Andrew McCarthy, senior fellow at the National Review Institute and former assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said Trump will not actually be incarcerated even if he is handed a custodial sentence on Sept. 18, as the former president will likely get bail pending appeal.
Instead, McCarthy said that Judge Juan Merchan, who oversaw the hush money trial and will hand down Trump's sentence next month, will be helping Vice President Kamala Devi Harris and the "media-Democratic complex" to label Trump a convicted felon sentenced to prison just weeks before Election Day in November, 2024.
Trump became the first U.S. president to be convicted of a crime after a New York jury found him guilty of 34 felony falsifying business records counts in May.
- [His earlier rape charges in a civil trial with hundreds of millions of dollars in fines are not called a crime so much as sexual abuse that lead to libel or defamation.]
He [in his narcissism, hubris, or craftiness] had denied all charges and said he was the victim of political persecution. He is likely to appeal.
The sentencing date was previously set for July 11 but was delayed until Sept. 18 as Merchan considers whether the Supreme Court's ruling granting Trump some presidential immunity for official acts committed in office affects the hush money case.
Writing for Fox News, McCarthy suggested "if we may read the tea leaves" that Judge Merchan will likely deny the immunity appeal from Trump's legal team.
- Related video: Trump asks to delay sentencing in hush money case until after election (MSNBC)
"He said he plans to rule on Trump's immunity claim by Aug. 16," added McCarthy.
The former president's lawyers argued that evidence presented during the hush money trial, such as tweets and other communications, could be examples of official acts which the Supreme Court said Trump cannot be prosecuted over or be used as evidence.
Judge "Merchan has already decided that he will deny Trump's immunity motion. There is, moreover, a high likelihood that he will impose a prison sentence against Trump right after that," McCarthy said.
"The New York prosecution of Trump was politics, not justice. That's why we call it 'lawfare.' The prosecutors and judge are not concerned about whether convictions ultimately get thrown out on appeal. More: Donald Trump to be sentenced to prison in September: Fox News columnist (MSN)
- Ewan Palmer, Newsweek, Aug. 15, 2024; Seth Auberon, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
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