Donald Trump found guilty in "hush money" criminal trial | Special Report

this is a CBS News special report I'm

Nora odonnell in Washington and we are

coming on the air with breaking news

from the first criminal trial of a

former president in the US that is

Donald Trump we have just learned that

the verdict is in after sitting silently

through 22 Witnesses over 16 days of

testimony the juror's verdict would ever

it is will be unprecedented just to

remind everybody Donald Trump is charged

with 34 felony counts of falsifying

business records all tied to those hush

money payments made to adult film star

Stormy Daniels prosecutors claim that

the payments were part of an elaborate

scheme to quote conceal crimes that hid

damaging information from the voting

public during the 2016 presidential

election now what about these felonies

well each felony carries a potential

Cent s of up to 4 years in prison and a

$5,000 fine now if Donald Trump is

convicted prison time is not certain

that will be up to the judge during the

sentencing let's go right now to Chief

election campaign correspondent Robert

Costa who has been inside the courthouse

today and Robert what do we

know good to be with you Nora it is an

unreal scene here outside the Manhattan

Criminal Courthouse you can hear the

helicopters above police officers

everywhere bracing for this verdict to

be revealed by the jury which has been

deliberating all day based on our

reporting at CBS News the jury has

zeroed in on documents and testimony

about a key 2015 meeting between David

pecker the former publisher of the

national inquire and longtime fixer

Michael Cohen who was a crucial witness

for the prosecution the jury is wanting

to go over this testimony to figure out

was Trump directly involved in the

called catch and kill scheme to bury

scandalous stories about Trump before

the 2016 election we also know the jury

wants to know more about that underlying

crime the prosecution has been arguing

about for the past 7 weeks that this

wasn't just about so-called hush money

payments made to adult film star Stormy

Daniels it was about something bigger

about interfering in the 2016 election

by deliberately labeling these payments

as legal expenses and withholding

information from American voters it's a

very important Point Robert as the

district attorney in this case said from

the very beginning in his words this is

not a case about money for sex it's

about conspiring to corrupt a

presidential election and then lying on

business records to cover it up but the

question for those 12 members of the

jury uh was the intent question and so

that's what they have worked out on what

we estimate to be about 10 hours of

deliberation Robert I also understand

from our team of reporters that are

still inside the courtroom that Trump is

sitting with his arms crossed he's

pouting he's staring at the judge and it

feels tense inside the courtroom you've

watched Donald Trump over these past 6

weeks and have been in close contact

with officials close to him what has

been his mood his demeanor how would you

characterize this moment

is Nora I can't underscore the drama of

the past 15 minutes it was just 15 20

minutes ago that many people inside the

courthouse behind me including our own

reporters members of the Trump team

members of the prosecution believe the

jury would be deliberating till about

4:30 this afternoon and then break and

then resume deliberations on Friday then

a sudden turn a verdict was made a

verdict was decided it has not yet been

revealed everyone called back into the

courtroom Trump was confident all day we

saw him mingling with his staff talking

to family memb in the holding room as

they waited for the deliberations to be

over he has to be here at the court as

the jury deliberates but he was in an

upbeat mood that has turned the verdict

is now coming and this is more than just

a legal battle for former president

Donald Trump he is the first former

president of the United States any

American president to face a historic

criminal trial and this comes in the

middle of a presidential campaign

against President Joe Biden whose

campaign has been here in recent days in

lower Manhattan everything's on the line

right now for Trump the former president

of the United States will he serve jail

time if there is a guilty verdict he

could get probation but a prison

sentence is possible and this is someone

who just said minutes ago to reporters

he wants to campaign and this has

already been a burden a real political

cost for him costing him

time Robert Costa thank you and we

should note that the picture you are

looking at right now is a live picture

from right outside the courtroom where

we have seen Donald Trump appear some

days at the end of the trial or before

to make statements about what he has

called a Witch Hunt going on inside want

to bring in our chief Washington

correspondent Major Garrett uh we've

been to places in history that we've

never been before with Donald Trump

twice impeached uh now is likely to

become or could become I should say the

first president tried in a criminal

trial to either be acquitted and found

not guilty or guilty we just have been

here before in this what are the stakes

for Donald Trump as he is the Republican

party's nominee right to pick up on

Robert Costa's point it's not just that

he's a former president Nora he's the

Republican nominee in Waiting in an

active presidential campaign shadowed as

he has been for months now by criminal

indictments we're now going to have

probably the only verdict on any of the

pending criminal DS before the election

if he's acquitted most people I've

talked to in the Trump universe believe

there will be a burst of energy around

the former president in a very positive

political way if he's convicted they

believe those in the Trump inter circle

that this will be convulsive for the

country because at least a third of the

country Nora and maybe more than a third

believe this entire case should never

have been brought in the first place

agree entirely with the former

president's orientation to this that

others looked at this and didn't seek to

prosecute this that this is a legal

reach to take a business records case

attach it to a felony in a campaign

context which has never been prosecuted

before in New York they agree with that

orientation to this and if he's

convicted those in the Trump Inner

Circle predict a convulsive reaction

however there will be a part of this

country Norah that will say if the

former president is convicted there is

now finally some institutional

accountability for someone who has been

toppling or at least attempting to

topple all sorts of institutional Norms

in this country

I can't give you an assessment of the

actual point BYO number by number

political reaction to this but we are in

a fraught moment in American history a

lot of things hang in the balance not

just for former president Trump but the

Republican Party the Democratic party

President Biden and our sense of

institutional permanence and Norms no

doubt and this is day two to remind

everybody of the jury deliberations and

just a short time ago we got word from

the judge that a verdict was in judge

merchan saying the jury has a verdict

but we would like an extra 30 minutes to

fill out forms if that is possible want

to bring in a former Manhattan assistant

district attorney and CBS News legal

contributor Rebecca royi she joins us

now and Rebecca this 30 minutes of

course everyone is waiting to hear what

this jury has decided first 10 hours

over two days the number of questions

that they asked to get clarification on

what do you think that tells us about

how this jury may be

leaning you know it's always impossible

to know what a jury has decided until

that verdict is actually read however

this was an incredibly quick

deliberation over two days as you said

only about 10 hours of deliberation it

looks like the jury was thinking

carefully about the testimony and about

the elements that needed to be proved

Beyond A Reasonable Doubt but you know

generally speaking when verdicts are

rendered this quickly it usually is a

sign that is positive for the

prosecution because it normally takes

far longer for 12 jurors to agree to qu

acquit than this short amount of time

but of course really that is pure

speculation at this point let's also

bring in Caroline Pelosi she is the

criminal defense attorney and lecturer

in law at Columbia Law School and

Caroline good to talk to you just on

this matter falsifying business records

in New York that is a misdemeanor but it

was can be elevated if in fact intent

was used to conceal another crime that's

why this case is relevant because the

prosecutors made the case that there was

intent of course a campaign Finance

violation is their words that said it

could have tipped the election what do

you see that the jury has come back so

quickly that's right I I really do agree

with Rebecca I think the Swift nature of

this verdict and the fact that we didn't

get any other notes from saying we're

having trouble coming up with a

unanimous verdict something of that

nature we were bracing ourselves for

something along those lines I agree this

feels like guilty verdicts are on the

way um the object crime that you're

talking about there is a New York state

conspiracy to violate uh election law

and and that is by influencing an

election through unlawful means and you

know we saw that the jurors requested

rereads of testimony David Pecker's

testimony regarding that 2015

Trump Tower meeting in which the

prosecution alleged this plan this

conspiracy was hatched so I think that

that we are seeing sort of the pieces of

the puzzle come together for that object

crime making this what was uh in one

case a misdemeanor now a felony crime

falsification of the records in

furtherance of hiding this state uh New

York state election law

conspiracy any moment now we could get

the verdict in this case against Donald

J Trump these 34 felony counts the jury

had asked for an additional 30 minutes

that time has passed so we are on

standby to find out what these seven men

and five women have decided in this case

there are also we should note two

lawyers who were on this jury as well

let's bring in Jan Crawford who is our

chief legal correspondent also covers

the Supreme Court what do you see about

today as we await this verdict well I

mean following up on major's point I

think what is so extraord Aries this was

kind of seen as maybe the weakest of the

cases that could have been brought

against former president Trump the main

case being of course potentially the

prosecution for his attempts to uh

overthrow the 2020 election that case uh

has kind of ground to a halt uh as it is

now before the Supreme Court on whether

or not he is absolutely immune from

prosecution there we're waiting a

decision from the court which could

determine whether that trial will go

forward it could be potential

uh impossible for that prosecution so we

could be in a situation where out of all

the cases the classified documents case

at the January 6th potential prosecution

in this case this could end up being the

only case against former president Trump

to go to trial and potentially Merit a

conviction and to Major's Point uh that

could um land in ways that we cannot

possibly imagine a former president um

being convicted on charg that are novel

In some cases uh considered Weak by many

legal commentators and multiple grounds

for the president to argue on statutory

and constitutional grounds uh that he is

going to appeal this and fight it in the

appell at courts Donald Trump and his

attorneys are in the courtroom the judge

is in the courtroom the jury is being

brought in we are just minutes or

seconds away from a verdict and of

course as soon as we know that

information we will share it with you I

think one of the key questions Blackley

um that our viewers may have if Donald

Trump is a convicted felon he can still

run for president does it mean he will

go to

jail we don't know because the judge has

discretion as a matter of fact in the

closing arguments but he could former

for yes he could I mean that's that's

out there on the table but in the

closing arguments former president

Trump's attorney lead

attorney was harshly criticized by the

judge for injecting into his closing

argument something that defense

attorneys know they shouldn't inject

which is you can't send a former

president to jail over this and the

judge said wait a minute you can't talk

about that first of all it's a

discretion in my hands and second of all

you can't talk to a jury that way in

your close but the former president's

legal council injected that I believe as

a safe harbor to tell the jury the

stakes are so high tactically I believe

the jury knew that going in the jury has

known from day one the stakes are

enormously High one other point talking

about this 2015 meeting in Trump Tower

the prosecution said that's where this

began and it took on incredible

relevance in the final weeks of The

Campaign which I remember vividly nor

because I was covering it day by day

when the status of Donald Trump as the

Republican Party nominee was thrown into

great distress by the Access Hollywood

tape and everything that flowed from I

think it's very important that you bring

this up because people say I don't

understand why this is relev this

relationship that they had 18 years ago

why is this coming up now again because

it was October was when the Access

Hollywood tape came out Donald Trump's

team was worried that this would

completely derail his chances in beating

Hillary Clinton this the motivation to

squash lots of behind the scenes

conversations about is there an

alternative should Mike Pence become the

nominee for the one and only time in

that campaign or his presidency or his

post-presidency Donald Trump publicly

apologized he record what was described

in gallows humor by Trump AIDs that time

as a hostage video to say I'm sorry for

this for this locker room talk that

shows the depth of distress within the

Trump campaign over that particular time

and the Stormy Daniels story if it had

been confirmed and verified in that real

time the Trump campaign had every reason

to believe that could have been not only

damaging Nora but potentially fatal in

that Clos in the closing hours closing

weeks of that campaign we are just

moments away from a verdict in the case

against Donald Trump I want to bring in

Erol Bernett who is outside the

courtroom you can see a lot of the

activity though where arrol is a lot of

the police activity and arrol remind us

what some of the questions were that the

jury had today in terms of

clarification Nora that's what's so

interesting it was yesterday after only

approximately 4 hours of deliberating

that the jurors had notes for the judge

they needed instruction from the judge

on what it meant to infer something they

also wanted instructions as to how to

Value Michael Cohen's testimony

considering he was an accomplice to this

alleged crime they also wanted four

additional pieces of testimony as it

related to David peka a close Confidant

and someone who testified that he's

still a friend of trump and considers

him a mentor and they had questions

about testimony relating to a Trump

Tower meeting in August of 2015 which

the prosecution says was the Nexus the

call the origins of a scheme to deceive

the American public by suppressing

negative stories about Donald Trump in

the tabloids amplifying negative stories

about his opponents to effectively pave

the way for him to the White House they

wanted clarification on that and what's

interesting is when the judge uh

clarified that because Michael Cohen is

an accomplice you cannot convict based

on his testimony alone unless it is

corroborated by other evidence and

testimony as part of the trial also he

made he clarified to them that they can

infer something uh basically he used the

analogy of if it rained overnight even

if you didn't see the rain you can infer

that it rained overnight if you can see

outside your window in the morning and

people have umbrellas and the pavement

is wet so even in the absence of direct

fact you can make an inference as a jury

if other facts seem to suggest and

reasonably line up another scenario and

so as we wait to hear what the exact

verdict is uh we are

now I understand inside the courtroom

with juror seated with Donald Trump

looking quite anxious we're getting a

word of what the verdict is we are

getting

word on the first count that Donald

Trump

is

guilty now remember there are 34 counts

that we will go

through count two guilty count three

guilty count four guilty count five and

six guilty count seven

guilty count eight

guilty count nine

guilty count 10

guilty count 11 guilty count 12 guilty

count 13 guilty count 14 and 15 guilty

count 16 guilty remember this is a

unanimous decision by the jury on each

of these counts count 17

guilty count 18 guilty count 19 guilty

count 20 guilty count 21 guilty count 22

guilty count 23 guilty count 24

guilty count 25 guilty count 26 guilty

count 27 guilty count 28 guilty 29

guilty count 30 guilty count 31 guilty

count 32 guilty count 33 guilty count

34 guilty Donald Trump has been found

guilty on all count

of falsifying business

records in an attempt to cover up these

alleged relationships in the New York

hush money

trial is an extraordinary moment Nora to

hear you read what you just

read is a moment of enormous gravity for

this country we cannot Overlook

that to hear that word guilty not just

once but 34 times about a former

president of the United States in any

context is completely Uncharted

Territory and there will be a raging

debate across this country

about the propriety of bringing these

charges but under our system a grand

jury heard the evidence a grand jury

rendered an indictment and through all

due process the former president was

accorded all due process rights and a

jury of his peers assembled in New York

in this Courthouse found him guilty on

all

charges this is not just a legal moment

for this country it is not just a

political moment for this country it is

a moment where everything about politics

and law and our orientation to

both are convulsed as never before

Donald Trump has become the first per

former president ever convicted of a

crime I want to bring in Robert Costa

who has covered Donald Trump for a long

time and written books about Donald

Trump I can only imagine what the former

president is doing right

now Nora this is the conclusion of a

trial but it's only the beginning of a

fight I've already gotten new reporting

from Trump sources they are planning to

appeal this decision as much as they can

and they plan to mount a grievance War

across the country to Echo What majors

said this is a moment of seriousness for

the country on a legal political and

Democratic front because you now have a

presumptive republican nominee who will

be mounting an appeals process as he

heads toward the Republican convention

and he has the Republican Party behind

him it was here in the park steps away

that the Speaker of the House second in

line to the presidency Mike Johnson came

here to say we stand with Trump so many

have come here wearing red ties and

saying that Trump is our candidate

regardless of whether he's convicted of

a crime in New York City here in deep

blue man hatan right now there were

cheers that went up in the park around

us as the conviction was made clear to

the the crowd that has been Gathering

here but from Trump supporters across

the country there is anger and

frustration right now and Trump campaign

officials are arguing this is going to

make Trump stronger inside the party but

now as a convicted felon it could raise

new questions about maybe not his

nomination for the Republican party but

Democratic sources really believe some

swing voters in places like Michigan

Pennsylvania in the suburbs across the

country might start to say do we really

want to have a convicted felon in the

white house it's a tag that Trump can no

longer Escape it's an important we're

talking about a legal issue right now

but a political issue as well as you

point out I want to go straight to Erol

Barnett who is right outside who can

give us a sense of what's happening

there outside the courtroom

arrrow Nora two angles I can give you

outside the courthouse we're hearing

some sense of cheering and people

yelling guilty the courthouse directly

behind me while our reporters inside are

painting some of the color as the jur as

the for person uh read out the verdict

it was very similar Norah to the way you

read this out it was quiet and somber

inside the courtroom with former

president Donald Trump seated as the

defendant looking at the jury as the

four person leaning with his left arm on

a railing and a right hand holding the

microphone slowly 34 times said guilty

as the judge was asking for the jury's

verdict on these felony counts then the

judge asks the jury um you know is this

accurate is this is this the proper

reflection of your verdict they said yes

and and during this entire time Donald

Trump staring intently at each of the

jurors uh the lawyers standing with

their hands clasped and the jurors at

this moment uh being thanked by the

judge for their service judge Merchant

acknowledging that these past 6 weeks

have been stressful for them let's not

forget some jurors that were selected

early dropped out and buckled under the

pressure the media Spotlight and the

importance of the moment but inside the

courthouse a somber moment as Donald

Trump former president of the United

States GOP presumptive nominee had to

sit and listen as a defendant as a jury

of 12 of his peers found him guilty on

all 34 felony counts this was the moment

that Donald Trump became a felon

Errol Bernett thank you so much want to

bring in our legal panel again former

Manhattan assistant district attorney

and CBS News legal contributor Rebecca

royy joins me again uh and Rebecca let's

talk about this Donald Trump is 78 years

old a firsttime offender in uh the eyes

of the New York court system will he go

to jail what do you think

happens we really won't know until the

sentencing I think that you know he's

certainly not going to jail for the rest

of his life on these counts but there is

a real possibility of some jail time and

of course any jail time for somebody um

in his position uh of his age is a

significant thing right now you know one

other thing that has struck me about

this case is there has been so much

criticism of the case and in a way this

verdict does vindicate um Alvin Bragg

the Manhattan district attorney who

brought this and Ed it as a case that is

quite standard for New York and for

Manhattan and you know of course when

all eyes are on our local um justice

system sometimes things look unusual

bizarre different but in many ways this

is this is not um as different from

other cases as some people suggested it

was and the evidence as we can tell from

this quick strong verdict was fairly

strong

Rebecca thank you want to bring in

Caroline Pelosi she's a criminal defense

attorney and lecturer in law at Columbia

Law School and on that same point

Caroline because I think people want to

know not only what happens to Donald

Trump what happens in this presidential

election which is now 6 months from now

the question before the judge in terms

of sentencing prison time or there could

be probation right what are the some of

the things that the judge will consider

absolutely absolutely it is within the

judge's discretion there is no mandatory