Reviews | How Judge Merchan Could Convict Donald Trump

Additionally, if you are elected president, any sentence you serve will occur at the end of your term. As a former president, your safety is paramount and I am asking state officials to work with the Secret Service to find a suitable location to house you and your security personnel. I am convinced that a suitable solution can be found. if this is not possible, the relevant parties should report to me and we will take things from there.

Let me start with the arguments for a lighter, non-custodial sentence. You are a 77-year-old man with no criminal record. All 34 counts for which you were convicted are non-violent misdemeanors. Under New York law, they constitute Class E misdemeanors, the least serious category. Generally speaking, most people convicted of crimes involving falsifying business records, as you were, are not sentenced to prison.

These are all factors that work against your incarceration. One factor that I do not believe is relevant, and therefore have not considered, is your status as a former president and current presidential candidate. As I said earlier, your presidential service is relevant to the terms of your detention, not the fundamental question of whether you should be incarcerated.

The fact that you served as president and the possibility of you being elected to a second term goes both ways. You are entitled to the respect and protections afforded to someone who has held the highest office in the land.

But the fact that you held this position also means that you are, or should be, a role model for other citizens. There is an argument that those in such important and responsible positions should be held even more strictly accountable when they abuse the public trust and violate the law.

In my opinion, just as no one is above the law, no one should be treated better – or worse – because of the position they once held. Furthermore, I do not take into account any political implications of the sentence I impose. My job is to deliver justice as best I can, not to anticipate public reaction or political fallout. Some will fiercely disagree and protest the sentence I impose today. It is their right under the protections of our Constitution.

So, as I said, I sentence you to 60 days in prison. I base this decision on several factors. First, it is consistent with, and even less severe than, the penalties imposed on others involved in the same activities for which you were convicted.

Michael Cohen, who testified against you, was sentenced to three years in federal prison after pleading guilty to crimes that included the exact same payments that are at the heart of this case. I myself sentenced Allen Weisselberg, the chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, to five months in prison for his role in a tax fraud scheme within your company.

It is not possible that the director of the organization is somehow immune from incarceration while his deputies must serve time. And sentencing you to some sort of house arrest hardly seems like an imposition given the quality of your housing.

Second, although non-violent, the conduct for which you were convicted constitutes a serious offense against the voters of this state and against the political system in general. The jury found that you conspired to prevent potentially relevant and politically damaging information from being revealed during the 2016 election.

This is not a victimless or harmless crime. As you understand, your conduct may have influenced the outcome of this campaign. The subsequent falsification of business records, which the jury found to be your intention, was part of this conspiracy.

Third, I must consider your egregious conduct during the trial and following your conviction. It is your right – as a citizen, a criminal defendant, and a presidential candidate – to assert your innocence, criticize the prosecution, and disagree with the verdict. You have the right to use all avenues of appeal.

You have no right to disobey court orders, as you have done by repeatedly and blatantly violating my carefully worded instructions on the admissible contours of your grievances. You criticized the witnesses. You denigrated the jury. You committed 10 separate instances of contempt of court and were then nearly imprisoned for this conduct.

Immediately after the verdict was delivered, you called the trial “shameful” and “rigged.” In your fundraising emails, you describe yourself as a “political prisoner.” You darkly warned that the public might not “put up with it” if you were imprisoned. During your appeal, you have the right to protest your innocence. But your repeated and unjustified denigration of the criminal justice system can reasonably be held against you.

I hereby sentence you to 60 days in prison, followed by six months of community service. I do not take this action lightly, but I have concluded, after careful consideration, that it is right and necessary that you be held accountable for your conduct.