Former Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz believes that Manhattan Judge Juan Merchan wants to sentence President-elect Donald Trump prior to his inauguration as President of the United States so that Democrats and the media can call him a convicted felon.

He spoke to Fox News host Sean Hannity where he said that he spoke to Trump and that the president-elect knows the “game” they are playing.

“Well, what Judge Merchan and the Democrats want is a hunting trophy with Donald Trump’s head in the hunting — in the trophy. They want to be able to say they have a convicted felon,” the former professor said.

“So even if it gets appealed and he wins the appeal, they can still say, well, at least for a period of time, 34 convictions. Of course, 34 times zero equals zero because there is no case. In my 62 years practicing teaching criminal law, I have never seen a case like this in the United States and rarely in any other countries where you make up a case out of whole cloth and you base it on testimony which is constitutionally not subject to being use in a case,” Dershowitz added.

“But they don’t care. They want that trophy. They want — even if it’s only for a few days to be able to say, a convicted felon — convicted — he’s been sentenced 34 charges. They know it will be reversed on appeal but that’s why generally, it would be a good idea to let the sentence go forward then to get appeal, but in some respects, playing it through his hands,” he continued.

“I met with Donald Trump on Saturday night. We talked about this, and he understands this game, and he knows that the only purpose for this has nothing to do with the law,” Dersh went on. “It has to do with trying to paint him in a negative way as a convicted felon, as he assumes the presidency so that he’s weakened in the eyes of the world.

“This hurts America as much as it — as it hurts the Republicans or Donald Trump. And that’s why every American, whether you’re for Trump or against Trump, should be against this abusive lawfare,” he said.