Former President Trump, who was found guilty of 34 counts of business records violations, was initially slated to be sentenced on July 11. Nevertheless, due to a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court stating that presidents have limited protection from legal consequences for their activities while in office, the sentencing was rescheduled to September 18. Judge Juan Merchan’s decision to grant this delay has provided an opportunity for both Trump’s defense team and the office of Democrat Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to modify their plans.
The case has generated significant controversy, primarily due to Judge Merchan’s decision not to disqualify himself despite conflicts of interest arising from his daughter Loren Merchan’s professional connections to Vice President Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party. Renowned attorney Alan Dershowitz expressed his opinion during an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity on Wednesday.
“It’s so deeply embedded the one rule that we have violated is the most important rule of all, a single standard of justice without regard to who the person is,” Dershowitz explained. “You know, the Bible commands judges do not recognize faces, do not recognize political parties, do not recognize partisanship. By the standards used by Judge Merchan to convict Donald Trump of a non-crime, you called it a novel crime. It’s not a crime at all.”
“My preference would be to have neither of them charged. I want to see the charges against Trump dropped, but it’s not gonna happen,” Dershowitz continued. He predicted a peculiar outcome: “Merchan is gonna sentence him to prison, but he’s not gonna impose the prison sentence. He’s gonna say, ‘I’m sentencing you to prison, you deserve imprisonment for this, but I’m going to suspend the sentence.’”
According to Dershowitz, the hypothetical result would enable the legal system to express a position without turning Trump into a martyr for his followers, which may potentially energize his support base. However, at this moment, I concur with your assessment that the situation is irreparable. It has suffered significant damage.
Hannity noted that Trump could experience social consequences, such as being excluded from social events, but said that the overall effect of this situation might be insignificant in the future. “He will receive all the invitations that were withdrawn from you when he visits Martha’s Vineyard and socializes in New York City.” They will have the ability to express their desires, be found guilty and given a punishment, but then the decision will be reversed and no one will be concerned because it will occur after the election.
Trump’s legal team submitted a request for recusal in May 2023. They argued that Justice Merchan’s impartiality would be affected due to his daughter’s consultant employment, which involved providing support for Joe Biden. Trump recently cited fresh developments as he sought to have Justice Juan Merchan disqualify himself from his criminal prosecution.
Given Biden’s decision to not run for reelection and Vice President Kamala Harris’s entry into the presidential campaign, Trump’s team contended that Merchan’s objectivity was questionable owing to his daughter’s company’s endorsement of Harris. Nevertheless, Justice Merchan rejected the request on the previous Tuesday—a verdict that was made known on Wednesday. He asserted that Trump’s arguments were just restatements of ones that had been previously dismissed by both him and an ethics tribunal.
