CNN’s Elie Honig Says It’s ’50/50 Call’ That Trump’s Upcoming Sentencing Will Occur

CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig said Thursday that the chances of President-elect Donald Trump’s court sentencing actually occurring is up in the air.

A jury found Trump guilty of 13 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a $130,000 hush money payment to former porn actress Stormy Daniels, who alleged that the two had an affair in 2006. Judge Juan Merchan, who is overseeing the hush money case, set the sentencing date to Nov. 26, which Honig said could possibly be dropped due to Trump’s election victory.

“I think it’s gonna be a 50/50 call whether it happens or not,” Honig said. “As Paula Reid and others have reported, Trump’s team is arguing that that sentencing should not go forward because Donald Trump is now the president-elect. If it does go forward … again, there’s a 50/50ish chance that Judge Merchan will impose a prison sentence as opposed to a probation sentence, but even if the judge does hold this sentencing on November 26, and even if the judge says, ‘I hereby sentence you to X in prison,’ Donald Trump’s not gonna serve that time while he’s in transition as he is now, or certainly while he’s president. I think it’s gonna be just formal or ceremonial if it comes to that.”

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Merchan could issue a “bail pending appeal” that would not require Trump to serve time in prison or serve his sentence until all of his appeals have been decided, Honig said. Trump cannot serve time in jail during his presidency because a state cannot “interfere with a President’s ability to do his job,” which has evaporated his chances of serving time, legal experts told the 🏢Daily Caller News Foundation