The former president recently named a handful of VP contenders, and with a sentencing looming, there’s added pressure to choose early.
The field of potential vice presidential picks for former President Donald Trump appears to be narrowing, while his legal perils add to the urgency and significance of his choice.
“It’ll be the most important VP selection we’ve had in recent history,” Florida political scientist Susan MacManus told The Epoch Times.
Typically, the presidential running mate exerts little effect on voters’ choice for “the top of the ticket,” Ms. MacManus said. But this year’s unparalleled circumstances are creating top-of-mind concerns for the former president, for his potential running mate, and for American voters.
The former president recently stated that he is likely to designate his running mate at the Republican National Convention. But he is confronting potential imprisonment beforehand, which might induce him to make the announcement sooner, Ms. MacManus said.
Sentencing on his 34-count conviction is set for July 11 in New York, just four days before Republicans begin their three-day convention in Milwaukee, culminating in officially declaring him their 2024 presidential nominee.
Jed Rubenfeld, a Yale University law professor, said many people seem to think that New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan will likely grant probation to the former president. But the professor said confinement remains a real possibility.
“Could Trump actually be put in jail? You bet he could,” Mr. Rubenfeld said in a video posted on social media.
The former president, who has been critical of the judge, faces four years in prison for each charge—a total of 136 years. There is no way the judge would impose that maximum, Mr. Rubenfeld said. The judge also could consider placing the former president under house arrest or on probation.
Ms. MacManus said that if the former president is unable to attend the convention, a vice presidential candidate will still need to be selected, “and that person is going to be under extreme scrutiny.”
By Janice Hisle
