The defendant, Donald J. Trump, is guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. This is a scam. This is a rigged trial. To conceal a scheme to corrupt the 2016 election. If they can do this to me, they can do this to anyone. This is a completely unprecedented case. The United States has never seen a former or current president be charged with a crime, be convicted of a crime, or be sentenced for a crime. It's unheard of for a former president to go to jail. Donald Trump is going to be sentenced as scheduled on July 11th in Manhattan Supreme Court. That's only four days before the start of the Republican National Committee, which is going to coordinate him as the official GOP presidential nominee. If the case follows its normal course in New York. What happens now is the probation department has to

prepare a report back to the judge with a sentence recommendation. And with a normal human being, they'd be out interviewing family members and friends to determine what kind of character the defendant has. It may seem like it, it may not be necessary in this case, but it will be helpful. It will talk about his background, things that may not be quite public knowledge. That'll go into the judge's determination as to sentencing. The defense attorneys, on the other hand, are going to make an argument that he should get no jail time. They've already said that because of his status as ex-president, because the fact that this is a first offense, because of the fact that this is the lowest level of felony in New York State, and because of the fact that the vast majority of people that are convicted of this crime don't serve a period of incarceration. He faces potentially four years in prison on a class E felony.

which is what this is. He could be fined $5,000. He could also be put on
probation for probably as much as four years. He could be told to wear an
ankle bracelet and confined to his home. There are all
kinds of options here. He's the first-time
offender, and I will tell you that, statistically,
first-time offenders normally do not get jail
time on this offense. So that's historically
that's been the case. The first-time offenders
for these types of offenses
don't typically get jail time. In addition to that,
you can't send former President Trump to jail. And by that, I mean, even if
the judge were to sentence him, there's not a warden
in the country who's not going to say, you know, I
can't keep this person safe inside my facility. He could be sentenced to a conditional
sentence, which means that the judge could set a
series of conditions saying,

for example, don't commit
any more crimes. Do community service. And if he doesn't comply,
the judge could then send him to jail for a
certain amount of time. They will also be
considering, as they must. Here we have a 77-year-old
defendant, no prior record, nonviolent E-felony,
maximum incarceration time, four years. That will all
weigh and should weigh in favor of the defendant. Donald Trump has said. He said in an interview
recently that he would have no problem going to jail or
serving a sentence of home confinement. But, you know,
his supporters might not like that, and his family
wouldn't like it. I don't know that the public
would stand it. You know, I don't. I'm not
sure the public would stand for it. I think it would be
tough for the public to take, you know, at a
certain point, there's a

breaking point. I think it's distinctly
possible that Trump's conduct inside of court and
around court during this trial will play a role in
Judge Marchand's sentencing decision. I've tried a lot of criminal
cases, and I've never seen somebody held in contempt
ten times during the course of the trial. Of course,
normally they'd be thrown in jail immediately in the
middle of the trial. That didn't happen here. He also has the defendant
here who argues not only that he's innocent, but
that these charges are a result of a vast conspiracy
against him, led by Joe Biden and the Department of
Justice when there's no evidence to back that up. He's attacked the motives
of the district attorney in this case, the individual
prosecutors. And he's also gone after
the judge's daughter in this case. I've seen people be incarcerated
during trials for not calling a judge sir or
ma'am during proceedings.

let alone going outside and violating gag orders on multiple occasions, issuing veiled threats against the judge and members of the staff. The judge bent over backwards in this case to give him a fair trial. So I don't think there's any way that Mershon forgets any of that. And I do think it factors into the punishment that he's going to impose. The judge is the ultimate arbiter of Donald Trump's criminal sentence. He will decide what punishment to impose in this case. There is nobody else that will have any say in that ultimately.

Will Donald Trump Go To Jail? Here's What To Expect From The Former President's Sentencing

Welcome to the official YouTube channel for CNBC. From 'Wall Street' to 'Main Street' to award winning original documentaries and Reality TV series, CNBC has you covered. Experience special sneak peeks of your favorite shows, exclusive video and more.

For real-time news updates from around the world, visit: http://www.cnbc.com

For CNBC's primetime TV lineup, visit http://tv.cnbc.com

For CNBC's International YouTube channel, visit: http://www.youtube.com/cnbcinternational

Will Donald Trump Go To Jail? Here's What To Expect From The Former President's Sentencing

Scripts