Donald Trump will face prison time when he is sentenced for falsifying business records in September, a Fox News columnist said.
Andrew McCarthy, a senior fellow at the National Review Institute and a former assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said Trump will not actually be arrested even if he receives a prison sentence on Sept. 18, as the former president will likely be granted bail while he awaits his appeal hearing.
Instead, McCarthy said Judge Juan Merchan, who oversaw the bribery solicitation trial and will hand down Trump’s sentence next month, will help Vice President Kamala Harris and the “Democrat-media complex” brand Trump as a criminal facing prison time just weeks before Election Day in November.
Trump became the first sitting U.S. president to be convicted of a crime after a New York jury found him guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records in May. He has denied all charges and said he was a victim of political persecution. He is likely to appeal.
The sentencing date was previously set for July 11 but has been postponed to Sept. 18 as Merchan considers whether the Supreme Court ruling granting Trump some presidential immunity for official acts in office affects the hush money case.
Writing for Fox News, McCarthy suggested that “if we can read the tea leaves,” Merchan would likely deny the Trump legal team’s immunity appeal.
“He said he plans to rule on Trump’s immunity request by August 16,” McCarthy added.
Lawyers for the former president have argued that evidence presented during the bribery trial, such as tweets and other communications, could be examples of official acts for which the Supreme Court has said Trump cannot be prosecuted or used as evidence.
“Merchan has already decided that he will deny Trump’s immunity motion. There is, furthermore, a strong likelihood that he will impose a prison sentence on Trump shortly thereafter,” McCarthy said.
“The Trump prosecution in New York was about politics, not justice. That’s why we call it ‘lawfare.’ The prosecutors and the judge aren’t concerned about whether the convictions will end up being thrown out on appeal.
“And it’s not like Merchan is actually going to put Trump in jail; Trump is virtually certain to get bail pending the appeal, so Merchan can seemingly impose a harsh prison sentence without any actual jail time — at least for now, and probably forever,” he added.
McCarthy said Merchan’s “goal” is to help Harris, Trump’s Democratic rival in 2024, refer to the Republican as “a convicted felon sentenced to prison” starting Sept. 18, a time when “Americans will have already begun voting in many states, most notably in the potentially decisive battleground state of Pennsylvania.”
“Get ready for Merchan to deny Trump’s immunity claim… and get ready for sentencing on September 18,” McCarthy wrote.
Trump’s legal team was reached by email for comment.
Other legal experts have suggested that Trump will not receive a prison sentence on September 18.
“I think a prison sentence is unlikely for a first-time nonviolent Class E felony,” Syracuse University law professor Gregory Germain previously told Newsweek.
“Any other defendant would be given probation, and I think it will be very difficult for the judge to justify a prison sentence for a records violation.”
Germain added that arresting a presidential candidate weeks before an election would create a “constitutional crisis, and I would expect emergency motions to stay the sentence pending appeal.”
With information from Newsweek
Source: https://www.ocafezinho.com/2024/08/15/fox-news-donald-trump-sera-condenado-a-prisao-em-setembro/
