Former federal prosecutor Andrew Cherkasky said Friday that Judge Juan Marchan's decision to postpone former President Donald Trump's sentencing could signal an intention to jail the former president after the November election.
Trump's sentencing had been scheduled for September 18th, but Judge Marchan on Friday postponed it to November 26th “if necessary.” According to Cherkassky suggested in America Report that Marchand may have delayed sentencing Trump because jailing him before the election would be deemed disastrous and it would be more practical to jail him after the election. (Related: “Political justice”: Kamala Harris' antics during confirmation hearings hint at the “radical” judge she will nominate)
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Former federal prosecutor says sentencing delay may be 'signal' of plan to jail Trump 'after the election' pic.twitter.com/kXbBQ1J3UY
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“[George Washington University law professor] Jonathan Turley explained that perhaps this is a path to finding or making a decision not to impose a prison sentence on Donald Trump. I think this may be a signal to the contrary, that trying to jail the president before the election would have dire consequences for the country as a whole,” Cherkassky said. “But if he waits until after the election, that becomes a more realistic option for him. I'm not saying that's necessarily going to happen. I'm looking at things from both sides, wondering what he thinks about the ultimate sentence in this case.”
The former federal prosecutor also said there is “precedent that states cannot bring criminal charges against a president while he is in office.”
“Does Judge Marchan see the sentencing date in late November as an opportunity to rule on the former president before the inauguration, because obviously he's not actually president between the election and the inauguration,” he added. “So maybe he's looking to do something dramatic in the intervening weeks. I don't know exactly what he has in mind, other than to say he's on pause for now. And that's assuming a sentence actually gets issued. There are a lot of issues that have to be heard on appeal before a sentence is issued.”
In his order, Judge Marchan said the court should reject speculation that his ruling could affect the presidential election.
Trump's legal team in August asked Marchand to delay the ruling to allow Trump to “pursue state and federal appellate options” if the judge rejected a request to toss out the jury verdict based on the Supreme Court's July ruling granting presidential immunity.
A Manhattan jury found the former president guilty in May of 34 counts of falsifying business documents to reimburse his then-lawyer for a non-disclosure agreement with porn actress Stormy Daniels. Trump's sentencing was originally scheduled for July 11, but Judge Marchan postponed it following the Supreme Court ruling.
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