Trey Gowdy Tries to Find Silver Lining in Judge Merchan Ruling

This week, Judge Merchan, the presiding judge in the hush money case, decided that he would sentence Trump before he takes office.

Donald Trump, as expected, went ballistic, but former congressman Trey Gowdy is trying to put a positive spin on this.

No More Delays

Trump has filed a ton of motions in this case to both have the case dismissed as well as having the sentencing put off until after his presidency.

Time and again, Trump has cited presidential immunity, but it just does not apply to this case in any way, shape, or form, so Judge Merchan declined the motion.

Merchan had initially delayed the sentencing, but this week, he decided that sentencing would take place on January 10. While he did say he will not sentence Trump to jail, he will get what is called an unconditional discharge, which offers no punishment, but Trump is still considered a convicted felon.

Merchan stated, “While this Court as a matter of law must not make any determination on sentencing prior to giving the parties and Defendants opportunity to be heard, it seems proper at this juncture to make known the Court’s inclination to not impose any sentence of incarceration, a sentence authorized by the conviction but one the People concede they no longer view as a practicable recommendation.”

Trump Goes Off

Donald Trump and other officials in his incoming administration went nuclear after the ruling.

Trump stated, "This illegitimate political attack is nothing but a Rigged Charade.”

Spokesperson Steven Cheung stated that the ruling was "a direct violation of the Supreme Court’s Immunity decision and other longstanding jurisprudence. This lawless case should have never been brought and the Constitution demands that it be immediately dismissed. There should be no sentencing, and President Trump will continue fighting against these hoaxes until they are all dead.”

But, as I stated in a previous report, he is wrong. This case does not fall under presidential immunity. And while the charges were ridiculous, the fact of the matter is that Trump broke the law. It should have only been a misdemeanor, but he did misclassify the hush-money payments. This was also his personal business, so it does not fall under presidential immunity.

Silver Lining

One of the reasons everyone is so upset about this is because Trump and his surrogates are misleading most people on the presidential immunity angle, which I refuse to do.

While everyone else is going nuts over this, Trey Gowdy found the silver lining, stating, “Here’s the silver lining though. Now that the case will be over, the sentencing is what ends his involvement, then he can perfect his appeal, President Trump. He can appeal all the evidentiary issues.

“I get the unfairness that I’m sure he feels right now, and it was an unfair trial. You stop and think of the issues going on in New York right now, and you’re going to take time to prosecute a bookkeeping error. So I get the unfairness, but, in the long run, he, I think, is better off having this in the rearview mirror than in the windshield, despite the unfairness [from] Juan Merchan.”

Gowdy, as usual, is dead on. I completely understand that Trump was overcharged, but had he not misclassified the payments in the first place, he would not be in this mess. So, as Gowdy suggested, appreciate the fact the case is over, no punishment was handed down, and you can finally put it behind you. I know Trump is not capable of letting it go, but he really should follow Gowdy’s advice here and move on because I think most people are fatigued by the case and tired of hearing about it when they are getting crushed at the gas station and grocery store.