Fox News host Jeanine Pirro said Thursday that America has “gone over a cliff” after former President Trump was found guilty on all counts, making him the first former President of the United States to be convicted of a crime.
“I want to believe that Americans believe in justice, and I think that in their gut, they realized that there is something that is very wrong here. We have gone over a cliff in America,” Pirro said on-air, moments after the jury found Trump guilty of falsifying business records on all counts, concluding his historic and unprecedented criminal trial. Trump pleaded not guilty to all counts.
TRUMP GUILTY ON ALL COUNTS IN NY CRIMINAL TRIAL
Former president Donald Trump waves while leaving Trump Tower on his way to Manhattan criminal court, Tuesday, May 21, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
“This verdict is a verdict of someone who was forced to fight a 1,000-pound gorilla with both hands tied behind his back. This was a defendant for whom crimes were created, against whom a judge…was handpicked for this defendant, who denied him the ability to fight the way he needed to fight, who brought in crimes that we have never heard of in New York before, where they had dead misdemeanors that they resurrected into felonies based upon non-unanimous verdicts of crimes that are federal over which no state court or no state judge or prosecutor has jurisdiction,” Pirro said.
“And in the end, with all this smoke and mirrors, at 34 counts, and a hooker, and a guy, [who] according to a federal judge is a serial perjurer, we have convicted a former President of the United States of America,” she continued.
Pirro was referencing Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen, whose $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels for her silence before the 2016 election was at the center of the criminal trial.
“I have spent 32 years in this system, and I am totally disillusioned,” Pirro added. “This is a new era in America, and I think it goes against the ilk of who we are as Americans and our faith in the criminal justice system.”
WHAT’S NEXT FOR TRUMP LEGALLY? WHICH CASE MAY END UP BEFORE ELECTION DAY?
Fox News contributor and George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley, who was present in the courtroom at the time of the guilty verdict, said he was “saddened” by the outcome of the trial but expressed a more optimistic view of how he expects the appellate court will handle Trump’s legal challenge.
Donald Trump / Michael Cohen (Getty Images)
“I was saddened to watch it,” Turley told Fox News’ Shannon Bream. “I disagree with this verdict. I think, as I have said before, that this case was legally unfounded,” he said.
“This is a historic moment. We all have to take a breath. But for those upset by this verdict, remember, this remains a country committed to the rule of law. And this is going to go up on appeal. I think it’s going to be reversed in the state or federal systems. But it’s moments like this, when you are on the other side, when you disagree with a verdict, that you have to take a leap of faith in the rule of law. It’s what defines us. Many people feel that this case really embodied the antithesis of that,” Turley said. “But as a country as a whole, we have a system in place to review this. For Donald Trump, that’s not going to happen before the election, in all likelihood. But let’s keep in mind that this is not the only court. It’s just the first one.”
“I’m an optimist now about the appellate judges. I think at some point people will step forward and say enough… hating this man is not enough to forget the lack of the evidence,” Turley added.
Turley emphasized that he does not blame the jury for the verdict, telling Bream that they were given instructions by the judge that “made it very easy to convict.”
Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Andy McCarthy echoed Pirro’s sentiment, telling Bream that he believes the conviction will change the American justice system “for the worse.”
Former U.S. President Donald Trump’s children, Tiffany Trump, Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump with his wife Lara sit next to Trump in a front row, as defense lawyer Todd Blanche presents closing arguments during Trump’s criminal trial on charges that he falsified business records to conceal money paid to silence porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016, in Manhattan state court in New York City, U.S. May 28, 2024 in this courtroom sketch. (REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg )
“Even if it fires up his [Trump] base, and it should… this is going to change American prosecution and the American justice system for the worse because the flag of politicized prosecution has been planted here in a way that it has never been planted before,” he said.
“It’s inconceivable in New York that anyone else other than Donald Trump whatever have been indicted in this way,” McCarthy continued, adding that he also agrees that the judge “turned the jury instructions into a road map to conviction.”
“I hope there will be more fairness and equity in the appeal than in the trial,” he remarked.
Pirro said the use of the term “lawfare” to describe the weaponization of the Justice Department “is far too soft, it’s far too benign.
“This is warfare. This is the taking down of someone, not just politically, but legally, and looking to take away their civil liberties,” she asserted.
Trump, speaking to reporters after the jury announced its verdict, said he will “fight to the end,” and declared: “This is far from over.”
Trump said “the real verdict is going to be November 5th by the people.”
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The former president, now a convicted felon, will be due back in Manhattan court on July 11 for a sentencing hearing days before he is scheduled to be nominated as the 2024 Republican presidential nominee.
Each count carries a maximum prison sentence of 4 years.
Fox News’ Brooke Singman contributed to this report.