i m paul gigot. a manhattan jury found donald trump guilty this week on all 34 counts of false iffying business records, the first time in history that a former u.s. president has been convicted of a felony. thursday afternoon s verdict marked a dramatic end to the almost 6-week trial, but trump vowed that the legal fight is not over. this was a rigged decision right from day one. with a conflicted judge who should have never been allowed to try this case, never. and we will fight for our constitution. this is far from over. paul: let s bring in jim trusty, a former federal prosecutor and former donald trump attorney. welcome, jim. good to see you again. so what do you make of this verdict? well, it s not a shock, unfortunately. i mean, this is the lawfare. it s really at a its worst with. you had a politicized prosecutor who had a picked through the trash of a case that the southern district of new york specifically rejected doing that his predecessor rejected doing, but
i mean, look, i think they overdignified stormy because at the end of the day, you know, she presented a little bit of a target for them for credibility when it comes to owing the president half a million bucks and not paying it, cashing in on this relationship, inconsistent statements. it was kind of a temptation to cross-examine her that they succumbed to. but the reality is they could have easily just stood up and said we don t have any questions, we don t know why she s here and then come back in closing argument and say the whole thing was a waste and a distraction. i do think the government succeeded, unfortunately, in equating sordid with criminal, with putting all sorts of dirt on the table that landed with this jury. paul right. all right, the other thing that s a been in contention here is the judge s behavior with the trump forces saying that the judge behaved in a way that benefited the prosecution. and you mentioned earlier the charge to the jury that helped the prosecutio