Republicans in the Senate warned New York Judge Juan Merchan to avoid sentencing former president Donald Trump to prison or house arrest, which could hinder the anticipated GOP nominee from campaigning before the elections in November.
The fate of Trump rests largely on Merchan's decision about sentencing the former president on the 34 felony counts following his conviction. Merchan is bound to deliver the sentence on July 11, which is only days away from the GOP Convention in Milwaukee, The Hill reported.
Republican senators recognize the legal opinion of experts, who stated that the likelihood of Trump getting a prison sentence for a first-offense Class E felony is very small. There is a good probability that he will be allowed to remain free pending his appeal to a higher court.
Legal experts noted that it could take months for the former president to appeal his conviction, and accordingly However, they were also anxious about the latitude that Merchan has in imposing the sentence since they felt that he skewed the trial to work against the favor of the team of Trump.
One senior member of the Judiciary Committee, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), referred to the possibility of putting Trump behind bars as an "abuse of power." The same can be said if he was sentenced to home confinement.
"I'm very troubled by what I see in the way the courts have been weaponized...It used to be there were some institutions in America, namely the FBI, the Department of Justice and the courts which were regarded as out of bounds for overt partisan politics but unfortunately that's changed and not for the better," Cornyn said.
Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), in reaction the guilty verdict on Trump, said that the justice system "hunts Republicans while protecting Democrats," CNN reported.
Lara Trump, co-chair of the Republican National Committee, told Kasie Hunt in CNN's "State of the Union," that what the people are seeing now is that they could not trust the judicial system.
Another GOP, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). took to X and encouraged supporters who were mad about the alleged travesty of justice to "get even."
