GOP Senators Warn Judge Not to Jail Trump Ahead of Election

(UnitedHeadlines.com) – Senate Republicans warned New York Judge Juan Merchan against jailing former President Donald Trump ahead of the November election.

While legal experts do not believe Merchan will sentence Trump to jail just before the Republican National Convention, the senators remain unsure.

Trump’s sentencing is set for July 11 for his conviction for 34 counts related to falsifying business documents, with Merchan able to sentence Trump to anything from jail to house arrest, probation, and community service. He faces a maximum sentence of up to four years in prison for each count. While Trump is appealing his conviction, the appeal is unlikely to be resolved before the election, and the U.S. Supreme Court is not expected to intervene.

While Senate Republicans are unsure which punishment Merchan will choose, they are speaking out in Trump’s defense that he should not be jailed and be free to campaign ahead of the election. The senators state that any punishment that impacts Trump’s ability to campaign could lead voters to question the integrity of the election.

A senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Texas Sen. John Cornyn, said jailing Trump or sentencing him to house arrest is a “further abuse of power,” adding that he is “troubled” by the weaponization of the courts.

North Carolina Sen. Ted Budd called it “foolish” for Merchan to sentence Trump to jail or house arrest. However, he added he “would put nothing past” the judge after seeing the trial.

A member of the Judiciary Committee, North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis remains unsure of what Merchan will do as he was confident that Trump would not be convicted. However, he noted that unless the judge can find similar cases where the defendant was jailed, jailing Trump would add “more fuel to the fire” that the case was “politically motivated.”

It is expected that Trump’s defense team would request any sentence handed down by Merchan not be enforced until after the completion of Trump’s appeals, which may not be until after the November election.