Donald Trump has given his first interview since his conviction. In it, he appears unimpressed by a possible prison sentence.
Former US President Donald Trump says he would have no problem going to prison. “I'm OK with that,” Trump said in a TV interview broadcast on Sunday on the right-wing Fox News show “Fox & Friends” – just days after his conviction in a hush money trial.
The 77-year-old added, however, with regard to a possible prison sentence: “I don't think the public would let it go,” Trump said. “I think it would be hard for people to take. You know, there's a point where it becomes too much.”
Last week, Trump was found guilty on all 34 counts in the trial over a hush money payment to a porn actress. The core of the charges was falsification of business documents. Trump denied the accusations. (Read more about the trial and the guilty verdict here.)
He replied that although one of his lawyers had said on television that one should not do “such a thing” to a former president, Trump had instructed him not to “beg” the judge.
Shortly after the verdict, Trump expressed his anger and repeated the accusation that the proceedings against him were purely politically motivated and manipulated. Judge Juan Merchan plans to announce the sentence on July 11.
According to his lawyers, Trump will then appeal after the sentence is announced. If the appeal in the New York state courts is unsuccessful, he could go all the way to the Supreme Court. Trump's lawyers would then have to convince at least four of the court's nine judges to hear his case and prove serious errors in the hush money trial. “The Supreme Court of the United States must decide,” Trump demanded on social media on Sunday.
With the guilty verdict, he is the first former president in US history to be convicted of a crime. Theoretically, he faces up to four years in prison, but in similar cases the sentence has often been much less severe. Even after the verdict and even in prison, Trump could still be president.
