Former U.S. president Donald Trump said he is “OK” with serving potential jail time or being under house arrest following his historic conviction on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
“I’m OK with it,” Trump told Fox News in an interview that aired Sunday when asked about the potential punishments. “I saw one of my lawyers the other day on television saying, ‘Oh no, you don’t want to do that to the president.’ I said: You don’t beg for anything.”
But, Trump added, “I don’t think the public would stand it. I’m not sure the public would stand for it.”
“I think it would be tough for the public to take, you know, at a certain point, there’s a breaking point,” Trump said.
His comments come just days after a Manhattan jury found Trump guilty of all charges in his hush money trial, making him the first former president to be found guilty of a felony and the first major-party presidential nominee to be convicted of a crime in the midst of a campaign for the White House.
Judge Juan Merchan set Trump’s sentencing for 10 a.m. ET on July 11. Merchan could sentence Trump to probation or up to 4 years in state prison on each count, with a maximum of 20 years.
For now, the former president remains out of prison as he awaits sentencing. He maintained in the Fox News interview that he didn’t do anything wrong and railed against the “sick” people involved in his conviction.
“I’m fighting for the Constitution,” Trump said, adding that the trial had been “tougher” on his family than himself. Speaking specifically of his wife, former first lady Melania Trump, the former president said, “She’s fine, but I think it’s very hard for her. I mean, she’s fine. But it’s … you know, she has to read all this crap.”
Asked about the prospect of seeking political retribution should he win the 2024 presidential election, Trump said that while just succeeding sounds “beautiful,” it’s “awfully hard when you see what they’ve done.”
“These people are so evil, and at the same time the country can come together,” he added.
