Former President Donald Trump's success in securing the presumptive Republican nomination make it more likely he'll be sentenced to jail time on criminal charges, a former prosecutor argued Friday.
Gregory Nolan, currently a white collar crime defense attorney, makes the legal case that Trump could and should serve jail time in a new opinion piece in Rolling Stone.
"The principles that govern sentencing are...a distillation of commonly shared values in personal morality and public policy," writes Nolan. "I have no reservations in saying that these principles demand a prison sentence for Donald Trump’s recent conviction."
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Trump is slated to return to Manhattan criminal court on July 11 for a sentencing hearing in his criminal hush money case, in which he was found guilty of falsifying business records ahead of the 2016 presidential election last month.
The sentencing hearing comes days before the Republican National Convention — in a city the former president called "horrible" Thursday in a "history-making gaffe" — which Nolan argues could hurt Trump's chances of walking away from the court a free man.
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Nolan explains there are several claims Trump's lawyers can make to argue their client out of jail; namely that the crime wasn't serious, the defendant is remorseful, and he has already been punished for his crime by standing trial.
The third point is one Trump's political success undermines, according to Nolan.
"Defendants also commonly emphasize how much a conviction has already cost them to argue that prison is unnecessary to change their ways," Nolan writes. "They may point to a lost job, divorce, or social isolation."
Trump, meanwhile, has reported multiple campaign trail successes as he worked his way through New York City's court system, including the defeat of a wide swath of Republicans who hoped to secure the presidential nomination in 2024.
Trump's campaign also boasted it raised $52.8 million in a "fundraising blitz" after his conviction. A poll of registered voters in May, before the verdict came in, found a hypothetical conviction would not sway voters either way. His campaign store has monetized his mug shot.
"What has Trump lost?" writes Nolan. "Far from being fired or becoming a social pariah, he’s locked up the Republican nomination for president while this case was ongoing. The argument that he has already been punished enough just can’t be credibly made."