Fox News pundit and former Assistant United States Attorney Andrew McCarthy and former official at the DOJ under George W. Bush, John Yoo, are both sounding the alarm on an issue that’s fallen on the backburner with all the other news out there.
What they’re talking about could very well turn the presidential election on its head and take us into new territory—namely that Judge Juan Merchan will impose a jail sentence on Trump following the former president's guilty verdicts on 34 counts of business fraud.
Sentencing is scheduled for September 18, assuming of course that Merchan rejects Trump’s effort to have the charges thrown out. The former president's lawyers argue that they should be dismissed because of the recent Supreme Court presidential immunity ruling, which said that former commander-in-chiefs couldn’t be charged for acts they committed in an “official” capacity.
McCarthy noted that Merchan has proven time and again that he’s biased and wants to “get” Trump. The judge has repeatedly denied the GOP nominee’s requests that he recuse himself because his daughter has worked for prominent Democrats as a consultant.
McCarthy opined in an op-ed Wednesday that he thinks Merchan's going to order time behind bars, even though the former president wouldn’t necessarily be immediately thrown in the slammer:
…this brings us to the main point. 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.
And it’s not like Merchan is actually going to put Trump in prison; it is virtually certain that Trump will get bail pending appeal, so Merchan can appear to impose a stiff incarceration sentence without any real incarceration — at least for now, and probably ever.
Related: Hell No, He Won't Go: Judge Merchan Again Declines to Recuse in Trump Manhattan Case
After Bombshell SCOTUS Ruling on Immunity, Trump Moves to Have Manhattan Convictions Tossed
Yoo, meanwhile, expressed concern that Merchan could actually order Trump to jail “immediately”:
[Fox News Anchor Bill] Hemmer called Trump's possible sentencing as 'the story nobody's talking about.'
Yoo agreed, explaining that a possible jail sentence is "the October surprise that'll hit in September."
'Five weeks from yesterday, Judge Merchan will sentence Donald Trump,' Hemmer said.
The former Bush official acknowledged that 'the calendar is working this way,' and much to the former president's disadvantage.
Watch:
Yoo noted that Merchan has shown bias every step of the way, in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s prosecution of the former president for dubious and legally unprecedented charges.
'[Merchan has] been asked yet again to step aside. He refuses to do that. How do you see this playing? What does the judge do?'
'Merchan has ruled against Donald Trump every opportunity he’s had,' Yoo continued.
Yoo, a distinguished legal professor, has been critical of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's prosecution of Trump, calling it 'open season on former presidents.'
There are some who have a “make my day” mentality about a possible jail sentence, noting that it might guarantee the election for Trump because voters will be so outraged. “If they jail him, he wins,” said one Twitter post. We won’t know if that’s true until--if and when--it happens, but we do know that Trump’s popularity grew after each indictment came down in the various Democrat lawfare campaigns against him.
If he does get tossed into a jail cell, however, we will really be sailing in uncharted waters.
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