'No legal impediment' to Trump being sentenced in hush money case: ex-prosecutor

Donald Trump is set to be sentenced in New York on Nov. 26, and legal analysts wonder how Judge Juan Merchan will proceed.

Just a few weeks ago, one group of legal experts on the "Jack" podcast suggested that Merchan could issue a jail sentence but suspend it until Trump leaves office.

Legal analyst Harry Litman told MSNBC on Thursday that it's possible to move forward in the state case, saying there's "no legal impediment" to such an action, but once Trump enters office, "everything has to be put on ice."

"The question is, can he persuade the judge not to pass a sentence because it won't be able to be executed? I think there's a strong argument that the judge would still decide," said Litman. "Look, we're going forward until we can't. We're now up for sentencing."

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He argued that there's no reason for Trump not to be sentenced. He isn't the president yet, and there are no rules or laws preventing a president-elect from being sentenced.

Trump will likely appeal, however.

Meanwhile, the Justice Department is winding down federal cases, reports revealed Wednesday.

Litman called it "sensible, inevitable, and unfortunate." He expects Trump to order the cases to be shut down.

"He's also said he'll fire [special counsel] Jack Smith in two seconds. It's part of a kind of reign of terror he promises," continued Litman.

The final decision for Smith is whether to write a final report that the attorney general will have the discretion to make public. It would give the American public the opportunity to see the evidence and Litman called it a "sort of last possibility" for airing what they've collected.

Trump ally Mike Davis has told Smith that he should "lawyer up," suggesting the new Trump administration will be enacting the retribution against the special counsel.

When asked if there's anything that can protect him, Litman said "no."

"At least the way Trump is planning to completely overhaul the DOJ — hollow out all of the career staff and just institute a reign of terror," he said. "What would stop him? Nothing, as far as we can tell, based on the Supreme Court's view about his executive powers, and when he said he would fire Jack Smith, he cited the immunity opinion. In other words, he's thinking I can violate the law in doing this and it doesn't matter. No one can come after me."

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