NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Former President Donald Trump's name will still appear on the ballot come November after he was convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records.
“We’ve never seen a former or current President indicted on any kind of criminal charges much less felonies, it’s an interesting historic, and in some ways kind of scary time for the country because we’ve never been down this road before," NewsChannel5 Political Analyst Pat Nolan said.
Nolan doesn't believe the conviction will change much, though.
"We’re in uncharted territory," Nolan said
Trump plans to appeal the verdict.
"It’s not likely that President Trump will have to spend any time in jail anytime soon. I don’t think he’ll be put in now because of it. He could perhaps spend some time if that’s what the judge gives him. It does appear to me that it’s more likely going to be some kind of probation," Nolan said.
That leaves some voters in limbo, according to Nolan. In battleground states, it could make an impact.
"Probably not a huge impact overall. I think most of the polling beforehand said that maybe as high as 17% said they might change their mind based on what the ruling is going to be."
As for sentencing, that's scheduled for July 11.
“The week that he’s going to be doing that is going to be within days of the Republican nomination, so that will be in the news along with the nomination itself within a couple of days of each other, again something we’ve never seen in the history of this country.”
Nolan said since the trial was not televised it likely didn't help with public trust, since the general public couldn't watch it.
I LOVE Forrest's stories on the history of NewsChannel 5 as we celebrate our 70th anniversary. Here's a story I wasn't familiar with until recently. Eudora Boxley had a live cooking show in the early days of the station. She may have been the first black on air at NewsChannel 5 and perhaps, one of the first African Americans to have a TV cooking show anywhere in the country. It wasn't until her grandson reached out to me that I even heard of Ms. Boxley. Thankfully, I was able to connect him with Forest to learn more about this great nugget in NewsChannel 5 history.
-Lelan Statom
