A former Manhattan District Attorney does not think that Donald Trump will serve prison time after he was convicted on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
Cyrus Vance Jr, who served in the office from 2010 to 2022, made the admission while appearing on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday morning.
“The president has made this a little more complicated by having been found in contempt 10 times during the court,” he said during the interview.
“But I think that with the proximity of the Republican Convention four days after his sentencing, and then, if he is the candidate for the Republican Party, the proximity of the election, I would be surprised that he would be sentenced to any imprisonment.”
Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee for president. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for July 11 and the Republican National Convention is set to start on July 15 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Judge Juan Merchan found Trump in contempt of court 10 times during the Manhattan trial for violating a gag order imposed to stop him from intimidating witnesses, the jury and the family of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Vance Jr said that the court could decide to postpone the sentencing hearing until after the general election and decide Trump’s fate then.
The former DA did not comment on whether he personally thought Trump should serve prison time in the case. “That’s for Mr Bragg to decide,” he said.
Republicans have criticized Judge Merchan for donating to President Joe Biden’s campaign and other Democratic issues. Vance Jr said that he doesn’t believe the small donations, both under $50, present a conflict of interest.
“I know Judge Merchan. Obviously, before Judge Merchan, he was our grand jury judge when he prosecuted the Trump Organization, and I think he is honest as the day is long,” he said. “He was careful. He was caring, and I think he handled a very difficult trial with a neutral hand and gave the president every benefit of the doubt that he was entitled to under the law.”
The former district attorney asserted that he does not believe that Trump is being persecuted for his beliefs. Instead, he reminded viewers of a time when he thought Trump let politics play a role in how he conducted his administration.
“Do you remember when Michael Cohen was indicted by US Attorney Bharara in 2015? The president — incoming president, President Trump, asked Bharara to stay on and that investigation continued,” he said.
“So President Trump fired Bharara and he brought in a Republican US Attorney Geoff Berman, excellent man, great lawyer. Geoff Berman continued the investigation into the president, so the president fired him, too.”
