Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett said on "Fox & Friends" Monday that Judge Juan Merchan appears "desperate to stain" President-elect Trump with the label of "convicted felon" before the inauguration. Jarrett called out New York officials for focusing on Trump despite rampant crime in the blue state.
GREGG JARRETT: NY JUDGE DESPERATE TO BRAND TRUMP ‘CONVICTED FELON’ BEFORE INAUGURATION
GREGG JARRETT: I think Merchan is desperate to stain the incoming president with the label convicted felon. And understand, under the law, Trump is not officially convicted of anything until he's formally sentenced, even though many in the media, of course, began immediately and incorrectly calling him a convicted felon when the jury verdict came in.
That was the whole goal of indicting Trump and putting him on trial. Democrats assumed their politically driven lawfare campaign would destroy him. Instead, you know, it had the opposite effect. Voters saw it for what it was: a corrupt weaponization of the law, and it backfired spectacularly.
Many Americans recognize this was a sham trial, a preordained outcome. It drove a lot of them to Donald Trump and he won. And it's one of the reasons why these George Soros-funded progressive district attorneys have ruined major cities in blue states.
NEW YORK JUDGE SETS TRUMP SENTENCING DAYS BEFORE INAUGURATION
Alvin Bragg is a prime example. If you're Trump, a misdemeanor business records violation somehow becomes a phantom felony. And in the end, nobody actually knew what he was convicted of. And it wasn't a unanimous jury verdict. The best we can tell, nobody really knows. A bedrock violation.
President-elect Trump's bid to toss his conviction in his New York criminal hush money case was denied on Friday. New York Judge Juan Merchan rejected Trump's request to vacate the verdict in the case based on the Supreme Court's presidential immunity decision. Sentencing is set for January 10 at 9:30 a.m, with the president-elect having the option to appear in person or virtually. But Merchan said he will not sentence the president-elect to prison.
Bragg, in November, requested to Judge Juan Merchan that the case be stayed until the end of Trump’s second term, but Trump attorneys noted that the Office of Legal Counsel in the Justice Department concluded that "the categorical prohibition on the federal indictment of a sitting president…even if the case were held in abeyance…applies to this situation."
They added that Bragg's "ridiculous suggestion that they could simply resume proceedings after President Trump leaves Office, more than a decade after they commenced their investigation in 2018, is not an option."
Trump attorneys said the case "would never have been brought were it not for President Trump’s political views, the transformative national movement established under his leadership, and the political threat that he poses to entrenched, corrupt politicians in Washington, D.C. and beyond."
