MSNBC Legal Analyst Calls Trump’s Unconditional Discharge Sentencing ‘Justice’: ‘Showing the Rule of Law Will Prevail’
MSNBC legal analyst Kristen Gibbons Feden argued on Friday that President-elect Donald Trump’s unconditional discharge at his hush money case sentencing is “justice.”
Judge Juan Merchan sentenced Trump to an unconditional discharge for his conviction on falsification of business records. Trump was convicted on more than 30 felony counts, stemming from charges he paid hush money to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to cover up an affair. Trump continues to deny the affair and knowledge of any payments.
Following Merchan’s announcement, Feden and attorney Jeremy Saland joined MSNBC to react. Saland argued that the sentencing was “fair.”
“This is fair. It is what it is. That’s justice,” he said.
Saland argued that elected officials are not held to a higher “legal standard,” but a “moral” one, adding that others in Trump’s case may have faced a harsher sentence, but the case also may have never come to fruition if Trump wasn’t the defendant.
Feden, a former prosecutor, was in agreement, saying that Merchan’s decision upholds the felony convictions and that delaying sentencing would only give Trump time to get the case entirely dismissed.
Feden said:
I agree, I agree. I think there’s two things here. There’s that accountability. But then there’s also the fact that the judges upheld the ability for this case not to be dismissed. And I think that that is really important because not only is it justice, it is justice, it is the criminal justice system playing itself out, not allowing, not allowing Donald Trump to utilize his position of importance to just allow things to just go away. It is allowing him to be held accountable. It is showing that the rule of law will prevail if allowed to. And I think that is such an important message to tell to the public. Yes, you’re absolutely right. It is difficult, if I was a convicted felon and I was convicted of the same exact crimes that Donald Trump was, and I got a heightened sentence just because I’m not Donald Trump, yes, that is hard to digest. But at the end of the day, I think one thing that is very important is that every criminal defendant has the right to have various factors be weighed in their sentencing, and it to be applied appropriately.
Watch above via MSNBC.
