Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg still has one more day in court with Donald Trump.
But Bragg should be bracing for the worst.
And Alvin Bragg heard one prediction that he is going to hate.
Sentencing date in Manhattan show trial looms
There are two key dates left in the rigged falsification of business records show trial.
On September 16, Judge Juan Merchan will consider a motion to set aside the verdict due to the Supreme Court’s Presidential immunity ruling.
Then on September 18, Judge Merchan will impose sentencing.
Almost everyone expects Merchan – a Joe Biden campaign donor – to hand Donald Trump some kind of prison sentence.
If Merchan doesn’t grant bail while Trump appeals, then Trump heads right off to Riker’s Island to spend the final six weeks of the campaign locked up in the slammer.
Most expect a prison sentence because if Merchan doesn’t slap Trump with jail time, then it will prove this was a nuisance crime Bragg invented just so Democrats could call Trump a convicted felon during the campaign.
But Donald Trump’s lawyers filed a motion to delay sentencing until after the election.
And surprisingly – and critically – Bragg’s response didn’t contest the idea of delaying the sentencing because of the pending immunity issues.
What this means
Fox News host Neil Cavuto asked legal analyst Andy McCarthy about the Trump team’s argument that the immunity ruling affected this case.
“What about the New York finance case?” Cavuto wondered. “The sentencing, you know, slated for next month. And I know the Trump team was trying to say that Supreme Court decision even affects that. That seems like a bit of a stretch, but I’m not the lawyer — you are. What do you think?”
McCarthy explained to Cavuto that the immunity ruling loomed large in this case.
That’s because the Supreme Court ruled prosecutors can’t introduce official acts as evidence.
“Well, it’s not a stretch, it’s a real thing. And that’s because I think the Manhattan District Attorney’s office was pretty reckless in the way that they presented the trial,” McCarthy stated.
Bragg called White House aides like Hope Hicks to testify about conversations with Donald Trump.
Those conversations are covered by the immunity ruling.
“I don’t think they needed to prove evidence of Trump’s official acts, but they not only did, they actually subpoenaed and called to the stand two of his White House staffers. And they knew the Supreme Court was considering this issue, so I think it was kind of reckless on their part to do that,” McCarthy added.
McCarthy told Cavuto that Judge Merchan would likely have to take into account Bragg’s admission that sentencing would have to be delayed because Trump can appeal whatever Merchan decided at the September 16 immunity hearing, meaning those issues would still be live on September 18 when Merchan is set to impose sentence.
“But even [Manhattan District Attorney Alvin] Bragg has told Judge [Juan] Merchan that he doesn’t object to a postponement of the sentencing. And it looks to me to be pretty obvious that the sentencing has to be postponed,” McArthy added,
“I don’t see how it can go forward on September 18, because whatever Merchan on decides on Trump’s new immunity issue based on the Supreme Court’s opinion, he [Trump] gets to appeal that,” McCarthy concluded.
