Verdict takeaways: Jury convicts Trump on all 34 felony counts in hush money case

As you watch Republicans react, you’ll note that many of them are deploying their favorite word: “lawfare.”

Think: warfare, but instead of guns and bombs, the allegation is that liberals are using dubious legal tactics to target their enemies.

Here’s an example of those GOP cries:

But the claims of liberal lawfare are mere GOP gaslighting.

As I wrote last year, right-wingers often deploy allegations of lawfare as a clarion call for conservatives to seek retribution against liberals when one of their own is confronted with a legitimate legal proceeding. And it’s a ridiculous claim coming from a party that openly uses dubious legal tactics to undermine democracy and hamstring their political opponents.

To be clear, this trial was anything but lawfare. Trump’s team not only had a hand in selecting this jury — the former president also was repeatedly allowed to defy the judge’s gag order, which prohibited him from publicly attacking witnesses and members of the judge’s family. And Trump was still found guilty.

No, Republicans, this wasn’t lawfare. This was justice.

In his first interview after the verdict was handed down, the trial’s central witness — Michael Cohen, Trump’s former fixer — joined MSNBC’s panel to share his thoughts on the historic day.

“How are you?” Rachel Maddow began.

“I guess the word is relieved,” Cohen replied. “This has been six years in the making. ... This is a six-year process within which for accountability to finally be had.”

“Were you surprised by the verdict?” Maddow asked.

Cohen: “No. I was not.”

Watch the full interview below:

Republican politicians’ responses to the guilty verdict are rolling in, and many of them are freaking out. A few themes are emerging:

• The trial’s outcome is proof that the U.S. is actually not a modern state: House Majority Leader Steve Scalise declared the verdict proof that the U.S. has become a “banana republic.” Never mind that treating former political leaders accountable under the law is, in reality, one of the clearest indicators of robust rule of law in a democracy. 

• The verdict means that the trial was a purely political exercise: Rep. Pat Fallon of Texas decried “the pure weaponization of the judicial system by Democrats.” The narrative overlooks the fact that Trump was given due process, had tremendous resources at his disposal, and was convicted by a jury of his peers — all under a relatively novel application of the law that was never considered a slam dunk case by many legal experts. 

• Trump’s conviction is all the more reason to rally behind him: Sen. John Cornyn of Texas tried to rally the troops by saying: “Now more than ever, we need to rally around @realdonaldtrump, take back the White House and Senate, and get this country back on track. The real verdict will be Election Day.”

Trump’s allies know that this conviction could hurt him among independents — but they’re going to do everything they can to create a comeback narrative to mobilize the base.

After the verdict, talk quickly turned to a) whether Trump will be sentenced to prison on July 11; and b) how that would work. How does, for example, a person entitled to lifetime protection from the Secret Service serve a prison sentence?

But if Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., had his way, Trump would be stripped of Secret Service protection. The Trump nemesis is the lead author of the DISGRACED Former Protectees Act (or, more fully, the Denying Infinite Security and Government Resources Allocated toward Convicted and Extremely Dishonorable Former Protectees Act.)

According to that legislation, which Thompson introduced last month, such protection “shall terminate for any person upon sentencing following conviction for a Federal or State offense that is punishable for a term of imprisonment of at least one year.’’

Of course, this bill won’t pass the House, at least not this term, and probably not the next. But Thompson’s bill highlights the absurdity of the situation we now find ourselves in.

Alex Wagner, speaking on MSNBC moments ago:

Alvin Bragg is now a two-time winner in the court of holding Trump and his organizations to account. This is a person who also secured a criminal conviction for the Trump Organization on tax fraud. Now he has this one. That is a big deal. And I think we should recognize the skill, the talent and the drive that undergirds everything that happened here.

I am, however, also looking at the way Trump allies, wannabe Trump allies and the Republican Party at large are reacting to this — the specter of a Republican front-runner being crowned the nominee four days after the sentencing, becoming a felon, is something we never thought he would see in American history.

These comments have been slightly edited for length and clarity.

The best lens for national news stories is often when local outlets find a way to connect the broader picture to their readers. Enter: the Queens Daily Eagle.

Former Jamaica Estates resident Donald Trump was convicted by a Manhattan jury on Thursday of 34 counts of falsifying business records in an effort to cover up a sex scandal he feared would ruin his chances of winning the 2016 presidential election.

The jury’s verdict, which came after only two days of deliberations, makes Trump the first president from Queens — or anywhere in the United States, for that matter — to become a felon.

…

The trial was overseen by another man from the World’s Borough, Justice Juan Merchan, who was raised in Jackson Heights.

Despite their shared hometown, Trump had no love for his fellow Queens man following the trial’s conclusion on Thursday.

The whole thing is honestly art.