By now, you've probably heard.

Donald Trump found guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree.

All 34 are felonies. Donald Trump has now been convicted of 34 different felony crimes by a jury of his peers in Manhattan. Donald Trump is the first former President to be convicted of a felony. On Friday, in a meandering speech filled with recriminations and falsehoods, he lashed out.

If they can do this to me, they can do this to anyone. These are bad people. These are, in many cases, I believe, sick people.

The backdrop to all this, of course, is a presidential campaign. Our guest this week is CNN correspondent, Kristen Holmes, who's been covering this trial. She actually joins me from outside Trump Tower to talk about what happens next and the potential impact this could have on the election. From CNN, this is One Thing. I'm Adi Cornish. Kristen, I want to start with this speech that Donald Trump gave on Friday, because in a way, it might be the first time in a while that voters would have gotten a good long listened to him in a speech. How did he use this reset moment after the trial?

Well, it might have been hard for some voters to follow along because he really was all over the place. He used this as an airing of grievances. He went after the He went after Alvin Bragg. And even though he's under a gag order and he's not allowed to talk about witnesses, he went after Michael Cohen, not by name, but it's very clear when he mentioned that he was his former lawyer, fixer, and then he called him a sleezbag. Now, the question is whether or not this really is all part of the campaign. Now, on the one hand, this is just on his mind. He is clearly rattled. It is something that he is not going to be able to stop talking about for some time. But on the other hand, you're hearing from some members of his team team that say that this is what they are currently campaigning off of. The other part of this that's unclear is what this actually means, the conviction for the November election.

You've seen so many Trump's speeches. What do you mean when you say clearly rattled?

It just was all over the place. He was not able to stay on message. He kept going back to the case. I will say, I know that people who don't listen to him often say that he sounds disjointed, but this was particularly so. Not really even going into some of the core issues that he often does, talking about the economy and inflation, but instead, continually going back to this case, this gag order had really kept Trump in line. After he had been fined, Donald Trump did not mention these witnesses. He was pretty disciplined, and people close to him said to me that this was because he didn't want the possibility of being in jail. He didn't want the possibility of being fined more. Today, Say he seemed to not be able to control himself or to help himself when he went into this lengthy rant about Michael Cohen. And again, he didn't say his name, but he was clearly going after one of the witnesses here. And that's what I mean when I say that he seemed rattled.

As the first former President to be convicted of a felony, he next has a sentencing. That's set for July 11th. Can you talk about what the Trump campaign or the former President, how they're thinking going into that date? Is it campaigning on the way to it? Is it fundraising on that day? Do you have a sense of how they plan on approaching it?

Well, there are still conversations going on around that and whether or not they're actually going to keep that date. So just one of the things that happened in this flurry after that verdict was read was that Todd Blanch requested a sentencing date in late July. Now, that would be after the Republican Convention, after he was officially nominated. Or officially became the nominee. Then instead, the judge said that the sentencing date is going to be July 11th, which is just two days, or I guess four days, if you count the weekend, before the start of that convention. So this is actually a highly political time for Donald Trump. He's expected to be naming his vice President in that same window, and they would like to focus on the politics around the convention and really building out that as a moment for Donald Trump. So So whether or not they end up trying to move it, they are going to treat that sentencing as part of the campaign, if it stays that day, to try and build anticipation ahead of the convention. Now, how they're going to do that? That is completely unclear. And again, I do want to note there is still concern among some of Donald Trump's allies that a conviction is going to hurt him politically.

It is not all raw, raw, this is going to help us in November. There are people who believe that, and they are happy with those fundraising numbers, but not everyone is 100% certain that this is going to be a net positive for Donald Trump politically.

Let's break that down just a little bit because there is that certain segment of the Republican electorate that we saw during the primaries that continued to vote for Nikki Haley, even when she had dropped out of the race, essentially. So it seems like there was a ceiling for support. Is the campaign interested in getting those people? Do they think this will help?

So it depends on which portion of those people that you mean. And when I say that, I mean that the campaign and those around Donald Trump and the former President himself understands that there is a section of people who are never going to vote for him. And that includes independents and certain Republicans. They are not going to come around. They don't like Donald Trump, and he's a polarizing figure. Now, Donald Trump doesn't admit that publicly, but he does know that. So whether or not there's interest, yes, there is interest on the people they believe are movable, but that's not really where their full concern is going to be or their full focus is going to be. They are also going to try and expand the electorate. They are going to try and find right-leaning, low propensity voters who will back Donald Trump because, again, they are very much aware of how polarizing this candidate it is, and that it's not going to be possible to move certain people.

And so when you say low propensity, are you also talking low information, people who maybe don't vote as consistently or only vote during big general elections? Yes.

People who don't vote as consistently. Maybe they have voted before in a general election, but they didn't vote in 2020. Perhaps they have indicated some interest in the Republican Party. They vote in one specific race, and they are spending a lot of time, they being not just Donald Trump and his campaign, but also these outside conservative groups on identifying who those people are, and that is who they are targeting. Again, they know that there is this group of voters in the middle, and maybe they can sway some of them, particularly when it comes to the economy. Inflation is a real problem for people across the country, but they're not going to sway all of them because Donald Trump is a polarizing figure. So instead, they are looking for other avenues to get voters.

No doubt there are opinion polls that are probably being fielded as we speak. Was there any sense about where public opinion has been as this case has rolled on?

We've seen the poll numbers, Adi. Donald Trump has maintained a high poll number. This has not tanked him in the way it likely would another candidate. Now, that was obviously before there was an actual conviction, and we don't know how that conviction is going to play with voters. There was one poll that we saw yesterday that showed that 7% of people who said that they were likely to vote for Donald Trump would be less likely to vote for him if he was convicted. 7% is a small number, but it's not that small when you're talking about an election like what we expect in November, where both sides, Biden and Trump, believe it's going to be decided by a very narrow margin, and particularly in Donald Trump's case, where they believe that Trump's base always shows up. So 7% of a base that always shows up, possibly not showing up, is not going to be good for Trump's team. But again, I stress the fact that Donald Trump has had a lot of issues in the past. He's had legal issues. He had the Access Hollywood tape, and he managed to win in 2016, and he managed to not really have his polls affected by those issues.

So how this plays out, particularly with someone like him, really, again, is unclear.

Stay with us because we're going to have more with Kristen Holmes after a short break. You've been in and around the courtroom for several days now, and we've heard from a mix of people who had a reaction to the verdict.

How did it feel to be here? Very emotional. When we heard that there was a verdict, and then we wait, and then we heard that it was going to be guilty. It was very emotional. We cheered. Were you here for the verdict?

Yes.

How did that feel? Another win for us in the long run.

Another win?

Yeah, win. Are you concerned at all that this verdict could potentially create more backlash, more violence?

I don't believe so because the bottom line is no one above the law.

Do you think Trump will win this next election? Yes. What if he loses? I don't think he'll lose.

What was the mood outside?

The mood was split. There were people there who were Donald Trump supporters, who were booing, and there were a lot of people there who were really happy. They were cheering. It's the same mood we saw earlier outside of Trump Tower when Donald Trump was speaking. There was a portion of people on the street of New York, chanting, holding up signs that said, Guilty, loser. We don't want felons in the White House. And there were a group of people across the street with giant MAGA Trump 2024 flags. It's hard to imagine either one of these groups or anything really impacting either one of these groups here. So that's not even who we're looking at when it looks at November. You're looking at the people who probably are coming out here with their own set opinions. It's those people who are just trying to figure out what's next.

Yeah, it was interesting. Donia Sullivan was outside getting some interviews with people, and even some of the people who thought that Donald Trump was guilty, they had doubts about whether it would make a difference with his supporters. There's their own reluctance and, I guess, disappointment about that.

Yeah, because they've seen this time and time again. Donald Trump is not like a candidate that we have seen before. The things that should kill his presidential campaign or political career just haven't. And that is a fact. There is no time in history that we can remember a tape like the Access Hollywood tape, not with something much smaller than that, not tanking someone's political career or having them drop out of the race. Instead, some of what Donald Trump has done has only made him more popular with his base. But this election is not going to be decided by anyone's base. It's going to be decided by voters outside of that world. Because, again, we know that there are people who like Donald Trump who are going to show up in November. And there are also people who really don't like Donald Trump who are going to show up in November who want Joe Biden to win. This is going to be decided by people in the middle who really haven't even made a choice yet. And that's the people we really don't know how a conviction of a former President who is now running for office is going to impact.

It was an interesting split screen with President Joe Biden speaking on Friday, finally talking about the trial and specifically, Donald Trump's conviction.

It's reckless It's dangerous. It's irresponsible for anyone to say this was rigged just because they don't like the verdict. Our justice system has endured for nearly 250 years, and it literally is a corner Stone of America.

It also was a moment, I think, for voters to hear both of these, you know, nominees side by side and their performance, et cetera. What struck you about this split screen?

I thought it was interesting to see Biden staying completely on message, which was the complete opposite of what we saw from Donald Trump. Biden made his remarks, and he even said that Donald Trump has the right, like every other American, to appeal, whereas Donald Trump blamed Joe Biden and Democrats for everything that happened to him. And it's not just the trial itself, but the two speeches were dramatically different, or at least those segments of the speeches. This rambling off prompter, Donald Trump, going back and forth forth between talking about Michael Cohen and the case and then sprinkling in some stuff about immigration and the campaign and running for office with Biden, who just gave his portion of the speech on message and then moved on. I think that Biden's team is still figuring out exactly how they want to handle this. We saw them trying it out, bringing Robert De Niro down to the courthouse to speak from there. They've tried different attack methods on Trump. But this was an effective way of Biden to just address the trial and then move on without taking Donald Trump on, whereas Donald Trump has continued to just try to blame Biden for everything that has happened.

Kristen, before I let you go, one more thing, which is that this is such a fascinating beat to be on, right? Covering a presidential nominee me, but you're covering it in a very unusual time in presidential history, right? You're covering a candidate who could be the first, nominee to be also a convicted felon. Can you talk about the significance of this?

So before I talk about the significance, I just want to tell you what I'm looking at right now, because I feel like you're talking about what a unique time this is, but it's also just such a bizarre time. I am sitting currently talking to you, Fifth Avenue in front of Trump Tower, where a man with a Donald Trump mask is in the middle of the street directing traffic and has continued to be. Moments ago, I saw a fake motorcade go by with a fake Donald Trump waving. I have seen Jeeps with flags. I have seen counter protester. It is such a bizarre circus that this campaign is overall. So that, myself, is just my observation in general. No, I'm glad.

That sums it up there in a way.

I am living in this circus Yes, Adi. But talk about the significance of the moment. The most important thing for me in this time is to continue to make sure that the American people are understanding what exactly is going on with Donald Trump and his legal issues. So they are informed when they go to the ballot box in November. And sometimes that means talking about what his team believes to be true, talking about fundraising numbers, talking about the fact that there is a faction of the American public, and a large one, that is likely to vote for the former President in November. And it is a time in history that we've never seen before. The country feels so divided, and it feels particularly divided when you are covering Donald Trump and you are constantly surrounded by people who are just angry. They want a different country. They want a different life. And it feels just like a particularly significant moment in time, even as we see, we've said this before, that this is a consequential election, but it just feels like such a divided country right now, and it feels so significant, particularly after we've seen this conviction now.

So CNN correspondent, Kristen Holmes. Thank you so much for your reporting. One thing is a production of CNN Audio. This episode was produced by Haley Thomas and Matt Martinez. Dan DeZula is our technical director, and Steve Ligtai is executive producer of CNN Audio. David Reind will be back next week. In the meantime, thanks so much for listening.