Here's Why This Legal Expert Stated That Donald Trump Will 'Most Likely' Face Prison Sentence

Donald Trump, the former president, recently got convicted of a crime after a New York jury found him guilty on all charges in his hush-money case. But months ago former US Ambassador Norm Eisen predicted that Trump would receive a jail sentence in 2024. "Will Trump be sentenced to jail in 2024? Likely yes," Eisen, who served former President Barack Obama, wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

The message was in response to his appearance on CNN with host Omar Jimenez, where he spoke about the criminal charges that Trump must deal with to win back the White House in 2024. In a series of tweets, Eisen discussed the possible outcome of Trump's court cases. 

As per Newsweek, in a case brought by special counsel Jack Smith, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan officially postponed the Republican leader's trial scheduled for March 4. It accuses Trump of preparing a scheme to rig the 2020 election before his followers staged a bloody riot at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.

"A temporary win for Trump," the CNN legal analyst said in an interview. Eisen stated further that a federal appeals court is scheduled to decide on Trump's ongoing appeal, in which he claims he is exempt from prosecution for acts he committed while in the White House. Trump's team is anticipated to challenge a decision that would enable the case to proceed, which would probably cause more delays.

"His argument here that he has absolute immunity, and he can send SEAL Team Six out to assassinate a political opponent, Omar, that can't be right," Eisen stated. "The D.C. Circuit is going to reject that… I don't think that's going to fly at the Supreme Court. It's inimical to American law. So that case, yes, it's delayed, but there's plenty of time in 2024. That case is going to get back on track." 

Numerous charges have been brought against the 2024 GOP front-runner in four separate cases: two federal, one in New York, and one in Georgia. In New York, a civil fraud trial is taking place concurrently. Richard L. Hasen, an election law expert at the University of California, LA recently told The NY Times, “Whether or not Trump is tried, convicted, acquitted, that’s a separate question from whether or not he’s disqualified.”

“The issues are related in the sense that if he’s convicted of his crimes, that may be more evidence that he is disqualified,” Hasen added, but convictions would “neither require disqualification nor would an acquittal prevent disqualification.”

Law expert Professor Levinson added, "Legally, Trump would remain eligible to be president even if he were imprisoned. The Constitution says nothing to the contrary. “I don’t think that the framers ever thought we were going to be in this situation,” he said. In actuality, the election of a president who is incarcerated would most probably result in a legal problem that the courts would have to settle. 

This article was originally published on 02.07.24.