Big Country Politics: Trump’s hush money trial verdict & its impact on his political future

BIG COUNTRY, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) — In this week’s Big Country Politics, Alex Gangitano, White House correspondent from The Hill, discusses the guilty verdict in the Trump hush money trial and its impact on Trump’s political future.

Trump found guilty on all 34 counts in hush money case

Gangitano was in Washington, D.C., Thursday when former President Donald Trump was found guilty on all 34 counts in the hush money trial. She said she was surprised at how quickly the verdict came.

“It was after nine and a half hours that a unanimous verdict was reached from the jury. I think that surprised me. I thought it would be more in the lines of later on Friday afternoon,” Gangitano said. “There was a conversation over [if] there is one juror that might be showing more support for Trump. There were conversations from inside the courtroom from the reporters who were there that there was a single juror who would give Trump a look, that maybe she was supportive of him or whatnot. I don’t know how to explain whatever look they were seeing. So that led to me believing earlier in the week that maybe this would be a hung jury or there wouldn’t be a unanimous decision here.”

She added that although she was surprised by the speed of the verdict, she was not very surprised that all 34 counts had the same outcome.

“The fact that they found him guilty on all 34 counts wasn’t particularly surprising, considering I think it was kind of an all-or-nothing situation. To begin with, in terms of this falsifying business records. It comes down to different counts, like what checks. Did the president sign himself versus Michael Cohen or whoever else? So, there were some nuances with the charges. But I think that it made sense to me that the jury didn’t get down to the specifics and just found him guilty on all of them,” Gangitano said.

Trump’s hush money conviction: What happens next

Gangitano recalled that the judge was asking for clarification on the definition of some words, which sparked some controversy.

“Particularly that was the word interference, common sense, and reasonable doubt; kind of interesting. This was a diverse jury in terms of the different occupations they had. There were actually some lawyers on the panel, which is kind of interesting. But according to my reporters and colleagues in the room, the jurors all appeared to be diligently taking notes on his responses to that,” Gangitano said.

That morning, a tweet that seemed to state that the jury did not have to be unanimous to convict also sparked controversy on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“There was some controversy that I saw floating around online and actually saw this firsthand when I was on X on Thursday morning and saw somebody tweet this as if it was the official say, but it was that the judge actually told the jury that they don’t need to be unanimous in order to convict Trump and that it could maybe be split and like a four-four situation. That was obviously not true,” Gangitano said. “Apparently, he instructed the jury that they must conclude unanimously that a defendant conspired in this hush-money scheme, but they didn’t need to be unanimous in terms of specific definitions as to what unlawful means in the situation. So, there’s some weird nuance there. But they did have to obviously decide, all together, if they found him guilty, like a normal jury.”

Answers to your questions about Donald Trump’s historic hush money trial conviction

Judge Juan M. Merchan received criticism during the trial, especially when people believed that he was altering the legal system.

“I think the fact that this was thrown out as a kind of a last-minute conspiracy theory that he was changing things up and changing up during the legal system, he faced threats as a result. It all kind of plays into, I think, the narrative of the conspiracy theory that this is all part of a rigged system. The former president says this as well that this is all maybe the Biden administration’s doing or whatnot. I think anytime people who support that theory here or the judge is changing things up, or he’s playing by his own rules, there’s gonna be a backlash against him, and that was the situation that we saw,” Gangitano stated.

After the verdict was announced, the Biden campaign promptly released a statement saying, “The only way to prevent Donald Trump from becoming the President is through the ballot box. Whether convicted of a felony or not, Trump will still be the Republican nominee for president.”

“He’s still going to be most likely the Republican nominee on the ballot in November, and they used it as a warning sign to show up in November if you don’t want somebody who’s been convicted as your president. We’ve seen some polling months ago when this was kind of a hypothetical. We’ve seen polling that Americans have said, we don’t want somebody who’s been convicted of a crime to be president, and that would stop me from maybe voting for him. I think the Biden campaign is trying to reignite those feelings and give people that stark choice for November,” Gangitano said.

Trump verdict throws election into uncharted territory

On Thursday, The Hill website reported that 56% of Americans support Trump and 44% support Biden. Many Republicans have stated that they will vote for Trump, whether convicted or not, which could boost his presidential campaign.

“People who are not going to lose their support for Trump are going to turn up in even more numbers because they do see this as the government colluding against him,” Gangitano said. “The former president is beating President Biden again and again in polls, or they’re neck and neck in some polls. He’s not losing his support here. I think a lot of people don’t see this as a huge issue for him before November because he’s framing this, and I know a lot of people agree with him that this is no people colluding against him.”

She mentioned that many people have discussed how this election will be determined by the margins.

“I think the moderate voters, moderate Republicans, maybe Nikki Haley supporters, or Chris Christie supporters or independents. I think this is all eyes on them. To decide how they feel about this because Trump’s supporters, I think, are on his side, Biden supporters hear what Biden has to say and his arguments and are on his side, and then somewhere in the middle, I think that the decision will be made,” Gangitano stated.

Trump says he’s ‘OK’ with prospect of jail time, house arrest after hush money conviction

Trump’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for July 11th. Gangitano mentioned that first-time offenders typically receive probation or a fine rather than jail time.

“A conviction does not stop him from running for office, as we know. While he could technically face jail time, first-time offenders on charges like what Trump was convicted of are often not incarcerated. These are all a type of felony that carries a maximum of four years in prison, but oftentimes more, we see people get probation instead of jail time,” Gangitano explained. “But on top of all this, Trump is likely to appeal the verdict. He actually said that, or alluded to it, when he was leaving the courthouse on Thursday, saying that this was a disgrace and that he has previously pleaded that he’s not guilty. So, the appeal process will take some time as well. So we won’t get clear answers yet. But I do think at this point, actual jail time is pretty rare, just considering what he is convicted of and everything surrounding this trial.”

If Trump is reelected, he still would not be able to pardon the guilty verdict from his record as it’s a state trial.

“If he wins the White House back in November, he’d obviously regain pardon power, but that actually wouldn’t help him overturn his conviction because this was a state trial. This hush money trial took place in New York, and he’s likely to appeal the ruling,” Gangitano said. “But if the conviction stands, he would not be able to wipe away this guilty verdict. So, another interesting nuance here is that considering how powerful the pardon is for the president, he actually would not be able to use it.”

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