Trump attorney argues against jail sentence, citing former president’s age

Former President Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche argued against a jail sentence for his client following his conviction Thursday in his hush money case, citing the presumptive GOP nominee’s age. 

“I have no idea, look, there’s a system in place where you rely on precedent, and somebody like President Trump should never, never face a jail sentence based on this conduct,” Blanche answered during a Thursday appearance on CNN when asked by “The Source” host Kaitlan Collins if he expects Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) to seek jail time. 

“And it would just kind of confirm what we’ve been saying all along,” Blanche continued. “And a lot of people say that we’re wrong and that we’re missing key pieces. But if other 77-year-old, first-time offenders would never be sent to prison for this conduct.”

Bragg declined to say Thursday whether prosecutors will seek jail time for Trump following his conviction in his first criminal case. 

Blanche’s remarks came after Trump was found guilty on all 34 felony counts by a 12-person jury in his hush money case, the first former U.S. president to be convicted in a criminal case. He was found guilty of falsifying business records to conceal alleged affairs during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Collins then asked Blanche, Trump’s lead attorney during the trial, if he thought Judge Juan Merchan was fair throughout the case. 

The attorney said there were decisions the judge made that his team “appreciated” and some others that they disagreed with — but that some “key” ones were not consistent with the law. 

“I think there were times when we very much disagreed with what decisions Judge Merchan made,” Blanche said. “I think there were times when we certainly appreciated that he was making decisions, but you know, weighing both sides and making decisions based on that, but at the end of the day, there were key decisions made before the trial started and during the trial, that I don’t want to use a fair or unfair but that we think were not consistent with the law.”

It is pretty unlikely that Trump will face incarceration, with Class E felonies often resulting in probation rather than time in prison. He is also likely to appeal the Thursday verdict. 

Updated at 10:23 a.m. EDT