RNC makes preparations for national convention where its nominee may be behind bars

On Thursday, July 11 — only four days before the start of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee — Justice Juan Merchan is scheduled to sentence presumptive 2024 GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump on 34 criminal counts.

It remains to be seen what type of sentence Merchan will give Trump. The possibilities range from incarceration to home detention to probation to fines.

According to NBC News' Matt Dixon, Republican organizers are making preparations for a convention that the likely nominee may not be able to physically attend.

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Dixon, in an article published on June 13, reports, "In case of potential house arrest, the Republican National Committee is already setting up convention-themed staging at Mar-a-Lago, along with a massive screen at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, where most convention activities will take place."

A GOP operative who toured the convention site in Milwaukee told NBC News that the possibility of Trump being under house arrest was not discussed during the tour but said that Trump could conduct convention-related activities from Mar-a-Lago. And a Trump campaign official, according to Dixon, "confirmed to NBC News that the idea that he could be under house arrest for the convention is part of the planning process."

"While Trump will be sentenced the week before the convention," Dixon reports, "legal experts have told NBC News that he is likely to request that the sentence be suspended while he appeals. If the trial judge or an appellate judge grants the request, Trump would most likely be able to continue to move freely, as he did while he was awaiting trial."

Dixon adds, "If the sentence does affect his ability to attend the convention, he would be the first major-party nominee in recent memory not to have attended the party's convention — an event that features the formal acceptance of the nomination by the candidate and an accompanying speech."

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Read NBC News' full report at this link.