smerconish starts right now. is it over before it begins? i m michael smerconish in philadelphia. before a single primary vote has been cast, has donald trump already sewn up the gop nomination or is it still up for grabs? everybody has an opinion. but the data tells a pretty compelling story. peggy noonan writing that i refuse to see the story as over. voting begins now. after chris christie dropped out, nate kohn wrote the christie vote alone will probably not be enough, but haley has been steady gaining in the polls and historically there is a lot of precedent for urge is being candidates to keep gaining especially over a contest s final days. and new hampshire will be a wild card. independents can vote in the gop primary and according to data released yesterday, 43% of americans, look at that graph, 43% of americans consider themselves to be independent. rs and ds are tied at 27. it tie as record for an independent showing making them the largest political bloc in the c
many voices out there, the only voice that matters is the voice of the jury, and the jury has spoken. manhattan district attorney alvin bragg speaking yesterday following the historic conviction of former president donald trump on all 34 counts in the criminal hush money trail. trump becomes the first former u.s. president in american history to be convicted of a crime. the verdict was read just around 5:00 p.m. in a new york city courtroom after the 12 jurors deliberated for roughly 9 1/2 hours over two days. each of the 34 felony counts is associated with a falsified business record pertaining to trump s reimbursement of his former attorney and fixer, michael cohen, for a hush money payment to adult film actress stormy daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign, to keep her quiet about a sexual encounter she says she had with trump back in 2006. trump has denied her claim. sentencing is set for july 11th, just four days before the republican national convention begins