, the better it is for the defense and so, donald trump and todd blanche were nearly giddy that the jury was going to go home for a second day. without reaching a verdict. >> donald trump that he was going home without a verdict today. he just had about 15 minutes to kill, and what we saw was a donald trump at that defense table we've never seen before. he was joking, laughing, smiling with todd blanche. they were chatting and laughing almost incessantly. todd blanche laughing so hard at one point doubling over so that his four head almost touch the table in front of him. they thought they were going home today without a verdict. it was almost a jubilant, giddy donald trump but that changed very quickly when the judge merchan came back to inform the parties that the jury had reached verdict. >> the jury had a verdict after only nine hours of deliberation, which is not a long deliberation for a 34 count indictment and so donald trump watched his jury under the courtroom for what would be the final times. the jury walked by him, as they always did, at high speed, never looking at him, never looking at anyone else, just filing straight ahead, focused on the job they took an oath to do. there is no suspense. like a jury verdict. nothing like it. we have taken the suspense out of so much of modern life. we have polls telling us is going to win elections. we have computers tracking exactly where hurricanes are going to go. we can know the gender of our babies before they are born. there are websites devoted to predicting the chances of who is going to win which oscar. as prediction has become easier, suspense has become much more rare. the entire history of the dramatic arts from shakespeare to spielberg, no dramatist has been able to deliver to an audience the force of the impact the jury verdict has in the room as it hits just when the suspense feels unbearable. i have seen lives crushed in an instant by a jury verdict. i have seen people sent off to the electric chair by one word, guilty. and i have seen lives saved by a jury verdict. winning the lottery has nothing on the words not guilty for a criminal defendant. every announcement of every jury verdict leaves everyone in the courtroom dizzy, no matter which verdict they were hoping for. it is hard to trust your ears when you hear that verdict. did he really say what i thought he said? that is what speeds through the minds of everyone who has just heard that verdict. the world slows down and you experience the passage of time in thousandths of a second, so if there is another count of the indictment, it always seems like the announcement of a second verdict comes a very long time after the first verdict and if both of those verdicts are the same, only then do you begin to believe your ears. that is when you hear the cry. that is when you hear the mothers crying for their sons who have just been convicted. i was a teenager when i heard a wife crying for her husband who had just been convicted of murder. i had many conversations with her during that trial. i can't remember the sound of her voice, but i will never forget the sound of her crying when she heard that verdict. and, if there is a third verdict , only then does your mood light and, if it is the verdict you wanted to hear. but, if it is the verdict you don't want to hear, and if you are the defendant, by the third verdict, you are in the darkest place you have ever been in your life. your eyes may be open but you cannot see, cannot feel, cannot understand what is happening to you and you begin to feel the greatest fear you have ever felt in your life about what is going to happen to you. for two full minutes yesterday, the worst two minutes of donald trump's life, donald trump listened to his jury verdict delivered by the foreperson of the jury, who moved to this country from ireland and still has an irish accent that was last heard in the courtroom when he was answering questions as a prospective juror six weeks ago. there were no screams of anguish, as you sometimes here at jury verdicts. no one cried. the current mrs. trump was not there. eric trump was the only family member present, and if he has feelings for his father, they once again went unexpressed. the only thing defendant donald j. trump heard in the courtroom when the torturous suspense finally broke was this. the clerk. how say you to the first count of the indictment charging donald j. trump with the crime of falsifying business records in the first degree, don't guilty or not guilty? juror number one, guilty. >> how say you to count two? >> guilty. >> how say you to count for, guilty. how say you to count four, guilty. how say you to count five, guilty. how say you to count six, guilty. how say you to count seven, guilty. how say you to county? guilty. how say you to count nine? guilty. how say you to count 10? guilty. how say you to count 11? guilty. >> how say you to count 12? guilty. i'll say to count 13? guilty. how say you to count 14? guilty. how say you to count 14, 15, 16, guilty. how say you to count 17, guilty. how say you to count 19, guilty. how say you to count 20? guilty. how say you to count 21? guilty. how say you to count 22? guilty. how say you to count 23? guilty. how say you to count 24? guilty. how say you to count 25? guilty. how say you to count 26? guilty. i'll see you to count 27? guilty. >> how say you to count 28? guilty. how say you to count 29? guilty. how say you to count 30? guilty. how say you to count 31? guilty. how say you to count 32? guilty. how say you to count 33? guilty and how say you to count 34? guilty. the clerk, please be seated. 34 times. 34 times. just half an hour earlier, donald trump was laughing with his lawyer, laughing as he had never left before, and then he had to listen to the word he hoped he would never hear 34 times. he had to listen to that word 34 times because 12 people randomly chosen from the 1.6 million people living on the island of manhattan raise their right hand and answered yes to this question. do you solemnly swear or affirm that you will try the case of the people of the state of new york against donald j. trump in a fair and impartial manner and to the best of your ability render a true verdict according to the law and evidence? i watched her that jury paying much more attention to every word of testimony then donald trump did. i watched that jury pay much more attention to every word the lawyers on both sides said, then donald trump did. i watched that jury never close their eyes in the courtroom the way donald trump did for hours on end. i watched that jury respect what was happening in that room more, much more, then donald trump ever could. >> the only voice that matters is the voice of the jury and the jury has spoken. >> joining our discussion now, adam and lisa. there -- they were both in the courtroom when the trump verdict was announced. also, andrew weissmann, former chief of the criminal division of new york. lisa, i want to take you back to that moment and to the final breaking of that suspense and hearing that first guilty does not mean that you're going to hear 33 more guilty's. you have to patiently wait as those verdicts unfold when it is multiple counts. take us back to those moments when you heard the first guilty. >> i can't even begin to describe the shock that i was feeling and lawrence, your right to say that the first guilty doesn't mean you'll get 33 others, the folks at this table like you know a lot more about this case than the general public and one of the things we know is that charge one through four change to the earliest checks written by the donald j. trump trust, not by trump personally. those were checks that were the signatures either of one of his sons with allen weisselberg, there were two checks written in february and those cover counts one through four. when i heard the guilty, on count one, my immediate thought was, this is going to be a clean sleep because there were some folks who thought we could get a mixed verdict here that the jury would blame donald trump for those things on which you can probably find his fingerprints namely, the checks he himself signed. maybe that would also extend to the other business records related to those checks but we did not know, particularly given that tom went straight to distance his client from those other transactions whether they would find fault with him for that so hearing, as you described, the foreperson's distinctive irish accent, the clear, resident guilty on count one was astonishing. adam and i actually were sitting next to each other. i took your place yesterday thanks to adam, and i remember hearing the woman who was sitting on my other side gasp audibly and then all you could hear was pounding of keyboards everywhere. and then i looked up and i saw donald trump's energy, and he, as you noted, he and todd blanche had been having this very brew- bromanticmoment between them and when there was a jury verdict you could see them start to separate a little bit in that moment. trumps body language was pitched straight ahead. there was no more leaning on todd blanche, joking with todd blanche. it was like the parting of the red sea in that moment. >> i want to explain to our audience at the outset why our sitting arrangement looks a little bit different tonight. i have been in boston since the summations, since wednesday morning, involved in some college reunion activities, and andrew weissmann is very grandly occupying what would usually be my chair and not studio, and doing so in a way that makes me feel like it's time for me to get out of the way and let him keep that chair. andrew, this verdict -- you've seen so many verdicts coming in. you know the tension of that moment and as a prosecutor when you are sitting at that table and you hear the first few guilty's coming in and, you probably have a good idea of the rest of what is coming, but prosecutors don't start high- fiving right there in front of the jury. it is one of those moments where even the winners are trying to contain themselves, maybe a little nudge to each other about having won, but it is not some big moment of full expression of what it feels like for a prosecutor. >> well, there is no question, i think, that a season prosecutor would tell you that if you are gleeful upon a verdict, you are in the wrong profession. that is not the right reaction and obviously -- i'm not sure of you when you first started out, you may not have had that but i think there is a lot of pain that is involved in that, obviously with respect to the defendants. they are there because of a choice that they made and responsibility is being accorded to decisions they made as found by a jury, but it still is something that is humbling and sad and especially , though it wasn't as true here, very often, there are family members who didn't do anything who are crying and upset and understandably so. i should say the other part of a verdict that i find always very moving and i found it particularly so here is when the jury is pulled, that is something the defense usually request and that's when the clerk asks each of the jurors after the verdict is read as you were counted, to say whether that is juror number one, is that your verdict? juror number two -- and they each have to affirm that it is the case, if it is. and in this case in addition to sort of making it clear, this is just an average citizen doing it. in this case, to me, it really shamed all of the people who came as sycophants and toadies to donald trump, the members of congress, certain judges or justices who did not take their oaths and aren't taking their oaths of public service as seriously as an average citizen who was sworn in and took their oath of office and stood up, understanding the gravity to the individual, understanding the stark nature of what they were doing, and understanding the potential ramifications and still doing their duty and that to me, although not as dramatic as the verdict itself, is something that brings you back to foundational goals and purpose of the rule of law and how it is founded on the people of the united states. >> adam, i have marveled at the way you do your work in the courtroom because you are present in the courtroom. you are taking everything in. you are taking notes, but you are also live tweeting in the courtroom for so many hundreds of thousands of people, sometimes millions of people out there trying to follow through you, and many others who are live tweeting in that courtroom and so, you are living the experience and transmitting the experience at the same time. i have never had to do that in a courtroom. in a courtroom, i am taking and what is happening and i am taking it into me and i have to have time to think about it before i transmit it to someone else. what was it like for you to be typing that word guilty, hearing it from the foreperson's mouth and then delivering it? >> first i want to thank you, lawrence. those were very kind words. i would say at that moment, i'm going to take even a step back before the pronouncement of the verdict. lisa mentioned a little bit earlier the gasp in the room that she had heard during the pronouncement of the verdict. the biggest gasps that i heard when judge merchan announced we have a verdict . that was by far the loudest and have been in the courtroom all day, and that moment was the first rush of adrenaline. we are witnessing history. we need to bring this out and when you are treating something you want to get it out as quickly as possible. that was a historic moment in and of itself and the way you recited it at the beginning, the pronouncement of the verdict, it is not just that one moment. it's count one. it is a call and response and there was an error of i would just call it surreality, a moment where it was relatively more quiet at that moment than it was when we knew that was happening, and because, as you said in that very thoughtful opening, did we hear that right? can we believe our own ears, and hearing that call and response for 34 times and knowing for certain that american history had forever changed at that moment. >> we are going to squeeze in our first break here. we are going to be back in here what president biden said about this today. we will be right back. today. we will be right back. fasenra is an add-on treatment for eosinophilic asthma that is taken once every 8 weeks. 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switch to comcast business and get started for $49.99 a month. plus, ask how to get up to an $800 prepaid card. call today! the american principle that no one is above the law was reaffirmed. donald trump was given every opportunity to defend himself. it was a state case, not a federal case and it was heard by a jury of 12 citizens, 12 americans, 12 people like you. like millions of americans who served on juries, this jury was chosen the same way every jury in america was chosen. it was a process donald trump's attorney was a part of. the jury heard five weeks of evidence, five weeks. after kelp -- careful deliberation, the jury reached a unanimous verdict and found donald trump guilty on all 34 felony counts. not only was he given the opportunity, to appeal that decision was just like everyone else has the opportunity. that's how the american system of justice works and it is reckless, it is dangerous, it is irresponsible for anyone to say this was rigged just because they don't like the verdict. our justice system has endured for nearly 250 years. it literally is the cornerstone of america, our justice system. the justice system should be respected and we should never allow anyone to tear it down. it is as simple as that. that is america. that is who we are. that is who we will always be, god willing. >> andrew, listening to that today it makes you realize we barely hear -- rarely hear presidents talking about criminal prosecutions. there are so fuse -- whew that of a rise to the level of presidential participation at any point. that is to say presidents other than donald trump who commented on prosecutions of his own people as they were happening and what the president said today was the most elementary message about american justice. >> yes, and you know, you could replace the word trial with election, and it is the same, which is, you know, losing an election that is you know, if you won it's fair and if you lost, it's rigged, and the same would be true that this trial where the four of us have been night after night talking about how fair this process was before we had any idea what the result is going to be, and that is because all of us understand the elemental, elementary view that this is what the criminal justice system is. it is not about the end result. it is about due process and then respecting our fellow citizens for the result become two. here, you really do have the president saying, i stand for the rule of law and for respecting due process and even the rights of the defendant, even if that defendant is his political adversary, and it is just remarkable we have come to the place were of course the defendant is always going to say it was unfair. i want to do trial. justice wasn't done. that happens all the time. what does not happen all the time is, you know, the entire republican party, or what it has now become, going down that rabbit hole of disrespecting the fundamental process of the rule of law because without that, we don't have a country. that is so foundational to who we are, and it is so frightening -- the frightening part of this was the response people like susan collins, you know, just a knee-jerk reaction without any consideration of the actual proof that the four of us have seen and is in writing and there is a transcript and it's presided over by a respected, experienced judge, so that is the part of this that is so disheartening. >> yes, and i have to say if this trial taking place in the state of maine -- i've seen a couple of trials in the state of maine with the main jury. i suspect the outcome would have been identical and some might have a different view because of where the jury would've been chosen from. i wonder if you see a tactical point in this trial that was the beginning of the road