Republican grandees are planning “contingencies” in the event former President Trump is incarcerated after his sentencing next month, officials and insiders say.
Trump will be sentenced by Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan on July 11 after he was convicted of 34 felony counts stemming from hush-money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Merchan has a buffet of possible sentences he could impose on the presumptive GOP nominee — including prison time.
The Republican convention in Milwaukee is scheduled to begin on July 15.
“I was at a dinner where that question was asked by a donor and RNC staff said that there were contingency plans in place,” said one Trump fund-raiser, who said party officials declined at the time to get into details. “My understanding is Trump could [accept the nomination] from wherever. Does he physically need to be there? I don’t think so.”
One recently-departed official from the Republican National Committee told The Post “my suspicion of what you do if the guy is actually in jail — which who knows, right — I think you probably have him do some kind of video in advance just in case.”
One Republican delegate from New York said there had been some chatter about possibly moving up the convention.
The idea is discussed as an emergency possibility in the convention rules, adopted in November 2023 — as Trump’s trial loomed.
Trump does not need to be physically present at the convention to accept the nomination, according to multiple insiders.
“We have to be ready for anything,” said RNC co-chair Lara Trump on CNN last week. “Whether its from Trump Tower in Manhattan, whether it’s from Mar-a-Lago, whether it’s from our convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, we will nominate Donald Trump as our Republican nominee and that’s what ultimately matters.”
While prison time has been speculated as unlikely — due to Trump’s advanced age, and his hitherto clean criminal record — legal insiders close to Trump say it’s not as remote as people think.
What happens next after Trump is found guilty in hush money case
- Donald Trump, who was found guilty on all 34 counts, will remain free until his scheduled sentencing on the morning of July 11.
- The former president also does not face any travel restrictions until the sentencing.
- Trump’s attorneys said they plan to appeal the verdict “as soon as we can.”
- If Trump loses an appeal with the mid-level appeals court, he’ll likely seek to have the state’s highest court hear his case, which could take an additional year.
Here you can read more about what happens next following the historic guilty verdict and what Trump potentially faces.
Allen Weisselberg, former chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, was sentenced to five months at Rikers Island by Merchan in January 2023 after pleading guilty to an array of fraud and tax crimes. Weisselberg, 76, also had no prior criminal history.
People close to Weisselberg said Merchan made it known it would have been much worse had the defendant not pled guilty and forced a jury to render a verdict — as Trump did.
Weisselberg was cuffed and taken into custody on the day his sentence was handed down.
“I could see Merchan saying if the DA’s office asks me for jail then I’ll do jail,” said a person involved in the Weisselberg case.
Reps for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg declined to speculate about sentencing.
“Having watched this trial in the courtroom, nothing would truly surprise me,” George Washington University Law Professor Jonathan Turley told The Post.
Should Trump be remanded on July 11, his legal team would make an emergency appeal to the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department, which could decide to let him out — but not before he would be forced to spend at least a few hours behind bars.
Reps for the Trump campaign refused to speculate — and were adamant he would show up at the convention in person. Spokesman Steven Chung vowed that “nothing will stop President Trump from accepting the nomination in Milwaukee as planned.”
