Mary Trump, the former president’s niece, said it’s “absurd” to think that her uncle would choose to go to jail if the judge orders him to for breaking the rules of his gag order.
“I think that it’s absurd for anybody to think that he would willingly go to jail for even a night, even an afternoon, honestly,” she told MSNBC’s Alex Witt on Saturday.
Judge Juan Merchan ruled that Trump has violated the gag order in his criminal hush money case, fining him $9,000, $1,000 for each violation at the time.
Trump’s comments come a day after the former president said he would be “very proud” to go to jail over violating his gag order.
Trump has insisted that he was exercising his free speech rights, but the gag order restricts him from talking about the jurors, prosecutors, witnesses or Merchan’s family members, after he posted online targeting them.
Merchan has said that Trump could face jail time for future violations.
Mary Trump said she hopes that if he is sent to jail, “it’s for real.”
“It’s not that he’s going to get some suite at a fancy hotel that’s guarded. He is there in a cell, without his phone, just like any other American would be,” she said, highlighted by Mediaite.
She thinks that if her uncle does go to jail over the violation, he would come out as a changed man.
“Honestly, I just don’t think he could handle it. He would love the martyrdom, but I don’t believe for a second that he is willing to go to jail for real. No way.”
