MSNBC legal correspondent Lisa Rubin predicted Tuesday that Judge Juan Merchan would uphold President-elect Donald Trump’s New York conviction but wouldn’t impose a prison sentence.
Merchan on Tuesday granted a joint request by prosecutors and defense attorneys to pause the case until Nov. 19, postponing his decision on Trump’s motion to dismiss the verdict based on presidential immunity, which he previously was set to issue a ruling on Tuesday. Rubin, on “Ana Cabrera Reports,” suggested the delay indicates Merchan will likely keep the jury’s guilty verdict intact but could limit Trump’s sentence to time served or probation.
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“Where I see this going is perhaps toward a solution where the conviction stands, but there is no sentencing and both parties agree that either Trump should be sentenced to time served or solely to probation and that no sentencing hearing is necessary or appropriate,” Rubin said. “The thing that President Trump’s team most wants to avoid is to remind the American public that he was convicted of these 34 felony counts by forcing him to enter the courtroom and sit there as Judge Merchan sentences him.”
“They do not want those optics. They do not want the burden of forcing him to come to New York and go through that. And that’s a security risk, I think, for everyone concerned as well,” she continued. “They don’t want the inflammation of that proceeding. So where I think we can land is a place where the conviction stands but there is no sentence here imposed on former president Trump.”
Merchan instructed prosecutors with the decision to submit what they think are “appropriate steps going forward” in a filing by next week. Prosecutors asked Merchan to halt proceedings to enable them to evaluate the effect of Trump’s election victory.
“The People agree that these are unprecedented circumstances and that the arguments raised by defense counsel in correspondence to the People on Friday require careful consideration to ensure that any further steps in this proceeding appropriately balance the competing interests of (1) a jury verdict of guilt following trial that has the presumption of regularity; and (2) the Office of the President,” prosecutor Matthew Colangelo wrote in a Nov. 10 email to Merchan.
The president-elect’s defense attorneys joined the request, asserting the case must be dismissed to “avoid unconstitutional impediments to President Trump’s ability to govern.”
The judge in Trump’s federal election interference case also granted special counsel Jack Smith’s request to pause pending deadlines.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) is currently considering how to wind down its cases against Trump as he prepares to assume the presidency in January, multiple reports indicate. DOJ policy bars the criminal prosecution of sitting presidents.
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First published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.