welcome to our continued coverage. the new york criminal trial of former president donald trump. i m rachel maddow joined by my colleagues. also, lawrence o donnell is with us pick we are going to be joined by the star witness for the prosecution in this trial, michael cohen. he will speak to us exclusively. his first reaction to this verdict tonight. michael cohen will be joining us in one moment live. 4:20 p.m. p.m. and it is we, the jury have reached a verdict. 45 minutes later at 5:05 p.m. the jury was back in the courtroom and is seated. the defendant donald trump was seated as well. the judge addressed the four people. and the judge. without telling me the verdict, how s the jury? and yes, they have reached a verdict. take the verdict, please. with the foreperson please rise to the members of the jury agreed upon a verdict? yes. and how say you to the first count of the indictment, charging donald j trump with the crime of falsifying business records in the first degre
unanimous verdict among 12 citizens randomly drawn, like the fact the defendant doesn t have to testify and can elect not to testify, like due process and right to appeal which undoubtedly donald trump as a convicted felon now will exercise in order to exercise his appeal rights and he s got every right to do that, but i think we can feel proud that the system of justice and rule of law within liberally democracy has survived. i ve also felt proud about being a politician because most politicians don t behave like donald trump. of course, the very first thing he ever ran for was president and that was an act of great hubris which paid off for him, but look, most of us go out and try to get things done for our constituents and then we ask for votes. we don t view this as an exercise in celebrity and glamour and yet trump to the extent he got involved in