David Bauder, The Associated Press
48 minutes ago
Former President Donald Trump walks out of the courtroom and towards the media following his verdict in his hush money trial in New York, Thursday, May 30, 2024. (Mark Peterson/New York Magazine via The Associated Press, Pool)
NEW YORK (AP) — A sudden and decisive verdict Thursday in former President Donald Trump’s hush-money trial forced the media to simultaneously look back on both the course of history and one of the most polarizing figures in modern American politics.
ABC, CBS and NBC all stopped their regular programming to cover the news just after 5pm Eastern time. The New York Times and the Washington Post ran identical headlines on their websites: “Trump Guilty on All Charges.”
“The former president is a convicted felon,” said CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell, “but that won’t prevent him from running for another term in the White House.”
Earlier in the day, the Drudge Report website published the word “Guilty” repeated 34 times in red letters beneath a photo of Trump sitting in a courtroom.
An unexpected moment of truth
The announcement came as media outlets were preparing to end a second inconclusive day of waiting for the jury’s verdict, sending them into a frenzy after Judge Juan Merchan said the verdict would be delivered within 30 minutes, rather than saying the court would be adjourned until Friday.
As the jury sat in a Manhattan courtroom where cameras were banned, word quickly came that the jury foreman had found Trump “guilty” 34 times on all charges.
“The sudden developments at the end of today must have been very unsettling for the former president,” ABC News anchor David Muir said.
Courtroom spectators watched Trump closely for his reaction, with one noting he shook his head slightly and then stood nearly motionless as the full charges were read out. Trump later told waiting media that the rigged trial was a disgrace and that the American people would have the final say on Election Day in November.
“He’s a different kind of historical figure now than he was 30 minutes ago,” MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow said, “and yet he’s saying the same things.”
Different media outlets have different views
Media organizations that support Trump reacted with a mixture of scorn and anger. Fox News commentator Andy McCarthy, who Trump frequently quoted almost daily in his post-trial speeches, predicted a guilty verdict shortly before the verdict was announced, but said after the verdict that he couldn’t imagine anyone else in New York being treated that way.
McCarthy said the case will be appealed and he is “hopeful that we will get a fairer and more just ruling than a trial would provide.”
Mehek Kooch, an analyst at conservative media outlet Newsmax, called the ruling a farce and suggested: “If you don’t agree with this government, if you don’t agree with Joe Biden, they’re going to come after you.”
“Be very scared,” Cook said.
The Fox.com website headlined its lead story: “Trump Slams ‘Rogue, Disgraceful’ Trial After Guilt.” Breitbart.com called it an “election interference trial,” and Redstate.com criticized the “utterly repugnant statements” made by President Joe Biden’s campaign following the verdict.
On liberal MSNBC, Ari Melber said “the system worked because of the process, not the outcome.” Analyst Neal Katyal urged viewers who were happy with the verdict to “not pop the champagne just yet” because the Trump campaign was likely to fight the legal system.
Rich material for news channels
Several media outlets mixed reporting and commentary through on-screen messages, including CNN and CBS, one of which reported that jurors did not look at Trump as they left the courtroom after delivering their verdict.
It remains unclear how the case will affect the course of the presidential election: Trump’s sentencing is scheduled for July 11, just days before he is set to run for a third consecutive term as the Republican presidential nominee.
Television news networks have mostly continued covering the case until the verdict is out: Since the case began in mid-April, Fox News Channel’s daytime viewership has increased 15 percent compared to the same period last year, MSNBC’s is up 17 percent and CNN’s is up 19 percent, according to the Nielsen Co. That’s why networks are reluctant to stop covering it.
It meant hours of speculation and the exchange of ideas. The phrase “tea leaf” — a cliché that predicts the outcome of an event based on signs that may not mean anything — was heard more often than on the Bigelow factory floor.
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David Bauder writes about media for The Associated Press. Follow him at http://twitter.com/dbauder.
