How Trump’s deny-everything strategy could hurt him at sentencing

By ERIC TUCKER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump has had plenty to say since his hush money trial conviction last week. What he hasn’t done is utter any variation of the words that might benefit him most come sentencing time next month: “I’m sorry.” It’s an age-old truism of the criminal justice system that defendants hoping for lenient treatment at sentencing are expected to take responsibility for their actions, even express remorse. But that approach flies in the face of the “deny everything” strategy that Trump and his legal team employed at trial — and the combative posture the presumptive Republican presidential nominee has adopted during years of investigations into his business career, presidential activities and post-White House life.