Donald Trump was found guilty in the Manhattan hush money case for covering up a scheme to corrupt the 2016 election — here’s what to expect next for the former president.
A jury found that Trump, 77, doctored business records to hide that he had porn star Stormy Daniels paid $130,000 in the lead up to the 2016 election to keep her quiet about her allegations that she slept with him one time in 2006.
He was convicted of falsifying business records to carry out another crime and faces a minimum of probation and a maximum of four years imprisonment.
Will Trump go to jail while he awaits sentencing?
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee isn’t likely to be tossed behind bars while he awaits his sentencing date, legal experts say.
The 45th president most likely will receive a no-jail sentence and therefore prosecutors wouldn’t seek to jail him ahead of his sentence and a judge wouldn’t likely grant such a request anyway, according to Michael Bachner, a former prosecutor and longtime defense attorney.
“He will not be remanded,” Bachner told The Post. “There is no requirement that the judge remand him and I would be shocked if the judge were to remand him even if [prosecutors] asked for it.”
Bachner explained that since “there is a very decent chance he’s looking at a probationary sentence. It would be unnecessary punishment to incarcerate somebody who very likely isn’t getting a jail sentence.”
Defense attorney Jeffrey Lichtman — who repped drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, among other notable clients — agreed “I do not expect he’d receive any jail time.”
And there isn’t much of a chance that Trump will go on the lam, Bachner said.
“He’s neither dangerous nor a flight risk. He’s one of the most well known faces in the United States. Where is he going to run?” the lawyer said.
When will Trump be sentenced?
Trump will be sentenced on July 11.
First, he’ll have to meet with the probation department to go over his history and then both prosecutors and Trump’s lawyers will file their sentencing recommendations to the judge.
Prosecutors haven’t said what penalty they will be seeking but it’s possible they won’t ask for jail time since Trump was convicted of a non-violent crime and since he has no prior convictions.
Either way, the real estate tycoon’s lawyers most certainly will ask for a probationary sentence, Bachner said.
Will Trump appeal?
Trump’s team will likely soon announce whether they plan to appeal.
First, Trump’s team will most likely seek to have Judge Juan Merchan set aside the verdict and if that’s rejected this will set off at least a year’s worth of appeals by Trump’s side, experts say.
Any appeal “won’t be [decided] before the election,” Bachner said.
And if Trump loses an appeal with the mid-level appeals court, he’ll likely seek to have the state’s highest court hear his case, which could take another additional year.
“An appeal could easily take a year or longer after the sentencing,” Lichtman said.
Bachner noted that if Trump were sentenced to jail time he would probably remain out free pending the appeal.
“To the extent there is a reversal on the appeal by the time Trump’s appeal is decided he would have already done his jail time so it would just be unfair to incarcerate him,” he explained.
