Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Soon, Convicted Felon Trump Holds News Conference on Guilty Verdict; Trump's Legal Team Says Verdict is One Step; Biden Campaign Says, No One is Above the Law. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired May 31, 2024 - 07:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Whether we like the outcome or not.

[07:00:01]

And we should all be grateful for them and keep them safe and protected.

One other point, this idea that you can't get a fair trial in New York City, I know that we had guests on today, one of whom, Markwayne Mullen, comes from a district that was 73 or 72 percent voted for Donald Trump, 23, not Bismarck, North Dakota, where Governor Burgum is from, voted for Trump, 69 to 28 percent. I'd love to ask them if a Democrat could get -- if they would say that a Democrat get a fair trial there. The answer is yes, because people get fair trials all over the country. And the idea that merely because there's a political split that the criminal justice system falls apart is just nonsense.

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Well, that's a good note to end on. We could talk about this all day, but our time is up. Thanks to our panel. Thanks to you for being here. I'm Kasie Hunt.

Don't go anywhere. CNN News Central starts right now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning we will hear from Donald Trump. The convicted felon holds a news conference. We might also hear from President Biden for the first time since the verdict, this new chapter in American history.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: A new video this morning of the moment Ukrainian drones attack and destroy Russian boats. The strike coming as President Biden gives Ukraine the okay to use U.S. weapons to carry out strikes on Russian soil.

And a police officer ambushed and killed by the very person he was trying to help.

I'm Kate Bolduan with John Berman. Sara Sidner is out today. This is CNN News Central.

BERMAN: This morning, for the first time, Donald Trump is waking up as a convicted felon. This morning, for the first time, the country is waking up with a former president who is a convicted felon. And this morning, for the first time, a major political party is waking up with a presumptive nominee that is a convicted felon. As for what that means, we are all now living it moment by moment.

This morning, we get fresh reaction from Donald Trump. He holds a news conference. We also have new reaction from the Biden campaign as they assess how to handle this new reality, including reaction, perhaps, from President Biden himself.

Donald Trump faces sentencing on July 11th. That is just days before the Republican convention. He could get up to four years in prison, though. He could face no jail time. And, of course, Trump will appeal this verdict.

Let's get right to the courthouse. CNN's Brynn Gingras standing by, you were there the whole trial. You are now there after the trial. Give us the latest.

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. All right, John, you ready for all the headlines that we've got from the papers that my wonderful producer, Aaron Cooper, collected this morning? Look at Daily News, guilty. The same goes for The New York Times, guilty, convicted on all 34 counts, and for the New York Post, not surprisingly, injustice, first felon president after political hit job.

Of course, this is what Americans, at least in New York, are waking up to on their doorsteps this morning, the first, as you said, former U.S. president convicted of a felony. Now, what's next, the sentencing. As you said, John, that is on July 11th at 10:00 A.M. Judge Juan Merchan is the one who will decide that sentencing.

Now, there's a few factors that actually will go into his decision- making. One of those is any character references that the former president's family members might submit in writing, a recommendation from a probation officer, also the fact that the former president has no criminal history and these crimes were not a violent crime. So, that's going to go all into the decision making.

But what's at stake, former President Trump can either receive probation or he can receive up to four years in prison for each of those 34 counts for a maximum of 20 years in prison. Obviously, that's pretty unlikely, but certainly that is on the scale of Judge Juan Merchan's -- you know, his scale of what he can decide.

This morning, we are also hearing reaction from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, the first person to bring an indictment against a former president, and, of course, Trump's defense team. Let's take a listen to what they have to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TODD BLANCHE, DONALD TRUMP'S DEFENSE ATTORNEY: We were indicted for conduct that happened in 2015, '16, '17. In a jurisdiction that, that, that it was very hard for us to get a fair trial.

I think it's naive to say that this is like any other case. (END VIDEO CLIP)

GINGRAS: Yes. And Bragg, you know, in his time saying that they thanked jurors for their service, saying obviously that this defendant was like no other, but that they did their job.

Now, Blanche also saying in the interview with Kaitlan Collins that they plan to file a number of motions before the sentencing date on July 11th. And then after that sentencing, they are obviously very likely going to appeal this conviction.

[07:05:00]

We saw a number of those filings prior to this trial, so we fully expect a lot of them to have to happen afterwards as well.

One thing to note though, John, Bragg did say when he was asked what sort of sentencing recommendation he'll make, he said the filings will speak for itself, would not make a public comment on that. John?

BERMAN: No, Alvin Bragg actually fairly tight-lipped after this conviction. Brynn Gingras outside the courthouse, Brynn, thank you very much. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Donald Trump and his supporters are angry today. Donald Trump and his political opponent Joe Biden actually though agree on one key point coming out of this verdict, that this really doesn't end until November. Biden saying the following, there's only one way to keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office, at the ballot box, and Donald Trump put it this way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The real verdict is going to be November 5th by the people, and they know what happened here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: CNN's Kristen Holmes live outside Trump Tower, where we are going to be hearing from Donald Trump. He says he's going to be holding this press conference at 11:00 A.M. What are we expecting to hear from them?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Kate, we're going to expect to hear exactly what we have been hearing, that this was election interference, that this is political persecution. He's going to say that Alvin Bragg should have never brought this case, and he's going to try and link this case to President Joe Biden.

And I will tell you when I talked to his senior advisers, they believe that this messaging is going to help him come November, that they can rally up and ramp up the base as well as other Republicans because of this.

Now, I want to give you a little bit of a taste of what Donald Trump had to say immediately after the verdict, more exactly later, but here's what he said yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We didn't do a thing wrong. I'm a very innocent man. And it's okay, I'm fighting for our country, I'm fighting for our Constitution. Our whole country is being rigged right now.

We'll keep fighting. We'll fight until the end and we'll win, because our country's gone to hell. We don't have the same country anymore. We have a divided mess.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Now, there obviously are a lot of questions still about today. Will he take questions? The other thing we are wondering is whether or not Melania Trump will be by his side. We know that she is currently in New York. Last night, Donald Trump was described to me as outraged, as surprised, shocked, despite the fact that he had told people he thought it was possible that he was going to be convicted, the actual weight of it happening.

By the end of the night, he was at a private fundraising dinner. Sources around him said that he was feeling in somewhat better spirits as those allies and donors aimed to convince him that this would help him both politically and financially. We have not seen any of those fundraising numbers yet, but we have asked.

The big question, though, is that we are in uncharted territory. Despite what his senior advisors say, despite what they believe and despite what has happened with his various legal issues, which have boosted him both financially and in the polls, it is very unclear to everyone how this is going to impact voters going to the ballot box in November.

BOLDUAN: Kristen, it's great to see you. Thanks for being there, much more to come from Trump Tower this morning. John?

BERMAN: Yes, well, interesting to see if we see Melania Trump, who's in New York, but did not go to any moment of the trial itself.

Again, Donald Trump is set to speak this morning. We are standing by for that. He, of course, is now a convicted felon, and we're standing by for reaction from President Biden. He will leave Delaware. Will he speak as he departs?

A police officers shot and killed, ambushed by the person he was trying to help. Officer Jamal Mitchell was honored last year by CNN for saving an elderly couple from a house fire. Here is what Mitchell told us then about the call to serve his community.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's part of the job. It's like putting others -- we're here to protect the community, do what we can to serve the community. We are trained to put others lives in front of ours.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:10:00]

BERMAN: All right. In just a few hours, we will hear from Donald Trump. He will speak at Trump Tower. The convicted felon says he is already planning to appeal his verdict. This is what lawyer Todd Blanche told Kaitlan Collins.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLANCHE: This is one step in the process, right? So, we have motions doing a couple weeks in front of Judge Merchan, which we're going to vigorously fight and restate a lot of what I'm saying to you tonight and other things that happened during the trial that we think just made the trial unfair, including the testimony of Ms. Daniels.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right. With us now, former Trump White House lawyer Jim Schultz and former U.S Attorney Michael Moore. Thank you, gentlemen, for being here.

Todd Blanche says they will appeal. He says one of the things they will focus on is the testimony from Stormy Daniels, which I think they're going to say was prejudicially graphic in some cases. What do you think the strongest grounds for appeal are?

MICHAEL MOORE, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, I'm glad to be with you. I think that's a decent ground to move forward. I do think that her testimony went too far. There should have been more objections, but certainly there are objections on the record, and I think the court probably should have stepped in to do that.

I think the other issue, that is out there that will probably catch the attention of some judge on appellate court will be the due process issue and how the -- well, it's how the charges are laid out. I mean, we believe in our system that a defendant has a right to be put on notice of the specific things that he or she would have to defend themselves against. That means that an indictment generally spells out the specific charge, how you did it, what implement you did it with, who you did it to.

[07:15:03]

This was a little willy-nilly and when they got to this second crime. So, you remember they took this state statute that was a misdemeanor. They made it a felony. They enhanced it by saying, well, he intended to violate another law, but they never really went into and explain what he was alleged to have violated. They did something during the trial. They tried to make an effort, but it was back and forth on his in this tax cases and a federal election laws and a state election law. And I think that may cause them a bit of problem with the conviction.

BERMAN: Jim?

JIM SCHULTZ, CNN LEGAL COMMENTATOR: I think building on that, they instructed on federal campaign finance law, but didn't let anybody testify as to what the elements of that potential crime were. And the judge said, well, that's my job, right? Well, at times in federal court, they allow campaign finance expert that are specialized in that area to testify. It happened in federal court in Philadelphia in what was called the Farnese case, where a state senator was indicted. They had someone who was an expert lawyer that came in and testified on that case. There is precedent for that. They didn't do that here.

And all they did was instruct the jury on the particular elements of the campaign finance issue on a case that was never prosecuted by the federal prosecutors. So, they're saying they violated federal law. It was never prosecuted goes back to the due process piece and whether they should have been allowed to have someone testify in that case.

BERMAN: Whether the process was fair basically is what due process means, in layman's terms.

Let me ask you this in retrospect, what mistakes did the defense make? I read an op-ed this morning by our friend, Renato Mariotti, who said one thing the defense it was opened the door to Stormy Daniels' testimony because of the opening statements, Todd Blanche says, they didn't have sex. He didn't have to say anything about that. By doing that, you open the door to Stormy Daniels.

The other thing Mariotti said is they didn't focus on exactly where the gray area is enough, which is what did Donald Trump actually know or do about the false documents.

MOORE: Yes. I mean, I think those are good points. I always hate to armchair quarterback, and I know everybody's still trying to digest the verdict, you know, especially on the defense team, I'm sure. But I do think maybe a more cohesive story, a lot of talking to a jury is just telling a story. Are you able to tell it in a way that sort of sets the bait, sets the hook, and then keeps them interested and with you through the trial? And I think there was a little meandering back and forth that went on. I think they got into some information that was not necessary.

I mean, I think a lot of the questions that might have been effective at some point just to stand up. So, I don't have any questions. This person knows nothing about whether or not he falsified any documents. Who cares if he wore boxers or condom? That just doesn't matter. And I think those kind of issues became red herrings that were salacious, but didn't have anything to do with the case.

BERMAN: Jim?

SCHULTZ: Yes. Look, I think when you look at the Harvey Weinstein case, right, that's what everybody's going to point back to. Now, that case had -- and remember, only some of the charges were dismissed in the Harvey Weinstein case. This case, if they find that that was prejudicial, all of those convictions go out, all 34 of them. This was not a sex crimes case, like Harvey Weinstein, where it was part of the elements of the crime, but it was if it was viewed to be overly prejudicial versus the probative value, then all of the charges are gone.

But Todd Blanche in the opening statements, and I read the transcript, went out of the way to state --

SCHULTZ: He did open the door.

BERMAN: So, if he opens the door, why not drive through it?

SCHULTZ: Agreed. And the prosecution did that. They drove through it. It's a question what appellate judge is going to say on appeal as it relates to the prejudicial effect versus the probative value.

BERMAN: All right. We have about 30 seconds left here, Michael. The jury, now in retrospect, given the jury questions that we did have and the length of time they took to deliberate, can you read anything from that?

MOORE: I don't really think so. I think they had made their mind up early on. I thought the delay of about a week from the time they finished the evidence. So they got here. They probably got set in stone. The problem with that is that they didn't know the law they were supposed to apply. They just based it on sort of what their gut feelings were about some facts. And once you get set in there, no matter what the judge tells you, you're stuck.

BERMAN: We may never know. We may never hear from the jury itself, although we might. We will see. We will also see sentencing on July 11th.

SCHULTZ: I think we're going to see some books.

MOORE: That's probably right.

BERMAN: There may be. There may be.

All right, an emotional reunion as an American returns home after being charged for possessing ammunition while on vacation.

A new reaction this morning as Republicans navigate the uncharted waters of the presumptive nominee being a convicted felon. We are getting fresh reaction unfolding in real-time.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:00]

BOLDUAN: President Biden has yet to speak out publicly on Donald Trump's verdict. We may hear from him as he is set to leave Delaware this morning. We will see. But moments after the verdict was delivered, he and his campaign did take to Twitter to look forward, saying this, the only way to defeat Donald Trump is at the ballot box.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is at the White House. Priscilla, what are you hearing from there this morning and also from the campaign? Because from the White House, it was a pretty short statement.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Right. The White House has been quite reluctant to weigh in over the course of this trial, but, really, the White House and the campaign still largely taking a subdued approach. They're not banking on this right now, really changing the calculus in the election entirely, and instead trying to keep the focus on the issue and framing still Donald Trump as a threat to democracy.

And that really came through in a sharply worded statement put out by the campaign yesterday right after this verdict was reached where they said, quote, 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.

Now, the Biden campaign also started fundraising shortly after the verdict, essentially telling supporters that Trump's conviction could lead to fundraising records for him.

[07:25:00]

And in that email, Biden said, quote, the following, you know that I hate to ask, but there couldn't be a more important moment for you to make your first donation to keep this guy out of the White House once and for all.

Now, as far as an official response, the White House Counsel spokesperson keeping it very brief, we respect the rule of law and have no additional comments. You can see through all of those different statements that there is a fine line that is being walked here with the campaign and the White House.

Now, for the president himself, he was out of the public eye yesterday. He was commemorating the ninth anniversary of his son Beau's death. We will see him today when he leaves Delaware, as you mentioned, but also he will be welcoming the Kansas City Chiefs here later today. It's a light hearted event, but he will surely be asked about this by reporters whether he weighs in or does or delivers more formal remarks, still a big open question.

So, we have not yet heard from the president, but his campaign certainly taking the lead here with their with their statements, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yes. And, importantly, as you point out with the schedule, one, always enjoy seeing what happens when any president welcomes a football team to the White House, but, two, multiple opportunities today to hear from President Biden if he would so choose. So we'll stand by for that.

It's great to see Priscilla. Thank you.

Still ahead for us, a big shift on the battlefield in Ukraine, President Biden saying U.S. weapons can be used to strike Russia on Russian soil. Now the impact of that.

And we're also learning new details about a deadly ambush where a police officer in Minnesota was killed. That officer shot by someone he was trying to help.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:30:00]