Judge Merchan: Trump could be “sent to prison immediately”

Donald Trump could be imprisoned immediately after his upcoming sentencing, said law professor and former Bush administration official John Yoo.

Judge Juan Merchan is scheduled to sentence Trump in the Stormy Daniels hush money case in September. Yoo pointed out that Merchan has ruled against Trump many times and could send him to prison if he hands down the verdict.

Woo appeared on America's newsroom on Fox News, where host Bill Hemmer called Trump's conviction “the story nobody is talking about” and “a surprise that will arrive in September.”

Yoo responded, “Bill, it's great that you noticed that the calendar works this way. Judge Merchan has ruled against Donald Trump every chance he's had.”

Yoo, a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, said Merchan had already moved the date for the verdict closer to the start of mail-in voting.

“He could have used his discretion here and moved the date of the verdict. Instead, however, he moved it closer to the start of mail-in voting in my home state of Pennsylvania.”

“Can you imagine what would happen if Judge Merchan sentenced Donald Trump to prison even though he is a first-time, non-violent offender?” Yoo asked.

“What if Judge Merchan got even crazier and said, 'Donald Trump can't even stay out of jail while his case is on appeal?' He has the power to actually order Donald Trump to go to jail immediately, although I suspect he wouldn't do that.

“But this judge has used his discretion each time to try to impose a political direction on this process that will impact the election.”

Yoo was a speaker at the 2024 National Conservatism Conference in Washington, DC, and he is the author of Defender-in-Chief: Trump's fight for presidential power.

It was Trump's lawyers who had requested a stay of sentencing, trying to overturn the verdict based on the Supreme Court's new, far-reaching formula for presidential immunity.

Trump, the likely Republican presidential nominee, was on trial in New York City on 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection with hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels.

On May 30, a jury convicted him on all 34 counts.

Newsweek asked for comment from Trump's lawyer via email on Friday.

On July 1, the Supreme Court announced its ruling on presidential immunity. Later that day, Trump's lawyers argued in a legal opinion to Merchan that some of Trump's actions occurred while he was in office and that the evidence would not have been available to the jury.

They also claimed that his social media posts as president should have been excluded. They wrote that prosecutors placed “highly biased emphasis on evidence from official acts,” including meetings in the Oval Office and Trump's social media posts.

Merchan, who was scheduled to sentence Trump on July 11, wrote in his response that he would rule on the defense's request for immunity on September 6, postponing Trump's sentencing until September 18.