Former president and presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has been convicted on 34 felony charges in New York in a case stemming from a hush-money incident that took place ahead of the 2016 election. Newspaper headlines screamed “TRUMP GUILTY ON ALL COUNTS,” and media reports relied on superlatives such as “historic” and “unprecedented” to label the jury’s unanimous verdict. Given that Trump has been unusually adept at avoiding accountability for a staggering number of alleged crimes, the verdict sparked shockwaves.
Corey Brettschneider, a professor of political science and a constitutional law expert at Brown University, has closely followed Trump’s myriad legal trials. He is the author of several books about presidential politics and his forthcoming book is called The Presidents and the People: Five Leaders Who Threatened Democracy and the Citizens Who Fought to Defend It. Brettschneider spoke with YES! Senior Editor Sonali Kolhatkar on YES! Presents: Rising Up With Sonali about Trump’s felony charges.