analyzed and restored in the power of delhi reserving memories and helping to write new ones i'm caitlin polantz at the federal courthouse in washington, and this is cnn welcome back to cns special coverage. i'm wolf blitzer in washington, along with erin burnett, qizan, new york last sauer donald trump spoke over at trump tower in new york, rayleigh against the historic guilty verdict in his criminal hush money trial, and wearing i just want to point out this was at trump tower. you would have covered trump for many, many years. we used to go over there to trump tower to interview them. he obviously feels pretty comfortable over there. >> obviously, wolffian you he spent the night there. interestingly, we understand his wife, melania, was there as well she did not appear with him today as of course, she didn't any de in the courtroom were looking at live pictures outside wolf of the people who gathered as you pointed out, this was marked to be a news conference, which it was not it was about 35 minutes or so of trump speaking? >> no questions from reporters. a very disjointed good presentation of reliving the trial hit, slamming the judge, slamming the district attorney an extremely disjointed and angry. i know wolf one line that stood out so much to you and me he was a he said this is now a fascist country yeah, it was really a brutal, i hated that line, knowing is especially around this time of the year when we respect the united states of america. >> and he tells the world or the whole world is watching right now. he says, we're living in a fascist state. that's a direct quote from the former president of the united states, because he is not happy with the guilty verdict that he received. >> yeah you use the word a few moments ago, wolfe, i think that stood out to so many when you said it was a noxious thing. >> i mean, the power of that word i and this point is you'd have memorial day, july 4. >> what it means for so many in this country is wolf and i are here. i just want to bring my panel back into this conversation. and john, to this point that wolf said, and the kind of emotional reaction that wolf has to this is a fascist state amidst everything that trump said in that disjointed 30 five-minute long verbal screed that line stood out. >> look, it is a line that he has used as a line that his supporters use almost every time they go on tv. now, members of congress, marco rubio, a senator who ran against donald trump in 2016, has been all over tv the last few days saying this reminds him of cuba in the show trials they had in cuba war people were then killed afterwards. so that's the level of rhetoric that's been reached here in this is the way don't trump has always communicated in a way where it's not so much about down you officer level oratory. he's trying to connect with people on an emotional level in stir those emotions but there does have to be something you can follow in order to get emotional. and i'm just not sure he hit that marked it as i mean, it crosses the line. >> i think that that's the point a wolf is making here. donald trump junior, the trump's, trump's son, called the united states a whole country, basically saying that this was because of a verdict that they don't like i mean, you may not like the charges. there are plenty of people who didn't like these charges that plenty of people who thought this was a weak case, but there was a process among them, the white house, to make a point thereby partisan. >> there was a process that played out here and a jury of 12 regular people who sat there who listened to the evidence for 77 weeks, basically they came to a verdict and donald trump, frankly, was handled with kid gloves during proceedings where he tried to mock the court. any other defendant would have been held in contempt. he was not. why? because he's a former president of the united that's what i will say. and because he's a canada respecting the process is now the dividing line inside the republican party. because when larry hogan, the republican senate nominee in maryland, one of the best chances republicans have of retaking the senate came out and said, look whether or not you liked the verdict simply respect the process here. donald trump's supporters went nuts byron donalds on our air this morning, attack larry hogan say no, he can't say that. that's ridiculous. >> oh, and what would they say, jennifer next week, hunter biden's case started. so if that jury comes to a guilty conclusion, i guess that's gonna be okay. i mean, that's the reality. this is people saying that sims corrupt and broken when they lose. >> yeah, they don't seem to have a good answer for that. they owe will hundred biden's cases so overwhelming that anyone would have to bring it will donald trump's white now so his doj was not going to bring any cases against donald trump or any of the people around him. so the hunter biden case does show you whether you agree with the case or not that biden is not interfering with what the department of justice's do. >> trump's doj did not bring a case against hunter biden. they investigated these charges. they didn't bring them against him either. i mean, i was to ask tim scott about that as well last night and to your point, aaron, no answer from these potential vice presidential candidates about what they're describing. i mean, tim scott last night grabbed it as the justice system hunting republicans. it's really extraordinary language. and i think particularly for someone who held the office of president of the united states to be endorsing this kind of language. a pod. a second run for that same office it crosses a line and the word hunting, of course, the violence that it evokes, whatever will weigh in here though, and say, is this someone who covers legal affairs as i was in that courtroom with trump won de, many of us have been in there. >> i got i got the message, right. nobody is above the law. this is a man he used to be in the oval office now he's in a courtroom who's ambiance was slightly above the average dmv like i get it, no one i liked that is accurate as nothing at this courtroom i've ever been in but the fact is that alvin bragg has an elected da. he was under enormous political pressure to bring this case. it doesn't mean that the case wasn't meritorious, but i do continue to wonder, what does this mean? 12345 years down the line, if there is a district attorney in texas or in alabama where does this go? it's not the takeaway from this entire case, but it is something that i think could potentially be weaponized. and then they'll look back and we have live pictures or to pull them up again because i was looking at some of those hats on outside trump tower right now or trump just finished? this is the crowd. they've got their 45 and 47 to signal that he was the 45th president. and a hope will be the 47th president it it's interesting to think about this john just in the context of where it is. look, i just fifth avenue, midtown manhattan across the street are right up the block from cardiac. i'd love to know if this is 20 people are 200 though. >> it's hard to tell from this kalman, view because this is on fifth avenue, is like the crowd that attracts me very much j. well. okay. >> it could be jammed up against the building. and so that cars can still go down to your happening, which i presume they can, although we'll see if our photo journalist there can give us a little bit more information. >> there's one of the things that actually has been interesting about this case so far in the six weeks in all of you were down there at different points was there was huge mops. know on either side of demonstrators, on either side here this went on, it happened, it was new york parker was another thing and to an extent it that's what it feels like a little bit today, although there does appear to be nice music on this glorious day on, on fifth avenue, great shopping. >> and obviously a lot of, a lot of reporters yes he didn't see that. >> and abby, that was a room full of reporters immediate because they were supposed to be able to ask questions. that's how he got the audience he got, yeah yeah. i mean, luck, it wouldn't be the first time that it's been a bait and switch on a situation like this, and i have to wonder if maybe the trump realize once they decided to take those teleprompter is out of the way. he said what he needs to say. there's really not a whole lot else he wants to get across. i will say last night, i thought there was an attempt to add a message that was the calibrated correctly, which is to say, you know what the voters will have their say on november 5. and i think that that is actually true that this verdict is what it is. but at the end of the day, it's still going to be up for the voters to decide how much this matter, if it matters at all. and they could very well-designed to put donald trump in the white house. and that is also going going to be something that this country left or right has to access. >> so to jeffrey, can i ask you a question on this and i this is very significant because this is the only case you're gonna get a verdict in a january search, georgia mar-a-lago before the election. and now you've got a verdict. got to go through an appeals process i understand the standard appeals process would get you through the would not happen until after the action. is there any way given the situation that they could push it faster? >> no. no, they will you need a couple of months to sentencing and then the appeals process starts. there's briefing, there's no way no ordinary circumstances because of what it is that no. >> i mean, the wheels process just takes time. there's no way that they would move it. the only time you expedite an appeal as if it's something like something is coming up. you have a trial coming up, you need a ruling on an alaska everything are some an election is an example well, but not but it doesn't have to do with the election if it was a lawsuit about his appearing on the ballot, right. then that would be something that would move, but not this. there has been some talk. i mean, i don't i'll defer to the lawyers and legal experts about those supreme court's stepping in suddenly and helping him out in this case. i don't know how real that is, but it seems like the trump allies want to put all available options on the table to basically vacate this verdict at paul, i want to give you a chance to respond on the supreme court. these are just more live pictures. i will point out to john, to your point you can see the barricades. they're staying within them and cars are moving on the side. >> so in other words, it's not like it close fifth avenue. >> i'm just saying these are people actually demonstrating against donald trump, right? all right. but it is all very contained as far as i can tell you've got two groups. >> i would presume they're separated by the barricade. yes. but but these are the again, i'm can't tell the exact numbers so if someone can give us a sense of numbers and i do still see media within the groups. >> i did wonder whether or not trump would come outside at one point if there was a crowd of supporters there and shake hands because that's a picture that he could make. it was the same way i wondered if melania trump would come with him to this news conference because that would be a picture he can make would have been an enormous moment. well, down the escalator together, right? or something like that. but those are not the news it's moments he chose to make today now. >> and again, i i wonder if i'm talking to brian and the control room, if our photojournalists there do have a sense of the numbers of people or the numbers of the kind of anti or pro-trump yeah, it doesn't it does not look huge. no, it looks it looks small and you see and you see cars going by. and that is an that is he's obviously you've got fifth avenue there. so paul, at the point though that abby was making about the supreme court and whether because of the situation that because some kind of an emergency appeal or something of that nature, is there any avenue? >> it was a great question based on my conversations with the legal team as of now, that is not something that's under consideration, but they're gonna be strategy meetings so for the next few days, who knows what kind of creative options they'll come up with. but remember there is currently a significant trump-related cases pending before the supreme court this is the question of presidential immunity and whether he should be shielded from his federal january 6 case because he had immunity hey, guys, lost this argument all the way to the supreme court so far. but based on what we heard, an oral argument, there is widely an expectation that they might find some wiggle room there, some immunity or at least request additional proceedings and that they'll toss it back down and it'll have to go all the way up. now if they see any possibility in what the supreme court says that could apply to this case. certainly, i think they would try to relitigate that. but at this zero point, the only relief that they're seeking right now from the supreme court is on that january 6 case, and that's gonna be one of the biggest decisions they make over the next few weeks. >> all right. we continue here together. let's send it back down to you wolf. >> all right, thanks very much. i'm david chaldean you're looking very, very closely in europe political director at the poll numbers, right now, as he still teflon done after these convictions, but we don't know because we'll see we don't have pulled numbers yet since the conviction came out last night that our despite what you may have heard, donald trump touting, we don't reputable poll numbers that are actually assessing the post-conviction landscape in this race. but and i am super dubious about the poll questions that were asked in advance of the conviction because asking somebody about a hypothetical scenario in a court case and then how that may impact your vote. several months. it's just a very tough question to get a handle on on how people will be impacted by it. nia and i were just talking while our colleagues up in new york or chatting away about how an event like this certainly galvanizes the base of both parties. we know that donald trump is a motivating factor for folks on the left. there's no doubt about that. and so i would not be surprised to see an uptick of donations on the left as well. maybe not to the extent that we're seeing the trump campaign and there's no doubt that donald trump is a motivating factor for the right. and we have talked at length over the last nine years about i've never seen a politician who has a relationship with his base of support, the way that donald trump has a relationship with his base of support. and we sought over the four indictments last year and i have little doubt that this will energize the right as well. the question here of course, is when you're dealing with six or seven battleground states and election that may come down to 50,000 people. are there votes in the middle? from an electorate that doesn't like their options that can be swayed either way because of this when it has been listed as a low level issue of importance for voters compared to other things it's just something i don't think we have the answer to. you know, it's interesting. on july 11th, judge merchan is going to sentence trump for these 34 felony counts that he's been convicted of it a week or so later is the republican national convention. do you have any doubt that he will still be officially named the republican presidential nominee? >> i have no reason to believe he wouldn't be. the only reason would be is if he bowed out of the race and i don't see that happening at all. he is going to be the republican nominee for president and by the way, constitutionally, he can be, he can be president as a convicted felon and serve in that capacity. so this is not something that is going to rent, which is why the one area of agreement that we've gotten from what the biden campaign, the trump camp since the verdict came out, is that if you want to resolve donald trump? status politically in this country, it is not going to be resolved by a jury. it is going to be resolved by the vote. i've always thought it was interesting if you're convicted felon, you could run for president. >> you can serve as president, but in some states you might not necessarily be able to vote for yourself, for president, apparently in florida, the way the law is he would probably still be able to vote for you. >> i think, you know, to david's point about how this will impact what people want to do in the ballot box. >> there is a question of people's comfort level in voting for a convicted felon, right? it has never happened people who voted in 2020 might have some thoughts about whether or not they want to support somebody who is a convicted felon whether or not they think this is a case that should have been brought where they're not the appeal stands wherever it stands, but that is going to be a factor. and if you you think about the voters that have sort of bad feelings about donald trump that this underscores it, right? that he's a convicted felon that this was a case that was brought because he had an affair with a porn star while his wife was becoming a mom. those kinds of things decency, of donald trump. the lack of character when it comes down on those are the things that resonate with suburban women voters with the nikki haley voters? and with the trump to biden voters. i know we kind of talk about, oh, it's really going to energize the ride and they're going to raise a bunch of money off of it. but i definitely think it's going to do the same to the left as well. >> spotlight, excuse me, a big spotlight now. and who the vice presidential pick will be we were learning, i think that he would announce who he would have as his running mate, if not during the convention in the area directly around the convention now that the convention will take place after the sentencing, i'd be curious to see what your thoughts are. all of you on the vip stakes because we've seen the barometer and the litmus test now of the loyalty test of showing up in the courthouse during the actual trial, the list seems to have gotten smaller and smaller based on who arrived, who was outside as well. bell and now you've got that added benefit or added notion of if this person who will be the nominee, who will all but have the confetti fall on him. >> then what is the choice about who is vp running mate sake signaled to people? >> will it try to counter the things you suggested nia about the perception? will it be somebody who could serve in the interim if he were to win and have the inauguration or would be someone totally different. >> now, i mean, i think you're already seeing the viral mistakes play out live on honestly, someone that's been playing out right here on our air at cnn. i've talked to doug burgum this morning. i asked does any of this gives you pause about serving as vice president? he was like no, it doesn't and i think that that question is asked and answered. i think they're probably watching to see who among them is the most aggressive attack dog on donald trump's behalf on this. i mean that loyalty, loyalty tests really been part of it. and i mean to kind of get it what your other were deepen hypothetical territory if we're talking about the vice president in the event of a trump election, having some sort of authority. but but it strikes me that he has always not wanted someone who is threatening to him in that role in any way. and that that has always been a calculation, a willingness to play. second fiddle, always to donald trump that doesn't seem to be changing but briefly it will if, if we could go back this conversation we w