The first thing Donald Trump did after being convicted in his historic criminal trial was rant against the justice system. The former President calling his situation unfair, while also falsely claiming that the trial was rigged by Joe Biden.

We're living in a fascist state. It all comes out of the White House. Crooket Joe Biden, the worst President in the history of our country.

The former President supporters quickly coming to his defense and claiming the trial was a disgrace.

This is what you see in communist countries. This is what I grew up having people in this community tell me about. It happened in the days after the Castro Revolution. Obviously, those led to executions. This, on the other hand, is an effort to interfere in an election.

I think this is disgraceful. I don't care what you call it, Wolf. I think this proceeding, this legal proceeding, is disgraceful. Joining us now is CNN senior political commentator and Republican strategist Anna Navarro and Karen Finney, a CNN political commentator and former senior adviser to Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign. Great to see both of you. Anna, let's start with you. These comments made by Trump supporters, we've seen them now fan out. We just played a couple of clips. How do you see this playing out over the next couple of months as we head into the fall?

Well, look, I think for most of us that are clear-eyed, it's obvious what's happening here, which is that there's people like JD Vans, like Marco Rubio, like Tim Scott, who are auditioning to be Trump's VP, and they are in a contest with each other as to who can say the most outrageous things. In my view, what Marco Rubio said, comparing the US legal system to the Communist Cuba legal system is one of the most disrespectful, offensive things I've ever heard. And I say this, Marco was born here. I was born in Nicaragua. I fled communism. His family came here before Castro. My family fled Ortega. I know exactly what it's like to live in a country, and I know exactly what those sham courts are like that did lead to executions. And shame on Marco Rubio. Shame on Marco Rubio for comparing what happened in Cuba, what happens in Nicaragua, what happens in Venezuela, what happens in those countries that he knows only too well to this, just to curry favor with Donald Trump. That is the height of the responsibility and recklessness and servility. How servile can you get?

And Karen, an NPR poll that was taken before the verdict came down found that 67% say the verdict makes no difference to their vote, 17% say it will make them less likely to vote for Trump, 15 % more likely. There is a lot of ink being spilled, minutes on television being taken up, of all of us trying to look into our crystal ball and say, what does this mean and who will benefit? Does anyone benefit? How do you see it playing out?

Actually, Jessica, I think the honest answer is we don't know, and we may not know for a few weeks because I think it's going to... We have to remember, and we keep saying it, but I think it bears saying, again, this is unprecedented. This has never happened. And so I think Americans probably need a minute or two to absorb this, particularly because most Americans are going about their daily lives, and perhaps this weekend as they're checking in with the news about what happened this week, really starting to absorb not just the fact that Donald Trump has been convicted of a crime, but the crime was actually towards trying to win the 2016 election. He broke the law in an effort to help himself for the 2016 election while he's facing charges of both trying to impede in the 2020 election and potentially, overturn it, right? So that's a lot for people to absorb. But I think the question will really be, when people go to the ballot box, they're going to have to ask themselves, do I really want to vote for a criminal, a convicted criminal? Is that the person who I trust with my future?

Or do I trust Joe Biden, who's a good, decent man who I think most people think they may disagree with the job he's done, but I think they believe he's been trying his best. And so I think that contrast is all the more underscored. And I think that's the question people will have to ask themselves.

And Anna, I want to stay with your points from just a moment ago about how some of these Republicans, what they're saying in light of this verdict. I want to talk about House Speaker Mike Johnson. He's accused Democrats of weaponizing the judicial system. We can play a little clip of what he said.

We're outraged by it. I think the American people are. What happened to President Trump is lawful. There's no other way to describe it. They went after the Democrat Party, and they used the system of justice to go after a political opponent. I think that this will probably guarantee that President Trump is reelected President. And I think their strategy is going to backfire on them.

Anna, if we zoom out, Hunter Biden, the President's son, is about to go on trial. Senator Bob Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey, is on trial on bribery allegations. Speaker Johnson has said that the Supreme Court should take action. How corrosive is it to try to tell the American people that politically, it is the Democrats coming after the Republicans?

One of the things that makes America unique around the world is that in our country, supposedly, nobody is above the law, and there is a certain equality of the law. We're all equal under the eyes of lady justice. And And so what they are trying to do here in maligning, attacking, criticizing, undermining our legal system, I think is very dangerous and very damaging. It's also very much of a lie, because for them to claim, there's a lot of Republicans out there. I've heard them. I read them saying that Joe Biden is behind this. I don't know how many times we have to say this. This was a state legal action. This had nothing to do with Joe Biden. Joe Biden's DOJ is the one that's actually going to be trying Hunter Biden in the next few days. But Donald Trump was tried in the state of New York, and he was indicted not by Joe Biden's DOJ, not by anybody having to do with Joe Biden. He was indicted by a grand jury of 12 regular New Yorkers. He was convicted by a grand jury of 12 regular New Yorkers. After they listened to six weeks of legal proceedings and testimony, including from people who like and support Donald Trump, like Hope Hicks, like Pecker, people who are on his side, but who went on there and testified as to the truth.

That's why Hope Hicks was crying on the stand, because she knew that the things she was saying, she was saying were true, and were causing harm to the case of Donald Trump. So people need to understand that. It was the evidence that that led a jury of regular New Yorkers to convict Donald Trump. It was not Joe Biden. I'd venture to guess that Joe Biden is actually, politically speaking, wouldn't have liked for this, not not to be the case, and is not focusing on this as part of the campaign. He is focusing on beating him on the ballot box.

And, Karen, it's interesting because in 2016, Trump attacked Hillary Clinton and said she would not be fit for office if she was indicted. So let's listen to what he said. This is 2016.

If she were to win this election, it would create an unprecedented constitutional crisis. In that situation, we could very well have a sitting president under felony indictment and ultimately a criminal trial. It would grind government to a halt.

It's unbelievable there. It would grind government to a halt. He's describing his own situation, Karen.

Oh, yeah. I remember it quite well when he said it. And I think the other thing he actually said, I believe in those remarks, was how much chaos there would be if Hillary Clinton was elected President. So just let all that sink in for just a moment. Look, I think we have to take a step back here. There's a couple of things. As Anna points out, you're seeing the Republican Party fall over itself for the most part to show their fealty to Donald Trump to undermine our justice system. And it is very dangerous for the country. But I think it's for us to remember, too. This is what Trump has brought on our country, and it's also the Trumpism that he has brought to our politics. And I agree absolutely with Anna, and she's right. Joe Biden wants to beat Donald Trump at the ballot box, and that is the focus. It will be for others, those of us here, to comment about what this means. I think that's why you saw the President come out Friday and have a very serious press conference about what's happening in the Middle East. But of course, it's not surprising that Donald Trump is an absolute hypocrite.

I mean, as President Biden says often, right? You can't just love the rules and then be mad when you don't win. You don't just love our country when it's convenient. You have to love our country and believe in our democracy when it hurts and when you don't always get what you want. But I think this is probably one of the first times Donald Trump has not gotten away with his usual shtick, which he frankly got away with for decades in New York.

All right, Anna Navarro and Karen Finney. Our thanks to both of you. Always good to see you both. We really appreciate it.