Washington Examiner chief political correspondent Byron York pointed out that the silver lining of President-elect Donald Trump’s sentencing is that his conviction could be appealed as it “needs to be.”
Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan scheduled Trump’s sentencing for his 34 felony counts of falsifying business records for Jan. 10, days before his presidential inauguration. Merchan has shown preference to issue an “unconditional discharge,” which would not include jail time but would classify Trump as a convicted felon and would make him the first president with this criminal status.
WHICH JAN. 6 DEFENDERS COULD SEE PARDONS
“Now, one thing that does happens after Merchan sentences Trump, is that Trump begins to formally appeal the verdict, which I don’t know how much time he’s going to spend as a President of the United States doing that — but it’s certainly a verdict that needs to be appealed,” York said.
THE GREAT REALIGNMENT: WHAT TRUMP’S VICTORY MEANS FOR THE GOP COALITION
This was Trump’s only indictment to make it to a conviction. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg brought the case of allegations that Trump paid hush money to multiple women in 2018.
Law professor Jonathan Turley referred to Merchan’s choice to sentence Trump before inauguration day as “the final cathartic act for lawfare warriors” but also implied that Merchan will see consequences of his own.
“While there are low expectations for the New York court system, the sentencing will allow the full array of alleged errors by Merchan to be placed before appellate judges,” Turley wrote on X.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“You have to remember a lot of people thought this whole Alvin Bragg case was the weakest of all the cases that were being lodged against Trump a few ago,” York said. “All of those cases fell aside. Alvin Bragg’s case actually happened. But still a lot of legal experts think that it was way overdone, it was politically motivated, and never should have been brought. Even if Trump had not been elected president of the United States again, they still thought it was a case that had no legal merit.”
Bragg is seeking reelection in 2026 and already has one challenger.