Trump guilty verdict looms over lawmakers' return to Capitol Hill

WASHINGTON (TND)– A newly released poll taken just after former President Donald Trump was found guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records shows half of Americans agree with the outcome.

The ABC News/Ipsos poll conducted on Friday and Saturday found 50% of adults think the verdict was correct; 27% think it's incorrect and 23% said they don't know. Forty-nine percent said Trump should end his presidential campaign because of the verdict; 37% said he should not and 14% said they don't know.

A slightly higher percentage, 51%, said they think Trump intentionally did something illegal. Only 19% said he did not do anything wrong; 12% said he acted wrongly but not intentionally and 17% don't know.

On Thursday, a 12-person jury in Manhattan handed down the verdict that made Trump the first-ever former president to be a convicted felon. The sentencing hearing in this case is set for July 11. Then, Trump's legal team is expected to file an appeal.

In a Truth Social post, Trump said "The United States Supreme Court MUST DECIDE!"

Trump's political allies have echoed his claims that the case was "rigged." House Republicans have laid out plans to investigate prosecutors.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, invited Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and senior counsel Matthew Colangelo to testify before the Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government on June 13.

“The purpose of the hearing is to investigate what these prosecutors are doing at the state and federal level to use politics you know, political retribution in the court system to go after political opponents and federal officials like Donald Trump," House Speaker Mike Johnson said.

Dr. Casey Burgat, Legislative Affairs program director at George Washington University said Republicans would rather risk breaking from public opinion than breaking from Trump.

“There’s not a huge upside for congressional Republicans but there is a huge downside, right, in that if you go against Trump, he’s proven time and time again that if you go against him, he doesn’t take that lightly and in fact, he’ll take that as a huge transgression that he will involve himself in. For each individual Republican, they know that their fate is mostly tied up with the former president’s popularity," Burgat said.

Democrats have refuted conservatives' claims the trial was unfair.

“If you don’t want to be tried in front of a New York jury then maybe don’t commit so many crimes in New York City. It’s pretty simple," Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif, said.

According to the ABC News/Ipsos poll, when asked if the charges against Trump were politically motivated, 47% said yes, 38% said no and 15% don't know.