Spokesperson for Trump — a convicted felon — says criminals should 'spend time behind bars'

05 September 2024

Seemingly without a hint of irony, Karoline Leavitt — who is former President Donald Trump's 2024 campaign spokesperson — recently said that defendants found guilty by a jury of their peers should be incarcerated.

Leavitt's remark was in response to a New York Times story about a man who received clemency from Trump after spending nearly three decades in jail following a 1993 murder conviction. The defendant, Jaime A. Davidson, got his pardon during the former president's lame-duck period in early 2021 just before he left the White House.

Despite being convicted for playing a role in orchestrating a robbery that led to the murder of an undercover police officer, Davidson insisted that he was not at the scene of the crime and maintained his innocence throughout his incarceration. However, journalist Judd Legum reported earlier this week that Davidson was later convicted on a domestic violence charge in July of 2024 and ordered to spend three months in prison. Leavitt told the Times that "President Trump believes anyone convicted of a crime should spend time behind bars."

This statement prompted some head-scratching from the Independent's Greg Graziosi, who pointed out that Trump himself was convicted on 34 felony counts in Manhattan in May of this year. He noted that Leavitt's boss has not yet spent any time behind bars despite his own convictions, and is actively working to prevent any sentence from being imposed.

"Trump will likely not count himself as a criminal, as he has repeatedly insisted that his conviction and other upcoming trials are political witch hunts, and that he has done nothing wrong," Graziosi wrote. "The former president even tried to have his hush money case moved to a federal court, but on Tuesday that move was denied by a federal judge."

The 45th president of the United States was due to be sentenced in July. However, the Supreme Court's Trump v. United States decision on July 1 granted Trump absolute broad immunity from criminal prosecution for all "official acts" taken as president (the Court allowed lower courts to have discretion to decide what constitutes an "official act"). That ruling prompted Manhattan Judge Juan Merchan to push back Trump's sentencing date to September 18 in order to review how the immunity ruling would affect the ex-president's criminal convictions.

As Graziosi noted, U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein of the Southern District of New York already rejected Trump's petition to have his Manhattan case moved to the federal judiciary. He added that the former president was convicted by a jury for "private, unofficial acts, outside the bounds of executive authority," meaning the Supreme Court's immunity ruling would not apply.

While he could potentially refile the petition, he would need to have the blessing of either Judge Merchan or Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg — which he is unlikely to get. Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said the ex-president's legal team will "continue to fight to move this hoax into federal court where it should be put out of its misery once and for all."

If Trump's September 18 sentencing date remains intact, he could be ordered to serve up to 20 years behind bars, though given that Trump is a 78 year-old, nonviolent first-time offender, it's unlikely Merchan would impose the maximum allowable prison sentence. Merchan could incarcerate Trump for a shorter amount of time, or alternatively impose a combination of probation, home confinement and fines.

After the former president's conviction, former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann said he wasn't so sure Merchan wouldn't opt for some jail time. He noted that Trump flouted the judge's gag order on 10 different occasions and repeatedly attacked Merchan's daughter, who works as a Democratic campaign consultant. He noted that these factors are "not small things" for a judge to weigh when deciding on a sentence.

Click here to read the Independent's report in its entirety.

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