OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
The maximum prison sentence for former President Donald Trump is astronomical when all of the counts against him are added together. The maximum prison sentence he faces if he were convicted of all 34 felony counts against him would be 136 years behind bars, Mediaite reported.
Consider that sentence in New York City where violent criminals are sometimes not prosecuted to begin with but a payment to an adult film star could net someone 134 years behind bars because of how they reported it.
He is unlikely to face anything near that type of sentence, and it is unlikely that the prosecutors would ask for that type of sentence, but the fact that it exists as a possibility is staggering.
On Monday, after various parts of the former president’s indictment were leaked, he called on Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to “indict himself,” in a post on his TruthSocial account.
“Wow! District Attorney Bragg just illegally LEAKED the various points, and complete information, on the pathetic Indictment against me. I know the reporter and so, unfortunately, does he. This means that he MUST BE IMMEDIATELY INDICTED. Now, if he wants to really clean up his reputation, he will do the honorable thing and, as District Attorney, INDICT HIMSELF. He will go down in Judicial history, and his Trump-Hating wife will be, I am sure, very proud of him!” he said.
“D.A. BRAGG JUST ILLEGALLY LEAKED THE 33 points of Indictment. There are no changes or surprises from those he leaked days ago directly out of the Grand Jury. No Crime by Trump. What a MESS. Bragg should resign, NOW!” he said.
There is no evidence that Bragg leaked anything, but if he had he would also face stiff penalties.
Famed Attorney Alan Dershowitz believes that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg could be disbarred for his case against former President Donald Trump.
During an appearance on Fox News, Dershowitz also argued that Bragg could face up to five years in prison if he is found guilty of leaking details of Trump’s indictment to the media. Leaking grand jury testimony to the public is a Class E felony in New York and carries a prison sentence between one and five years.
Dershowitz also spoke about how having Michael Cohen as a witness could damage the district attorney.
“I don’t think an indictment can actually come forward now after the comments made by [Robert] Costello. He has proved that the main witness is going to be a perjuring liar on the witness stand, and that puts the district attorney in a terrible position,” Dershowitz said.
“If he uses Cohen as a witness, he could actually lose his bar license. It’s unethical to put a witness on the stand who you know is lying, and he has to know that Cohen will be lying. Or he tries the case without Cohen, which would be very difficult, or he does the right thing: he drops the case,” he added.
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Dershowitz also wrote in an op-ed that whoever leaked the sealed indictment is the person guilty of the only felony, in his opinion, in this case.
“It is likely that a serious felony has been committed right under District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s nose and he is not investigating it. Under New York law, it is a felony to leak confidential grand jury information, such as whether the jurors voted to indict. The protection of secrecy is as applicable to President Trump as it is to anyone else,” Dershowitz said in an op-ed for The New York Sun.
“We know that the information was disclosed while the indictment itself remains sealed and before any official announcement was made or charges brought. It is unlikely that the leak came from the Trump team, which seemed genuinely surprised,” Dershowitz said.
“The most likely, though uncertain, scenario is that a person in Mr. Bragg’s office or a grand juror unlawfully leaked the sealed information. That would be a class E felony, subject to imprisonment. It is possible of course that an investigation is underway, but it seems more likely that Mr. Bragg is too busy making up a crime against the man he promised in his campaign to get than investigating a real crime that took place on his watch,” Dershowitz added.
Dershowitz said that it appears Bragg’s theory is that Trump should have disclosed why he paid for a non-disclosure agreement to adult film star Stormy Daniels, which would defeat the purpose of the non-disclosure agreement.
“Why would Mr. Trump pay the money in the first place if he had to publicly disclose the embarrassing reason? Furthermore, no one in history has ever been indicted for listing ‘legal expenses’ for setting a potentially embarrassing payment of hush money,” he said.
