New York: The US Presidential election is less than three months away, and the stage is set for a Donald Trump versus Kamala Harris contest, following the withdrawal of Joe Biden.
However, the threat of arrest and imprisonment still hangs heavy on Trump.
Former assistant US attorney Andrew McCarthy expects Trump to face prison time in September in charges related to the hush money case.
According to McCarthy, Judge Juan Merchan is using this sentencing to brand Trump as a convicted felon just before the 2024 election, which he believes will benefit Vice-President Harris for her presidential bid.
Judge Merchan has rejected Trump’s plea to be saved in the case.
It was in early June that a jury found the ex-President and the Republican candidate for president guilty of 34 charges of falsifying business records.
Thereafter, Trump’s defence counsel has been pushing for postponement of the execution of the sentence. Trump’s petition in New York pleaded for postponing execution of the sentence until after the November Presidential election.
“On July 1, the US Supreme Court held that presidents (including former presidents) are (a) presumptively immune from criminal prosecution for any official acts taken as president,” Fox News commentator McCarthy wrote in his column.
“And (b) absolutely immune if the official acts are core constitutional duties of the chief executive,” he added.
McCarthy believes Trump could end up in jail, but is not sure if that will happen right away as he’ll probably be let out on bail as they figure out if he can appeal.
Some legal experts, on the other hand, are worried that a possible Trump imprisonment could trigger a constitutional crisis, leading to emergency motions to postpone the sentence.
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