Trump Urges US Supreme Court to Decide Before His Sentencing Date

Former President Donald Trump on Sunday called on the U.S. Supreme Court to quickly intervene after he was convicted for falsifying business records last week.

In a post on Truth Social, he asked the high court to intervene in his upcoming sentencing, scheduled for July 11.

“The ‘Sentencing’ for not having done anything wrong will be, conveniently for the Fascists, 4 days before the Republican National Convention,” President Trump wrote Sunday evening, adding that Judge Juan Merchan, who presided over the case, is only an “acting local judge” who was “appointed by the Democrats” and who is “highly conflicted.”

“The United States Supreme Court MUST DECIDE!” President Trump wrote on his social media platform, adding that their decision will “determine the future of our nation.”

The former president has said he would appeal the conviction, while one of his attorneys said Sunday that they’re ready to take the case all the way to the U.S. high court if need be. If he appeals, the case would first go to a higher court in the state of New York.

Last week, President Trump became the first former U.S. president to be convicted of a felony after a jury in Manhattan found him guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records. He pleaded not guilty and denied several key claims in the case.

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It’s not clear whether the former president, 77, will be sentenced to a jail term. His lead attorney, Todd Blance, said last week that he believes President Trump shouldn’t be sentenced due to his age and because he is a first-time offender.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, declined to reveal whether prosecutors would seek a prison term during the upcoming sentencing hearing while he was giving a news conference after the conviction was handed down.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court is weighing another case in which the former president has declared that he should be immune from prosecution over his activity surrounding the 2020 election, arguing that he was acting in his official capacity as president. That decision will likely be made at the end of the Supreme Court’s term in June, and it’s connected to an election-related case brought by special counsel Jack Smith in Washington, D.C.

President Trump’s attorneys would have to persuade at least four of the court’s nine justices to hear his case. To prevail, the former president would then have to demonstrate that the state prosecution violated his federal constitutional rights and that his legal team followed proper procedures during earlier stages of his legal proceedings.

“ I think this case is replete with reversible error. We plan to vigorously defend President Trump’s rights in the appellate courts all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary,” he told the outlet.

Both the former president and his team of attorneys have often criticized the trial and case, saying that Judge Merchan and Mr. Bragg are biased against President Trump. They’ve also alleged that the White House was involved in the case, pointing to a former Department of Justice prosecutor, Matthew Colangelo, having joined the Manhattan District Attorney’s office before the former president was indicted.

“I vehemently disagree that the district attorney in New York was not politically motivated here,” Mr. Scharf added, “and I vehemently disagree that President Biden and his political allies aren’t up to their necks in this prosecution.”

‘Breaking Point’

Also on Sunday, President Trump told Fox News that if he goes to prison, the United States could reach what he called a “breaking point,” while adding, “I’m not sure the public would stand for it.”

“I think it’d be tough for the public to take. You know, at a certain point, there’s a breaking point,” he continued to say.

In the meantime, he’s used his conviction to step up his fundraising efforts, raising tens of millions of dollars in the days after the conviction was handed down.

Asked what Trump supporters should do if he were jailed, Republican National Committee Co-Chair Lara Trump told CNN: “Well, they’re gonna do what they’ve done from the beginning, which is remain calm and protest at the ballot box on November 5th. There’s nothing to do other than make your voices heard loud and clear and speak out against this.”

President Trump still faces three other criminal cases, including two over alleged efforts to overturn his 2020 loss, although they are not likely to come to trial or conclude before the election. He denies wrongdoing in all the cases and has called the charges a Democratic conspiracy to prevent him from competing.

Reuters contributed to this report.