It seems a rather lengthy prison sentence may be breathing down Donald Trump’s neck a lot harder than he’s willing to admit — and it all comes down to those damned hush money payments.
It’s undeniable that Donald Trump is using his presidential campaign to desperately try to outrun a stent behind bars, but it’s all catching up to him far more quickly than I believe he was prepared for.
This morning, the scandal-plagued former president was handed a brutal loss when a New York judge rejected his motion to dismiss Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s sprawling and scandalous hush money case against him. Instead of the dismissal he was so desperately hoping for, Trump got a trial date for next month.
According to attorney and former diplomat Norm Eisen and his team at the Just Security think tank, this could very well mean that the ex-president may be sentenced to up to four years in prison by the time Fall rolls around in just a few months before Donald even has a chance to win on lose the 2024 presidential election.
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Eisen, who served as a special counsel to the House Judiciary Committee from 2019 to 2020 for Trump’s impeachment and trial, said he and his think tank team analyzed “hundreds of comparable cases” and determined that, if found guilty in the hush money case, the former president can expect a sentence ranging from one year and four months to four years behind bars.
Prosecutors with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office are slated to argue that Donald Trump not only ordered hush money payments to Daniels and McDougal but then proceeded to falsify business records in an attempt to hide those payments. The former president has since been charged with 34 felony counts in the hush money case, all of which he has pleaded not guilty to.
These alleged payments would further violate election law, as they are said to have been made in an effort to influence the 2016 presidential election by hiding the scandal of his affairs.
Stormy Daniels has confirmed that she is “set to testify” in the trial, slated to begin in New York on March 25th.
During a media briefing on the case last night, Eisen said that the trial should be completed “at the end of April.” If Trump is convicted in the hush money case, and it follows this timeline, Trump would see sentencing by late Summer, early Fall, at the latest.
This would mean that any possible prison time handed down to the former president would likely begin in the Fall — just ahead of the 2024 presidential election in November.
Eisen further noted that the judge is expected to take into consideration Donald’s obvious lack of remorse, coupled with his general behavior and rhetoric — none of which is flattering for the former president. With that in mind, the attorney and former diplomat said that would make Donald Trump a candidate for that range” of between 1.3 and 4 years in prison.
He also noted that Trump’s legal team would undoubtedly appeal any convictions, and those appeals could run well into 2025.
In addition to Stormy Daniels’ expected testimony, Donald Trump’s infamous former personal attorney and “fixer” Michael Cohen is also expected to take the stand and testify to paying Daniels $130,000 and making an additional $150,000 payment to the publisher of the National Enquirer to pay Karen McDougal.
Donald’s personal, family company, the Trump Organization, is then alleged to have reimbursed Cohen to the tune of $420,000, to not only cover the payments made to the women, but additional monies to ensure Cohen’s silence on the matter.
Featured image via Political Tribune Gallery
