Will Donald Trump be sentenced to prison in September? What we know

Donald Trump is unlikely to be jailed over Stormy Daniels’ falsification case, legal experts say.

Trump is scheduled to be sentenced on September 18, less than two months before the presidential election.

Judge Juan Merchan adjourned sentencing from July until September so he could consider the impact of the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on presidential immunity.

Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, went on trial in New York on 34 counts of falsifying business records for hush money payments made to former adult film actor Stormy Daniels.

On May 30, a jury convicted him of all 34 charges.

Newsweek requested comment via email from Trump’s lawyer on Wednesday.

Greg Germain, a law professor at Syracuse University in New York, told Newsweek that he believed an appeals court would overturn any prison sentence imposed by Merchan.

“If Merchan sentenced him to prison in the middle of an election for this records breach, I think the courts would do everything necessary to prevent that. We would be in uncharted waters,” he said. “But I don’t think Merchan will sentence him to prison. I think there were serious problems with the case and it should be overturned on appeal in the proper order without disrupting the election cycle.”

Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani told Newsweek there was a good chance Trump would be convicted after the election.

“The sentencing delay may push Trump’s conviction past the November election, depending on whether Merchan grants a continuance to consider post-trial motions or whether the New York appeals courts grant a stay,” he said.

He added that he does not believe Trump will be jailed regardless of when he is convicted.

“I think Trump gets a slap on the wrist sentence, like a fine or probation, regardless of when he’s convicted.”

Law professor and former Bush administration official John Yoo said he believed Trump could be sentenced to prison.

Woo appeared on Fox News’ America’s Newsroom on August 14.

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

“He could have exercised his discretion here to change the sentencing date. But instead, it moved it closer to the start of absentee voting in my home state of Pennsylvania.”

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

“But what if Judge Merchan went crazy and said Donald Trump can’t even stay out of jail while his case is on appeal? He has the power to order Donald Trump to be sent to prison immediately, although I expect he would” t.

“But this judge has used his discretion each time to try to force this process in a political direction that will have an effect on the election.”

Yoo was a speaker at the 2024 National Conservatism Conference in Washington, DC, and is the author of Defender-in-Chief: Trump’s Struggle for Presidential Power.