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‘Punish Today’s Aspiring Dictator’: Ex-Federal Prosecutor Urges Judge Merchan To Imprison Trump Before Election

Ex-Federal Prosecutor Implores Judge Merchan To Imprison Trump Before Election

Former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner on Thursday urged Judge Juan Merchan to imprison former President Donald Trump following his Sept. 18 sentencing.

Trump’s attorneys on Wednesday asked to postpone the former president’s sentencing in New York until after the November election. Kirschner, on his YouTube channel, expressed his wishes for Merchan to sentence Trump to prison on Sept. 18 and not delay the former president’s confinement.

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Ex-Federal Prosecutor Implores Judge Merchan To Imprison Trump Before Election pic.twitter.com/UlTPoVbeRl

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) August 16, 2024

“I hope Judge Merchan … proceeds to sentencing on September 18th, sentences him to prison, which he so richly deserves. Because if you want to deter tomorrow’s aspiring dictator, you’ve got to punish today’s aspiring dictator for the crimes he committed to try to steal the presidency,” Kirschner said. “You know, probation is dead wrong in this case. Prison time is what’s required.”

“Then the question becomes: Does Judge Merchan stay execution of the sentence, in other words, put it on hold, put it on pause, even though he’s imposed the sentence, not order Donald Trump into confinement and give Donald Trump an opportunity to appeal it up the chain? I can say I hope not, but it certainly wouldn’t surprise me if that is the course that this case follows,” he added.

Trump’s attorneys asserted delaying the sentencing date was “necessary” to enable the former president to appeal if Merchan denies his motion to toss the jury’s guilty verdict based on the Supreme Court’s July ruling on presidential immunity. The judge indicated he will rule on the motion on Sept. 16.

A Manhattan jury convicted Trump in May on 34 counts of falsifying business documents pertaining to reimbursing his former attorney Michael Cohen for a nondisclosure agreement with porn star Stormy Daniels. Trump’s sentencing was originally slated for July 11, but Merchan consented to delay the date after the Supreme Court published its decision finding that presidents are immune from prosecution for official acts taken in office.

Merchan on Tuesday declined Trump’s third effort to have him recuse himself from the case due to his daughter’s work at political consulting firm Authentic Campaigns, which offers services to Democratic clients.

“As long as he’s not elected president, he will not have the opportunity to kill his cases, his federal cases … his state cases. He won’t have that opportunity to get rid of them. But he will, if God forbid he ever retakes the reins of presidential power,” Kirschner added. “But as I am now fond of saying, we’re not going back. We’re not going back because justice matters.”

Kirschner is an MSNBC legal analyst and former assistant U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., according to the network. He has nearly 800,000 YouTube subscribers and teaches criminal law at George Washington University.