(NewsNation) — Former President Donald Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts marks the end of the former president’s historic hush money trial, but the fight over the case continues with his sentencing scheduled for July 11.
California’s Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell joins NewsNation’s “The Hill Sunday” to discuss the possibility of Trump facing jail time, saying he shouldn’t be treated any better or any worse because he is a former president.
“When you look at New York, approximately 10,000 cases over the last 40 years have been tried for this charge. Ten percent of the time, the individuals have gone to prison. And this amount that was defrauded, is one of the highest amounts ever. He shouldn’t be treated any better, shouldn’t be treated any worse, this judge seems pretty fair,” Swalwell said.
The charge of falsifying business records is a Class E felony in New York, the lowest tier of felony charges in the state. It is punishable by up to four years in prison, though the punishment would ultimately be up to the judge, and there’s no guarantee he would give Trump time behind bars. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg declined to say whether prosecutors would seek prison time.
The conviction doesn’t bar Trump from continuing his campaign or becoming president. And he can still vote for himself in his home state of Florida as long as he stays out of prison in New York state. However, the conviction raises concerns about Trump’s possible presidency.
“As a convicted felon, you can’t have a security clearance can’t serve in the military and you can’t go to many countries that are our allies. We want our president to look at national security secrets, we want him to travel abroad, we want him to have credibility with the military,” Swalwell said.
In the short term, at least, there were immediate signs that the guilty verdict was helping to unify the Republican Party’s disparate factions as GOP officials across the political spectrum rallied behind their embattled presumptive presidential nominee and his campaign reported a flood of fundraising dollars within hours of the verdict.
There has been some polling conducted on the prospect of a guilty verdict, although such hypothetical scenarios are notoriously difficult to predict. A recent ABC News/Ipsos poll found that only 4% of Trump’s supporters said they would withdraw their backing if he’s convicted of a felony, though another 16% said they would reconsider it.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.