Former U.S. attorney on Trump’s hush money verdict and Hunter Biden’s federal gun charges
(CBS, KYMA/KECY) - Former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara spoke with Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation Sunday about Donald Trump's "hush money" trial verdict.
"There's a lot of speculation about whether or not this criminal conviction will result in a incarcerated period for Donald Trump. That's up in the air. There are arguments in favor. There are arguments against, but whatever happens, the fact of this criminal conviction will be on his record if it, if it remains at such time as the future criminal trials take place. And if he gets a conviction on the federal counts in the future, the fact of this conviction here, if it's still on the books would result in a potential higher prison sentence in those future cases. So it does have a consequence because he will now, unlike a week ago, have a criminal record and criminal records are taken into account in meting out punishment."
Preet Bharara, former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York
When asked what ground the former president has for an appeal, Bharaha said in part:
"I think they'll make a number of points...including the fact that the judge didn't change the venue, the fact that the judge didn't recuse himself. I don't think those are strong, but I think those will be made. The fact that Stormy Daniels testified a bit broadly about some of the scurrilous details of their sexual encounter, they will argue were prejudicial and should not have been allowed to come in, although they opened the door to that, arguably. And then there's this sort of technical business that I'm sure causes lay people's eyes to glaze over. And that is the degree to which the second crime, the thing that made and transformed the misdemeanor into a felony, the basis of that did not have to be decided unanimously by the jury. So the further crime, the felony, was appropriate, based on the jury's decision, if there was...the falsification of the business documents was done to further or to conceal or to commit some other crime, namely, an election crime in New York, and that could have been done three different ways...the jury instructions and they don't have to be unanimous on those three different ways. And that's probably an issue for appeal."
During the interiview, Brennan and Bharara talked about Hunter Biden as he heads to trial on federal gun charges. When asked how much hot water Biden is in, Bharara said, "He's in substantial hot water because he's been charged federally."
To watch more of Brennan's interview with Bharara, click here.
