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Former President Donald Trump met virtually with his probation officer, who is based in New York City, following his felony conviction in his ‘hush money’ trial last month.
According to a source who spoke with CBS News, Trump met with the PO for about half an hour on Monday.
“Earlier today, President Trump completed a routine interview with New York Probation Office,” the source said. “The interview was uneventful and lasted less than thirty minutes.”
For those convicted of crimes in Manhattan, interviews typically take place in person at the same building where Trump’s trial was held. Not all interviewees have their attorneys present, but after Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg approved of it, Judge Juan Merchan allowed Trump to speak with Todd Blanche.
Trump was interviewed from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, the outlet reported.
The probation officer’s report included details about Trump’s crimes, personal background, and criminal history.
On May 30, a unanimous jury found Trump guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection with a scheme to cover up reimbursements for a “hush money” payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels in 2016.
Trump has continued to deny the allegations and has vowed to appeal the conviction. The judge has wide discretion in sentencing and can impose a prison term of up to four years for each count, but can also opt for a sentence that includes no incarceration at all, such as probation or house arrest, CBS reported.
The report typically contains a sentencing recommendation, as well as input from the defendant and their attorney to advocate for leniency from the judge. Trump is set to be sentenced on July 11, just a few days before the Republican National Convention.
Bragg has not said whether he will seek a jail sentence for Trump, though Secret Service officials have already met with authorities at New York’s infamous Riker’s Island penitentiary about the possibility Trump could be sent there. The agency has said that the convictions would have “no bearing” on it doing its job in protecting him.
“Today’s outcome has no bearing on how the United States Secret Service carries out its protective mission. Our security measures will proceed unchanged,” the agency said.
“For all settings around the world, we study locations and develop comprehensive and layered protective models that incorporate state of the art technology, protective intelligence and advanced security tactics to safeguard our protectees,” Secret Service’s chief of communications Anthony Guglielmi stated before the verdict was handed down on Thursday.
“The judge could sentence him to anything between zero and the max,” defense attorney Dan Horwitz, who formerly was a prosecutor for the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, told CBS News in a separate report last month. “So he could sentence him to a period of months in jail, he could sentence him to a period of weeks in jail, he could sentence him to a sentence where he is required, for example, to go to jail every weekend for some time and then serve the rest of the sentence on probation.”
Norm Eisen, an attorney and former diplomat who has made no secret of his disdain for the former president, said in his analysis that only around 10 percent of such cases end with the convicted person serving time behind bars but that the judge should not consider that when sentencing.
“Trump could also be sentenced to home detention, where he would wear an ankle bracelet and be monitored rather than going to jail. Horwitz suggested that a home detention sentence, which walks a middle ground between no punishment and a stint in state prison, might be the most likely outcome. It would also satisfy Trump’s unusual security and political situation,” he told the outlet.