GOP Senators Advise the Court Against Sending Trump to Prison

Senate Republicans are telling Judge Juan Merchan from New York not to give former President Trump a prison sentence or put him on house arrest or do anything else that could interfere with his ability to campaign as the probable GOP nominee before the November election.

Trump’s appeal of his conviction on 34 felony counts for falsifying business documents could take several months. However, legal experts do not anticipate the conservative-leaning U.S. Supreme Court to intervene and assist him.

This means that the decision on what happens to Trump will mostly be made by Merchan. Merchan has the power to decide on punishments such as prison, house arrest, probation, or community service.

Merchan, who received positive feedback from legal experts for his cautious management of the case, will announce Trump’s sentence on July 11, just four days before the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

Republican senators agree that legal experts say it would be very uncommon for Trump to be sentenced to prison for a class E felony. They believe he would probably be allowed to stay out of prison while he appeals to higher state courts.

However, they are worried about what might happen because Merchan has a lot of power to decide the terms of the sentence. They believe that he showed bias against Trump’s team during the trial.

Senator John Cornyn, a Republican from Texas and a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, believes that it would be an additional abuse of power to either imprison former President Trump or confine him to his home.

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“I am deeply concerned about how the courts have been used as weapons,” he said. “In the past, certain institutions in America, such as the FBI, the Department of Justice, and the courts, were considered to be free from partisan politics. However, regrettably, that has changed, and not in a positive way.”

Republican senators are cautioning that any sentence that could affect Trump’s ability to move around or communicate with voters may greatly reduce voters’ trust in the fairness of the 2024 election.

Legal experts believe that it is unlikely for Merchan to send Trump to prison just before the convention. However, some GOP lawmakers are concerned that this could happen based on what they have observed during the prosecution and trial.

Senator Ted Budd, a Republican from North Carolina, stated that he believes it would be unwise for the judge to decide to send Trump to jail or put him under house arrest.

“He said that Merchan’s conviction and the instructions given to the jury were unfair and unconstitutional. He also expressed concern about what Merchan might do next,”

Budd said that a difficult sentence “would only make Americans more determined to support President Trump.”

Senator Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina and a member of the Judiciary Committee, was previously confident that Trump would not be found guilty by the Manhattan jury. However, he is now unsure about the possibility of the probable GOP nominee for president ending up in prison before Election Day.

“Anything is possible with this process,” he said.

Tillis said that if the judge limits Trump’s ability to campaign, he would have to prove that the punishment is not different from what other defendants who were convicted of the same or similar crimes received.

“If they can’t find similar cases where people have been sent to prison, it just makes it seem like District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s decision to ask for jail time was driven by politics,” he said.

Trump was found guilty of falsifying business records on 34 counts, which is a serious crime. He could be sentenced to up to four years in prison for each count, but legal experts believe that the judge may not give him more than 20 years in total.