Trump to attend pre-sentencing interview with parole officer on Monday

Former President Donald Trump was scheduled to attend a pre-sentencing hearing Monday with a New York probation officer, a standard procedure for defendants convicted in criminal cases before being sentenced by a judge. This is a brief update from Yahoo News on the criminal and civil cases against Trump. Here are the latest developments.

🚨 What happened today

Accompanied by Todd Blanche, the lead lawyer in his New York criminal trial that resulted in guilty verdicts on 34 counts of falsifying business records, Trump was to be questioned virtually from his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida by a New York probation officer. The interview will be submitted to Judge Juan Merchan to help him decide what punishment he will impose on the former president and current presumptive Republican candidate in the July 11 presidential election.

🔬Zoom in: what will be discussed

• The pre-sentencing interview will be conducted by a female probation officer, NBC reported, and will take place over a secure video network connection.

• Usually these interviews are not conducted in the presence of a lawyer, but Merchan agreed to allow Blanche to be present and prosecutors did not object.

• Although Trump is one of the most famous defendants in U.S. history, the purpose of the pre-sentencing interview is to gather information about a defendant's criminal history and other factors, such as information about his health, which Merchan could take into account before passing sentence.

• The judge will have discretion when deciding Trump's punishment. Each count in the trial carries a maximum sentence of 4 years in prison, but if Merchan opts for prison time, each count will likely be served concurrently. Most experts, however, believe that Trump will avoid prison and that Merchan will sentence him to fines and probation.

• Other sentencing factors that could come into play include Trump's age, his being a first-time offender, and his continued violations of Merchan's gag order. and which remains in force.

• Trump also continued to attack the judge, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and President Joe Biden for bringing what he described as a politically motivated case against him.

🗓 And after?

Once the interview is submitted to Merchan, the judge will decide on Trump's punishment and announce it on July 11 at the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse in New York.

📖 The context

⚖️ Trump's trials and court cases