case, to deal with it within the legal system. And that's not that Donald Trump, throughout With all of these legal cases, he's not only now a convicted felon, he also was adjudicated in a civil case. They found him liable in a civil case of sexual assault. You've also had in another civil case, a business fraud. So these are serious cases that people have taken into the legal system, and he has been found liable and now guilty. When he didn't like how the election turned out, he went to court in 60 cases, and he lost all of them, yet he still goes out there and his supporters talk about a rigged election, and he still talks about that in every rally he has. And he is undermining our election system. Now he's trying to undermine the legal system, and this just needs to stop. This is just not the way we operate in a democratic system. And Republicans shouldn't stand for this. And we just can't. This is not the way we should be conducting our elections or how we should be dealing with our court system.

Well, you say Republicans shouldn't stand for it. So what should Republicans do? I mean, at this point, he is- Well, if you want to support Republicans, you should be supporting Republicans who support the legal system. And I think the reason why this court case turned out the way it is, I mean, look at the facts in this case. Look at what just the common In a sense, things when you go into a case and when you see somebody's wife doesn't show up and sit with them in a court case, Melania never went in there day after day, week after week. His daughter, Ivanka, never showed up. Juries look at things like that. You had a case where many of the same reasons why Michael Cohen was convicted, indicted, and then convicted on many of the same fact patterns by Donald Trump's own Justice Department Department. It's the same reason why Donald Trump was convicted in this case. Many of the same documents were involved in this case. All of those records where they paid Michael Cohen, where Donald Trump took out those records were sent into the White House. He signed off on that. Hope Hicks was a very credible witness, and she didn't go in there and lie.

I mean, when she told the truth on the stand, And she realized she told the truth, what happened? She started crying because she realized she told the truth, and it was damning. So these are the things that jurors see. And this is why his own family And his wife and his daughter, didn't want to be in there. But when we talk about the Republican Party at large, going forward, I mean, he is the presumptive nominee. Well, he isn't yet. And, yeah, I know. Presumptive. People want to deny reality. I mean, it's sad, but the people who decide these elections are really, it comes down to about six % of people in six swing states, and people might want to consider that it is usually those deciding votes are women, women who are centrist people, and they pay attention in September and October. And those are the people who probably if they had known these facts that people learned about now in this jury, the Stormy Daniels case, the payoff, those things, the things that this jury paid attention to. If they had known those things in 2016, I think they might have decided the way this jury did.

And those are going to be the 6% of people who are going to decide this election in those six swing states. Barbara Combs Doc. Appreciate you as always. I'm going to bring in ABC's Chief White House Correspondent, Mary Bruce, from the White House. Curious how the White House is reacting tonight. Well, tonight, we still have not heard directly from President Biden yet. He's actually home in his Delaware Beach house. This is the ninth anniversary of his son, Bo's death. He's spending some private time with the family. The campaign, however, has spoken out, and they say that today shows that there is no one who is above the law. Look, there is no question that this verdict is a political gift to the President and to Democrats. But his campaign has notably not wanted to celebrate this too much. They don't want to feed into this Trump narrative that this was all somehow a political hit job. That, of course, is something that the President adamantly rejects. Instead, in what was really a muted statement, the campaign says that today's verdict does not change the fact that there is still only one way to keep Donald Trump out of the oval office.

They say that is at the ballot box. They say, Convicted felon or not, Trump will be the Republican nominee for President Lindsay. And as he said, the real verdict will be on November fifth. President Biden has taken his fair share of jabs at Trump and his legal woes. How might today's guilty verdict impact Biden's campaign messaging moving forward? Well, look, I'm told not to expect it to really impact his overall message much at all. They are not going to make this a centerpiece of the campaign message. They're not going to upend their whole playbook because of this. The message that is coming from the campaign tonight is that they're going to keep on keeping on. That said, obviously, they want to take advantage of this. I'm sure the President will comment on this verdict, and it will be a line that is added to his stump speech for sure. But they say that they are still going to keep making the argument that they've been making, which is essentially that Donald Trump is unfit to be President. Again, underscoring that message that was in that statement that regardless of what the court does, what happens to Donald Trump, his future is up to voters, not the court, Lindsay.

Trump is still a major obstacle for Biden despite his legal challenges. As we've mentioned, the latest ABC news, Ipsos Poll shows 80% of Trump supporters say that they will continue to support him post-conviction. Polls also show Biden support among certain groups of Black voters. They're waning. Do we expect Biden to start appealing to different groups or voters in different ways? Yeah, look, I think you definitely will see that. I mean, we've already seen that this week, the campaign now making a big renewed push, this burst of outreach that we've seen to Black voters, a critical group that helped deliver him the White House in 2020, a group that he's going to need, and he knows he's going to need if wants to stay here for a second term. I think they also are well aware, the Biden campaign, that this is going to really shore up Trump's support among his base. They know that he's likely to see record-breaking fundraising coming out of this. It's actually something that the Biden team and the Biden campaign has mentioned in their own fundraising appeals tonight, that they need their supporters to come out as well in response to this verdict.

But remember, that is likely to be really Trump's base. What happens in this election really just comes down to a very small sliver of the electorate, and those are the ones that we will be watching so closely in the coming days, especially to see how they respond to this verdict. We certainly will be. Mary Bruce from the White House, our thanks to you. Florida law allows Donald Trump to vote in the state despite his conviction today, but only after he completes his sentence. Now, we won't know what that sentence is until July 11th, but his eligibility to vote in Florida remains. It's in Florida that the former President will find himself yet again in less than a month, this time over his classified documents case. Our senior reporter who covers investigations for us. Katherine Faulders joins us once again. Katherine, what exactly will be reviewed during that Florida hearing next month, and what's at stake? Yes, so the judge who's overseeing Trump's classified documents case, I should note, appointed by former President Trump when he was President, She has essentially scheduled this series of hearings at the end of June, and they're all over motions to dismiss.

Trump has asked her for various different reasons to essentially toss out all of those 40 different charges. So the judge has scheduled a series of hearings there, so Trump will show up to those. So in terms of what's at stake, I guess the judge could say, Look, the charges are gone. They're evaporated. This won't go to trial at all. It's also worth noting, Lindsay, that because the judge there has scheduled all these hearings that wouldn't normally be scheduled and has set all sorts of various different deadlines that she has all but ensured that this case won't go to trial before the election. So what special counsel Jack Smith will be looking for is, is there a trial date set? For example, that trial was supposed to start this month, just 10 days ago. Of course, that never happened. Is there a new trial date? Is there any indication that this will go to trial before November? Those are all of the questions that they hope to have answered. All right. Is there any expectation of resolution of this case, the classified documents case, coming down any time before the election in November? It's a good question because it's a complicated case, generally speaking.

There's multiple different documents charged here. I think it ultimately It really depends at the ends of the day on what the judge does. Everything and every decision that she's made so far has pointed to the fact that it doesn't seem like there will be a resolution of this case before November. That's important because if Trump does win the election, what he will do, given that this is a federal case, is he will just essentially direct his attorney general to drop the charges, to throw it out. So if he wins, then this case really isn't going to trial. Of course, if he loses, this could be litigated for years, Lindsay. Wow. All right. A lot run on. Katherine Faulders, our thanks to you. And much more ahead on this historic Trump guilty verdict. Stay with us. When it matters most, America turns to David Muir and ABC's World News Tonight. If you were coming of age in the 1980s, the Brat Pack was near the center of your cultural awareness. But for those of us experiencing it from the inside, the Brat Pack was something very different. On June 10th, 1985, New York magazine published Hollywood's Brat Pack.

I just remember seeing that cover and thinking, Oh, from then on, my career and the career of everyone who was involved was branded to the Brat Pack. I'm really sorry that article had to come out. I've never talked to anybody about what that was like, so I thought it might be interesting to try and contact everyone who is in the Brat Pack. Hey, Amelia. Edo Esteves. This is Andrew McCarthy calling you. Hey, Ali. Hey, Demi. Hey, Molly. Let's call Rob. Hello. Jud? Demi, you around? You were not interested in talking about the Brat Pack for years. I turned everything down. How can you talk to me? Because you called me. It was time that we clear the air on a couple of things. I love your stuff, Bob. Hey, thank you. I hated the Brad pack for decades. What a disaster. If you could have the Brad Pack name not exist, would you? It really irritated me. They said, What's more important to you, the movie or your life? And I said, The movie. Andrew. Have you talked to the others? The others. Again, it feels like a cult or something. Why did we take it as an offense?

Because we were young. We were afraid we were brats. Are you in the Brat Pack? I'm Brat Package. That's what I would say. I am not in the Brat Pack. I shun you back in the dead. You did not, Andrew. No, you did not. Being in the Brat Pack not only changed all of our lives, it changed what entertainment is. I'm not going to say we were the Beatles or anything. Well, we didn't tell Shea Stadium. There were moments. We could have. 1985? I think we could have. So what are you filming? We're just doing this documentary. What's it about? Ancient history. Everybody right now is worried that TikTok is going to be banned in the United States. We owe a lot to TikTok, and I do not want to see it banned. That's my main source of income. It would bring me into a deep depression. What evidence have you guys actually seen that this is a threat to national security? The two greatest powers on Earth are vying over a teenage video app. I am not imagining a future without TikTok. The death of TikTok? This is Impact by Nightline, now streaming on Hulu.

You're watching America's number one streaming news, ABC News Live. Breaking News, Exclusives. Live reporting. Keep streaming with ABC News Live. Why do so many people start their day here? From ABC News, this is Start Here. To be in the know and get a different take on the day's top stories. A lot of news today, so let's get into it. Listen now to the Daily News podcast honored with four Edward R. Murrell awards and see why the New York Times calls it a news podcast worth listening to. Start Here, ABC News. Make it your daily first listen. Now, that's a part of the story I bet you didn't see coming. Wherever you get your podcasts, start here. Reporting from Southern Israel, I'm James Longman. Wherever the story is, we'll take you there. You're streaming, ABC News Live. For those of you who are just joining us, I'm Lindsay Davis here in New York. This is ABC News Live Prime. Tonight, we are following that historic breaking news. The former leader of the free world, Donald Trump, now a convicted felon, guilty on all 34 counts in the criminal trial here in New York City. Trump is now the first former President in US history to ever be convicted of a crime.

It took 10 hours of deliberation for the jury to find Trump guilty of all 34 counts of falsifying business records. The former President blasted the verdict verdict as he left the courthouse headed for Trump Tower. This was a rigged, disgraceful trial. The real verdict is going to be November fifth by the people. Here you can see all of those 34 charges coming back guilty. A short time later, DA Alvin Bragg addressed the verdict after many initially questioned the viability of him bringing this case forward. 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. Seven men and five women, all New Yorkers from Trump's home city, came to this decision. After it all, today, Trump returned to Trump Tower. You see him there? Gives a fist in the air before walking inside. Trump's sentencing is now set for July 11th. That is just four days before the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. I want to bring in an ABC news contributor former Republican House member, John Katz-Coh. He joins us now. John, thank you so much for coming on.

How do you think that this is going to sit with Republicans on the Hill? Well, I think Lindsay, that the parties are going to go to the respective corners, if you will, the fighters, right? The hard core Republicans are going to think this is a travesty. The hard core Dems who are always going to support Biden are going to think this is a greater development. And neither side really matters. What really matters, Lindsay, is those quintessential swing voters who decide every election. How is this verdict going to impact those individuals, those 10 to 20 % of the electorate who really decide almost every single election? That is the wild card, and I don't have an answer for you because I don't know what they're going to think about the legitimacy of this verdict or whether it should have been brought in the first place. But the fact of the matter is, he is now a convicted felon, and that's going to impact some voters. What did you think about the verdict when it came in? Well, I think from a logical legal standpoint, based on the evidence, it made sense. I mean, does anyone not think that he had an affair with a porn star?

Does anyone not think that he didn't want to come out because he was trying to get elected President of the United States after that awful tape came out close to the election. So, yeah, I mean, from a strictly legal standpoint, it probably holds water. But from a strategic standpoint, it's probably going to end up making Trump a martyr. And that's before the really important huge case comes. And that's a January sixth trial, because I was there on January sixth. That was a truly awful day in American history, probably one of the worst. And it's a tragedy that's going The impact of that is going to be probably watered down because of this case. The Republican National Convention, as we know, starts July 15th, just four days after the scheduled sentencing on July 11th. How do you think that the sentencing might impact the convention? Well, listen, we're in uncharner territory here, Lindsay, so who knows? Think about it. Four days before an individual is going to accept the nomination of his party, he's going to be sentenced for criminal charges. You can't make this stuff up. I mean, it's crazy. So if anybody can tell you how it's going to impact things, I think they're lying to you because we're clearly in uncharded territory here.

Again, his base will be with him. I don't think his base will go away from him. The question is whether he's going to keep those individuals who are on the fence saying, I know he's not that great, but he's better than Biden. Now they got to say, he's not that great, but he is a convicted felon. Is he still better than Biden? That's what I think the real wrestling is going to be going on in a lot of spring voters' minds over the next few months. And as you say perfectly, I mean, this is uncharded territory. And so all of this, really, I'm asking you to just predict what you think is going to happen. But we do know from a reaction from some fellow Republicans, like Representative Jim Jordan from Ohio, he released tweet saying, The verdict is a travesty of justice. Of course, his base is most likely going to stick with him. But what do you think about Republicans as far as the politicians themselves? We've seen many rallying around Trump, a few who did actually go to New York and sit in the courtroom to show their support. Do you anticipate there might be some prominent Republicans who might try to distance themselves now that the verdict is in?

I highly doubt it. The ones that have come out in favor of Trump recently or in a not-too-distant past probably already made the calculation in their mind that GCE could be convicted. But they're still going to stick with him because the polls are telling him that he's probably the front runner right now. And so why abandon the front on it. If the polls change and it looks like he's not going to pull this election off, then there'll be some detractors. That's basically how it goes. It's a very transactional business. And so, like I said, I don't think it's going to have much of an impact on those people who already were supporting me. Most of those people probably already wrote their statements for today after the verdict. They probably wrote them weeks ago because they're already set in stone how they think about things and are guilty verdict is not going to change their mind, but they're not the ones that are going to decide the election. And of course, all of this is just being political pundens here. But you do have a unique perspective because you're a former prosecutor and a politician. And so I am I was curious, when you're having your discussions at the cocktail party, what do you say as far as when people say, Well, how do you think this is going to impact the election in November?

Well, first of all, I'm always like, Oh, my God, because the ones on the right tell you everything that certain news outlets tell them to say, and the ones on the left will tell you everything that certain news outlets tell them to say. So there's no dissuading either one of them, right? But for me, I just basically say, Look, this is a very serious thing. He was convicted a crime that is going to be taken into consideration, perhaps not by you on the right or you on the left, but by those who are going to decide the election. And those individuals, I think this is going to impact him. The question is how much? Whether it's been enough to turn the table against him or whether it's just enough to make it a little bit closer than it otherwise might be. John Katzko, appreciate your expertise and analysis there. Now, I want to bring in ABC News legal contributor and a trial attorney, Brian Buckmire. Brian, thank you for joining us tonight. The decisiveness of this verdict, does that have any impact on Trump's chances for winning an expected appeal? We're talking about just 10 hours.

Not necessarily. For Trump, his appeal is going to stem from making arguments that either the judge made an error in terms of giving instructions to the jury or the manner in which the prosecution filed these charges. I'm looking at this and I'm trying to just go through what potential appeals are. I don't think they were necessarily to be successful, but he could argue, for example, that this law or the way that Alvin Bragg used it would be called void for vagueness in the sense that the intricacies of this charge and the way it was laid out was so vague that a person could not know what conduct is criminal or not. Donald Trump has, I think, argued that in some degree, but not articulated in a legal form, but that. The fact that Stormy Daniels testified, and they can argue that some of her statements about the sexual acts that occur were more prejudicial than probative. I think that's where they may go less about the speed of the conviction. Walk us through what this appeal process might look like. Typically, the appeal process starts once you are sentenced, so July 11. However, there are some other avenues that you can explore before that.

You can ask Judge Morshawn, for example, to have an abeyance pending the appeal. So just basically hold off on the case because there are potential appellate issues. You could have a motion to set aside the verdict. You can also make an appeal to the first department, which holds Manhattan, and ask them to have a stay pending appeal. There's potential appeals that occur before sentencing. But by and large, those arguments may not work, and Donald Trump may be left to appeal after the sentencing on July 11th. A recent poll suggests that many Americans found this hush money trial to be a weaker case than the three other criminal cases that he faces in Florida, Georgia, and Washington, DC. Do you think that today's verdict might in any way impact his other legal battles? I think Arthur Adala said it once, I'm going to stay in time in my legal lane and not necessarily talk about other impacts for political reasons. But I don't think that this will affect him from a legal standpoint. He is a convicted felon, but that conviction occurred after those other charges were indicted and he was charged with. So it's not like he's walking into these other charges and they're going to say, You know what?

He was convicted in New York, and we're going to apply that directly to the case. Of course, jurors will know about it, and they'll be told by the judge in whatever state that he could go to trial with that you should not consider that, but it might be in the back of the heads of some of the jurors, so in that sense, it could affect them. And last question for you. What can Can you tell us about the jury in a case like this? Will we likely be hearing from them and the time that it took to come to this conviction? Oh, absolutely. When it comes to jurors, and we heard it from Judge Mirshawn, they are now released to speak with the media, speak with anyone they want. I don't think they're going to be rushing to speak with anyone. Probably won't get anyone tomorrow. But somewhat jokingly, but also very true, to point people to the Alec Murdoch case, where you had a judge's clerk come out with a book. I would not be surprised if we hear from a juror in terms of an interview, a book, whatever it may be, what happened inside that jury room during deliberations.

Because 10 hours, in my mind, there was definitely some hard-fought battles going back and forth. And ultimately, especially when we see how they abrupt said, We're not going to go home until Friday and come back on Friday, we're going to give a verdict. It seems like someone made an abrupt turn in the last minute, and that's going to be a very interesting piece if we can find out what happened. Certainly will be very interesting to hear that fly perspective on the wall in there. Brian Buckmire, I so appreciate I appreciate your time. Former President Trump's son is reacting tonight with this tweet saying, May 30th, 2024, might be remembered as the day Donald J. Trump won the 2024 presidential election. Now I want to bring in ABC news. Chief Washington correspondent, Jonathan Karl. John, an ABC news Ipsos poll showed that even if convicted, 80% of Trump supporters would still vote for him. That leaves, of course, 20% who might change their vote, not to mention many independents who are of the same mindset. Do you think that these sentiments hold through election day, or is this just more of an immediate response here? Well, look, if that holds through election day, if one-fifth of Donald Trump supporters reconsidered their support for him, and you see 4% of those say they will definitely no longer support him, then Donald Trump is very unlikely to win in November.

But look, Lindsay, we don't know how that's going to play out. I mean, Donald Trump is now going to do with all the powers at his disposal, all the supporters that he has, including the leaders of the Republican Party in Congress, at the Republican National Committee, in many of the state houses, They will go on the attack against this jury, against the criminal justice system, against the prosecutors that brought these charges, and they will try to sow doubts and say that this was a political prosecution. And we'll see how that campaign works. Again, you just don't know. You just don't know. We saw when Donald Trump was indicted, he's been indicted, let's not forget, in four different cases. This is only one of the cases, I think, quite clearly, the least significant of the four indictments. But we saw those indictments play out over the last year and a half or so, and Donald Trump's support among Republicans, frankly, only He grew. He found a rhythm in his campaign by portraying a victim. In fact, the very fact that he was under prosecution was something that he used as the beating heart of his presidential campaign, portraying himself as a victim and telling his supporters that people, prosecutors, Democratic prosecutors, were going after him because their real target is them.

Talk us through likely sentencing, given this is a low-level felony. What can we hear in terms of the sentence on July 11th? Well, look, the range here can be anything from simply probation, absolutely no jail time, to four years in prison. The consensus among most legal experts on this is it's highly unlikely that a first-time offender in a case like this, the lowest level of felony in New York, will receive any jail time. And let's not forget, no matter what the sentence we hear on July 11th, no matter what the sentence we hear, Donald Trump is going to appeal this case. And that appeal is going to take a long time. It's certainly going to take well past the election, well past November, but the appeals process could take years. And interesting that you said November, because that is what Donald Trump said after he came out of court. He said, That's when the real verdict will be rendered on November fifth. All right, Jonathan, Carl, our thanks to you. I want to bring in ABC's executive editorial producer, John Santucci, who's joining us now. John, curious to know what you're hearing from the Trump campaign team and his family, how they're reacting to today's verdict.

You know, it's interesting, Lindsay, surprise is the word that I keep hearing, but surprise is almost split into two buckets. Surprise at how quickly this verdict came. I mean, you heard Olivia Rubin and our colleague, Josh Einiger, Wabc, talking about this earlier, that Donald Trump was relaxed in that weird 15-minute period where it seemed like the jury was going home for the day. I think that shock to the system really has verbiated throughout Trump's inner circle, his family, Trump Tower. But not a lot of surprise at the result. I mean, there were many people going into it. Donald Trump himself said Mother Teresa could not beat these charges, almost prepping themselves that this could not go his way. I think that, coupled with the fact that an argument Donald Trump and his allies have made for so long, Lindsay, see that it's New York, he couldn't get a fair shake in New York. And look, Donald Trump and New York have been going through, I would best say, a massive divorce over the last couple of years. This is a guy that made it in Manhattan and has nothing to do with Manhattan anymore. Think about where Donald Trump lives.

Think about how many properties around New York that once bore his name. They no longer do. You think of the ice skating rink in Central Park, the golf course. There's so many others. And his children, all three of Donald Trump's adult children once lived in Manhattan, Lindsay. Now, none of them do. They have all moved with Donald Trump down to the sunshine state of Florida. I do think the other thing that's interesting right now is how quickly the campaign is going to try to turn a page here. Look, the press conference that's going to happen tomorrow, that's Donald Trump, right? He wants to get out there. He wants to fight back. Look at the images that we saw earlier tonight when he returned to Trump Tower, punching his fist in the air. That is certainly the image Donald Trump wants to create as somebody strong and tough and is going to fight back. But the reality is the campaign wants to flip this script immediately and move ahead to really the campaign. And as you said, certainly, reminiscent of what we saw in the days after that Access Hollywood video of Donald Trump emerging with that fist pump.

John Santuchi, thank you so much as always. And that is our show for tonight. I'm Lindsay Davis. Abc News Live is here for you all night with the latest news, context, and analysis. You can always find us on Hulu, Roku, Pluto TV, the ABC News app, but of course, on abcnews. Com. The news never stops. Thanks so much for streaming with us. Have a great night. They call him the Beauty Queen killer. He's targeting young women in malls. I am wanted to join the company of a member of women. He tortured me. How did she survive?