Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's predecessor said he does not think former President Donald Trump will be sentenced to jail time after being convicted for falsifying business records.
Cyrus Vance Jr., a Democrat who retired from office in 2022, appeared Sunday morning on NBC's "Meet the Press" and was asked whether he would recommend sending Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee in this year's election, to jail if he were still DA.
"Well, I'm not going to answer that question because that's really just for Mr. Bragg to decide," Vance told host Peter Alexander. "If you ask me, 'do I think the court will impose jail in this case?' As I said to you, I think yesterday, I think not. But ultimately, that's Judge [Juan] Merchan's decision.
"The president has made this a little more complicated by having been found in contempt ten times during the court, but I think that with the proximity of the Republican convention four days after his sentencing, and then if he is the candidate for the Republican Party the proximity of the election, I would be surprised that he would be sentenced to any imprisonment."
Vance then added: "Now, that said, the court could adjourn sentencing until after the general election and then essentially decide then."
Commenting on Trump's plan to appeal the case, Vance said there would be strong appeals, and "there are going to be issues that will be carefully considered by the appellate courts."
Trump on Thursday became the first former president to be convicted of felony crimes as a New York jury found him guilty of falsifying business records in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election through payments to an adult film actor who said the two had sex. He was convicted on all 34 counts.
During his time in office, Vance investigated Trump but did not pursue prosecution.
"Well, we did investigate the former president on a range of issues. I ultimately believed that our investigation was best focused on financial crimes," Vance said.
"I'm confident that we made the right choice for us at that time in pursuing the financial crimes investigation. As you know, it resulted in convictions."
The former district attorney said he knew Judge Merchan, whom Trump and his allies have accused of issuing partisan decisions during the trial.
"I think he is honest as the day is long," Vance said of Merchan. "He was careful. He was caring. And I think he handled a very difficult trial with a neutral hand and gave the president every benefit of the doubt that he was entitled to under the law."