Trump is a current presidential candidate none of these charges or a conviction prevent him from running for the office but it'll certainly have widespread political implications and the outcome of this case is far from certain to help explain what happens next and what's in this indictment I'm joined by St Peter's university professor emmertis of political science Alan Sanders Professor Sanders good to see you this is all of course unfolding this afternoon what happens from here well what happens from here is that of course the attorneys for Donald Trump are going to have to digest that indictment and they're going to be probably planning all kinds of motions first to throw out the indictment altogether but then combing through it to see what kind of motions they can make to derail or to slow down uh the process of this case uh the uh that's what we'll immediately uh happen uh motions of all kinds legal motions uh to either throw out the whole case or to slow it down or to limit uh the reach of the indictment yeah and we did hear from Trump's attorneys just after he left the courtroom they call this a boilerplate a quote boilerplate indictment with no facts so aside from needing to survive legal motions uh this also potentially good could go to trial just how hard a case is this to prove though well it all depends on the evidence so going to that as well as to your previous questions what will also happen is the district attorney is going to have to turn over to the defense attorneys all the evidence that they have gathered so far that's called Discovery uh so they will have to give to the defense team all the incriminating evidence they have obtained and gathered but also any exculpatory evidence so this will take time and it will be again a cause for perhaps emotions uh to emerge from that so this will take some time it'll be a long time before we actually get to a trial because again the motions and uh going through all that evidence this probably will last into next year uh and if it goes to a jury uh then of course it will all depend on The credibility of the case and that means what do the documents actually show and what does the testimony actually show so we can expect a testimony from um you know all all the attorneys and in particular uh you know Mr Cohen um Mr Mr Trump's personal attorney who I think is uh the main witness and of course he has some credibility issues to deal with as well so ultimately I think ultimately the simple answer is it all depends on the credibility of the witness and uh the uh proof that the documents any of the documents show this will be playing out likely for a while as you said but also as candidates uh are are running what does this do to a system like ours or an election system like ours we've never seen anything like this before that's right and that is also unpredictable uh but uh my guess is that it'll do uh two things one of course it will harden uh the supporters of Mr Trump he's got quite a core support and there's nothing he can say or do that they will find offensive or objectionable but at the same time and this is what many people forget it hardens the core of people who oppose Donald Trump uh and they will also come out in strength uh but the other so that's the first element the second element I think is that uh in any election campaign voters really want to know what can you do for me that's the ultimate question that voters ask and if Donald Trump is plagued by this case and perhaps some other cases that are in the works and all that Mr Trump does is to complain and to uh you know indicate this is a Witch Hunt and I've done nothing wrong uh most voters I think will ask well that's very nice that's very good uh but what are you going to do for us and what are you campaigning on what can we look forward to so I think in the long run while it was hardened the positions I think in the long run it will absolutely hurt his campaign because he'll will be tied down with all of this preoccupation and don't forget he may have to show up in court on various in various proceedings and interrupt his campaign so yeah he will be required right I mean that's the nature of this to show up in court we're already told now uh it's December 4th as we sit here December 4th will be the next hearing so this is quite a bit of time uh for both sides to get sort of their eyes dotted T's crossed but also for a potential candidate here to raise some money as well we're talking about months of this leading up to that next hearing well that's right and we've told we've been told that Donald Trump has already tried to monetize thus far on this case and uh has raised some money we don't know the exact money I mean we know what the Trump people have said that they've raised but of course uh we'll have to wait and see what the actual uh money raising turns out to be when he has to file a formal election uh documents with the uh Federal Election Commission do these charges have any uh influence whatsoever over the other potential indictments former president Trump faces no uh look these are separate cases that are unfolding this one in New York and then there's one in Georgia and there are two at the federal level he also has some civil cases that he's facing at the same time uh none of these bear one on the other uh in any criminal case in fact in any case you try the case at hand you do not try any other things that may be happening in the world of the defendant or in the World At Large these are independent cases the prosecutors in the cases bring the cases on the basis of the evidence of that case and so there's no bearing one on the other this just can't be lost on as Professor Sanders how extraordinary of a day this is just in American history when we look back at years later how will this unfold in the history books well I think it will certainly unfold first as an unprecedented event in United States history but as we reach further along and we're further removed from this it will look like what happens in any democracy this is not the first democracy that has indicted and convicted atop a leader whether that person be a president or a prime minister France has done this Italy has done this Israel has done this South Korea has done this so in the long run of History this will look like this is what happens in the Democracy if you break the law you're charged with breaking the law and ultimately if you did break the law and it is proved in the court you are found guilty and you go to prison as has been the case in all other democracies where this has already happened Professor Alan Sanders will be having a lot of these conversations moving forward thanks so much [Music]