Senate Republicans are warning New York judge Juan Merchan not to sentence former President Trump to prison or house arrest or take any other action that could disrupt the likely GOP nominee’s ability to campaign ahead of the November election.
It could take months for Trump to appeal his conviction on 34 felony counts related to the falsification of business documents and legal experts don’t expect the conservative-leaning U.S. Supreme Court to intervene to help him.
That means that Trump’s fate rests largely with Merchan, who could choose punishments ranging from prison and house arrest to probation and community service.
Merchan, who earned favorable reviews from legal experts for his careful handling of the case, will sentence Trump on July 11, a few days before the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
Republican senators acknowledge that legal experts say it would be highly unusual for Trump to receive a prison sentence for a class E felony and that he would most likely be allowed to remain free pending his appeal to higher state courts.
But they’re nervous about what may happen because Merchan wields a lot of discretion over the terms of the sentence and they felt he tilted the trial against Trump’s team.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said it would be a “further abuse of power” to incarcerate Trump or sentence him to home confinement.
“I’m very troubled by what I see in the way the courts have been weaponized,” he said. “It used to be there were some institutions in America, namely the FBI, the Department of Justice and the courts which were regarded as out of bounds for overt partisan politics but unfortunately that’s changed and not for the better.”
Republican senators warn that any sentence that would impact Trump’s mobility or ability to communicate with voters could seriously undermine voters’ confidence in the fairness of the 2024 election.
Legal experts predict Merchan won’t sentence Trump to prison right before the convention but some GOP lawmakers feat that scenario is possible given what they’ve seen of the prosecution and trial so far.
Sen. Ted Budd (R-N.C.) said it would be “foolish” for the judge to sentence Trump to jail or House arrest.
