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Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee and now convicted felon, has said the guilty verdict against him at his New York hush money trial is “tougher” for his wife Melania Trump to accept that it is for him.
Speaking to Fox News on Sunday, Trump also said that while he personally would be “OK” with a jail sentence, his supporters might not accept it.
“I don’t know that the public would stand it,” he warned.
“You know, I don’t… I’m not sure the public would stand for it. I think it would be tough for the public to take,” he said. “You know, at a certain point, there’s a breaking point.”
The 45th president was convicted on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records by a Manhattan jury on Thursday over his part an election conspiracy that involved covering up a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels, the adult film star whose story of an affair threatened to derail his 2016 presidential campaign.
Trump will be sentenced on July 11, just four days before the Republican National Convention, where he is expected to formally accept the nomination to take on Joe Biden in November.
Republicans tried – and failed – to distract from Trump’s conviction with Covid hearing chaos
The Independent’s Eric Garcia writes on today’s mess in the House:
This hearing could have been a chance to show voters that they cared about good governance and accountability. Instead, it resembled the chaos of Merrick Garland’s contempt of Congress markup last month, which included Marjorie Taylor Greene mocking Representative Jasmine Crockett’s fake eyelashes — and Crockett responding with a “bleach blonde bad-built butch body” retort that will live on infamy.
Somehow, Republicans on the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic managed to outdo even that debacle. As soon as she was up for questioning, Greene berated Fauci, refusing to call him a doctor, insisting he belongs “in prison,” and accusing the National Institutes of Health of funding medical experiments on beagles.
The Proud Boys are making a comeback for Trump: ‘Bad things are going to happen’
The neo-fascist Proud Boys gang is growing ranks as the group experiences the “calm before the storm”, a new investigation has found.
John Bowden has more:
Trump tried to ban TikTok. Now he’s on it. What changed?
In July 2020, Trump pledged to ban TikTok in the US.
He joined the platform over the weekend, and he has racked up more than 4 million followers.
What changed?
Full story: Georgia court sets October date for Trump challenge to Fani Willis, likely delaying trial past election
An appeals court in Georgia has scheduled a hearing on Donald Trump’s renewed push to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from trying the former president and his allies in a wide-ranging election interference case.
A panel of appellate court judges will hear their appeal on October 4 – one month and one day before the presidential election.
Half of Americans think Trump’s guilty verdict was correct, new poll shows
A new poll from ABC News/Ipsos found that roughly 50 percent of Americans agreed with the Manhattan jury’s May 30 guilty verdict.
Roughly 27 percent disagreed, and 23 per ent were unsure. Half of those polled believe the charges were politically motivated, with it barely impacting their perception of Trump.
Ariana Baio has more:
House Republican compares Trump to Nelson Mandela and Sir Thomas Moore
In a speech on the House floor on Monday, Repubican US Rep Tom McClintock said that Trump, “in the history of kangaroo courts and despotic regimes,” is in “pretty good company,.”
“Nelson Mandela: a convicted felon,” he said. “Natan Sharansky: a convicted felon. Sir Thomas Moore: a convicted felon.”
A jury unanimously found Trump guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records as part of a plan to cover up stories about a sex scandal with an adult film star to boost his chances of winning the 2016 election…. not exactly the same as an anti-apartheid activist, Soviet dissdent or 16th century martyr.
Watch: All the times Trump has said Hillary Clinton should be in jail
Trump on possible jailtime: ‘I’m OK with it’
Trump’s latest joint fundraising committee message said he is “okay with going to jail” and that he would do it “again and again if that’s what it takes to Save America.”
The message echoes his remarks on Fox & Friends over the weekend.
“I’m OK with it,” he said. “I’m not sure the public would stand for it … I think it’d be tough for the public to take. At a certain point, there’s a breaking point.”
The former president has repeatedly suggested that he would be “honored” to go to jail through the course of his hush money trial, including after he violated a gag order 10 times and was warned by the judge that he could end up behind bars for any future violations.
“Mr Trump, it’s important to understand that the last thing I want to do is to put you in jail,” he said in court. “You are the former president of the United States, and possibly the next president.”
Just in: Georgia appeals court sets October hearing date in Fani Willis challenge
An appeals court in Georgia will hear Trump’s renewed push to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in October, roughly one month before the presidential election.
The judge overseeing the election interference case against the former president and his co-defendants has allowed Willis to stay on the case, following lengthy court hearings to determine whether she financially benefited from her hiring of a special prosecutor with whom she was once romantically involved.
Trump and his co-defendants appealed that decision, and it has landed on the court calendar on October 4.
Judges Yvette Miller, Todd Markle and Benjamin Land are expected to hear the case.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee hasn’t paused pretrial proceedings in the initial case, but the case will not be going to trial until this issue is resolved – meaning, there’s no chance that the trial to determine with Trump interfered in the 2020 election will reach a verdict before the next one.
Democratic congressman pounces on GOP’s Trump loyalty during Fauci hearing
While House Republicans sunk their teeth into Dr Anthony Fauci with conspiracy theory-fuelled attacks about his Covid-19 response, Democratic US Rep Jamie Raskin took the moment to address the other recently convicted elephant in the room.
“You probably wish they were treating you like a convicted felon,” Raskin told Fauci. “They treat convicted felons with love and admiration. Some of them blindly worship convicted felons.”
Democratic US Rep Jared Moskowitz later told Fauci that Republicans on the committee want him “charged and found guilty.”
“Of course the only one that that’s happened to is your former boss,” he said.
Eric Garcia has more:
Source: independent.co.uk
