Trump Maximum Sentences Add Up To 136 YEARS In Prison For All 34 Felony Counts

Jose A. Iglesias/Miami Herald via AP

The maximum sentences for the 34 felony counts former President Donald Trump reportedly faces add up to a staggering 136 years in prison — although he’s not likely to face anything near that number.

While the world waits for Trump to be arraigned in New York, the former president took time Monday to lash out at Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and his grand jury investigating the circumstances around hush money payments, which resulted Thursday afternoon a several-dozen-count indictment of Trump.

Trump released a statement raging at Bragg to “INDICT HIMSELF” over what he claimed was a leak from Bragg’s office detailing the charges that will be read at Trump’s arraignment:

Wow! District Attorney Bragg just illegally LEAKED the various points, and complete information, on the pathetic Indictment against me. I know the reporter and so, unfortunately, does he. This means that he MUST BE IMMEDIATELY INDICTED. Now, if he wants to really clean up his reputation, he will do the honorable thing and, as District Attorney, INDICT HIMSELF. He will go down in Judicial history, and his Trump Hating wife will be, I am sure, very proud of him!

Trump appeared to be referencing an exclusive report by Yahoo! News Chief investigative correspondent Michael Isikoff, who attributed his reporting to “a source who has been briefed on the procedures for the arraignment of the former president” — a wide potential pool of potential sources.

Isikoff tweeted his scoop Monday night and wrote “Exclusive: Trump to be formally arrested and charged with 34 Class E felonies for falsification of business records tomorrow. But he will not be handcuffed, placed in a jail cell or subjected to a mug shot, per a source debriefed on Tuesday’s procedures.”

In the body of his story, Isikoff explains why the charges were bumped up to felonies, and notes that each of those counts carries a maximum sentence that doesn’t sound so bad individually:

The charge of falsification of business records can be prosecuted in New York state as a misdemeanor. But Bragg’s office bumped up all the charges to Class E felonies — the lowest level of felonies in the New York state penal code — on the grounds that the conduct was intended to conceal another underlying crime, according to the source.

Under the New York State penal code, a conviction for the Class E felony of falsifying business records can result in a prison term of up to four years. But as a practical matter, that seems extremely unlikely. “No one gets jail time for that as a first offender,” said a New York law enforcement official.

In the unlikely event that Trump received the maximum sentence for every count, that would amount to 136 years in prison — more than a l ife sentence for even a young person.

Trump is also facing Special Counsel Jack Smith-led Justice Department probes into Trump’s mishandling of classified information under the Espionage Act and his conduct surrounding the January 6 insurrection, as well as Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ grand jury investigation of former President Donald Trump’s effort to overturn election results in Georgia.