Donald Trump’s criminal conviction: What happens now?

CGTN Europe

CGTN Europe interviews Rina Shah, Political Strategist and Commentator, and former Senior Presidential Campaign Adviser

Transcript

00:00 There's been polarizing reactions to the historic conviction of Donald Trump in New York

00:05 Where a jury found the former US president guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records

00:12 President Joe Biden says the verdict showed no one is above the law

00:16 While Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson called it a shameful day

00:21 Trump who labeled the trial a disgrace will be sentenced in July. He says he plans to appeal

00:27 This is the first time a former or serving US president has been convicted of a crime

00:34 Well for more on this we can now speak to Rena Shah a US political strategist and commentator

00:41 Thank you so much for joining us Rena. So Trump is planning to appeal. So then what does that mean?

00:46 Legally, does that mean his sentencing scheduled for July is not put on hold?

00:52 Well right now that sentencing is going to be happening four days ahead of the Republican National Convention

00:58 of course the Trump legal team will try to

01:02 Exhaust the process of appealing which the former president now a private citizen has every right to do

01:08 But the question becomes where in the timeline do these appeals have an impact?

01:14 So as of right now, we know that again Trump

01:18 It has the statuses that convicted felon and that means he cannot vote for himself in November

01:25 No convicted felon can vote in elections

01:28 But there is nothing in the US Constitution or on the books anywhere legally that prohibits him from

01:35 Taking the presidency should he win it in the election this November?

01:39 So it is truly uncharted legal territory

01:43 But one thing is for sure again Trump enjoyed that presumption of innocence until yesterday

01:49 When he was found guilty in a court of law by a jury of his peers

01:53 It's astonishing. It truly is the way you've explained it. He won't be able to vote himself

01:58 But he may well win the presidency is the Republican Party

02:04 Still prepared to stand behind a convicted felon though

02:09 At this very moment. It seems that Republican leadership is

02:13 Not going to move from the side of Trump

02:16 They are already claiming and continuing the playbook of messaging that they have employed for years now

02:21 Is that Democrats have weaponized the judiciary against Trump since he left the White House after losing the election in 2020?

02:29 But does that speak for all Republican voters?

02:33 And in fact, there's a great amount of polling out there that shows that if Trump were to have the status of convicted felon and

02:40 Appear on the ballot this November opposite Joe Biden that Joe Biden has a better chance of winning

02:46 I would now say though

02:48 2016 taught us that we should take all this polling with a grain of salt

02:52 So again, that's only polling but the question remains does the Republican Party want to make that difficult choice of moving forward?

03:00 Taking its chances with again in a battled candidate somebody that is going to be more

03:06 busy with fighting these legal battles versus

03:10 legislating doing the job of commander-in-chief

03:13 It is a very very tough question and this point in history this point in time is the defining moment

03:21 For the Republican Party for the next at least decade. It is a fateful decision that they will have to make come this July

03:30 How

03:31 How polarizing and politically tense could this get I mean we think about the January 6 insurrection

03:39 Could it come to that? Could we see actual violence instability on the streets?

03:46 There is always a chance for political violence to follow when there are such

03:53 decisions of such magnitude something so a historical if you will but let's not forget in 2020 and what happened on January 6

04:01 2021 and in the days

04:03 Leading up to that day is that former President Trump took to the bully pulpit and told his supporters

04:10 Indirect as well as in direct language that they should go challenge the results of that election at the Capitol

04:19 Now whether he will do another call to action like that today

04:23 We don't know political extremism has been on the rise in the United States and something

04:28 I am very worried about as a political professional

04:30 But I do believe that our institutions have shown that they can hold that they can weather such great

04:37 Moments in history and so I stand very confident about the rule of law. I stand very confident about our

04:45 Institutions and I stand confident that the American people writ large will push back and reject

04:51 Extremism and authoritarians who want to act like despots. Thank you so much for your views. Rena Shah is a US political strategist and

04:59 commentator

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