Former President Trump said he is "okay" with the outcome of his upcoming sentencing by Judge Juan M. Merchan after being found guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records.
Last Thursday, a Manhattan jury unanimously found Trump guilty in his "hush money" case after a five-week trial.
The former president was accused of making payments to former attorney Michael Cohen in 2016 to cover up an alleged affair with adult actress Stormy Daniels nearly 20 years ago.
Trump discussed his trial and upcoming July sentencing during a Sunday interview with Fox & Friends Weekend.
“I’m okay with it,” Trump said when discussing the potential for house arrest or jail. “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, don’t, you know, beg for anything. It’s just the way it is.” Trump on a potential prison sentence : "I'm ok with it"
Says he told his lawyer not to show weakness and beg the judge. This man has no fear. pic.twitter.com/srstiQFAA7
— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) June 2, 2024
The former president acknowledged time in jail "could happen."
“I don’t know that the public would stand for it, you know.” Trump said. “I think it’d be tough for the public to take. You know, at a certain point, there’s a breaking point.”
The former president denied the alleged affair with Daniels, adding his legal team would appeal his guilty verdict.
“People get it. It’s a scam,” Trump said of the trial.
The former president also commented on hurdles his legal team faced after Merchan issued a gag order preventing Trump from discussing the trial publicly for the last five weeks.
On Friday, President Joe Biden flashed an enigmatic smile after one reporter asked him to respond to Trump calling himself a "political prisoner," claiming the president was "directly" to blame for the outcome of his legal troubles.
During his Sunday interview, Trump referred to Biden as the "worst president in the history of this country," adding Biden was a "danger" to the United States.
"They have misinformation. ‘Donald Trump is a threat to democracy.’ It’s just words. He doesn’t even know what it means," Trump said. "But it’s like their slogan: I’m a threat to democracy. I’m the opposite. They’re the threat to democracy.”
The former president's sentencing is scheduled for July 11.
“This was a disgrace. This was a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who was corrupt,” Trump said shortly after his verdict. “It’s a rigged trial, a disgrace. They wouldn’t give us a venue change. We were at 5% or 6% in this district, in this area. This was a rigged, disgraceful trial.”
Trump is the first president to be the subject of a criminal trial, and subsequently be convicted.
