Former US President Donald Trump, found guilty by a New York jury this week, said in an interview broadcast on Sunday that a prison sentence could be “a breaking point” for his supporters.
The Republican Party’s November presidential candidate warned on Fox News that a prison sentence “would be complicated for the public to accept.” You know, at a certain point, there’s a breaking point.”
These words have a particular resonance in a very divided country still marked by the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, when supporters of Mr. Trump tried to prevent the certification of the electoral victory of his Democratic rival, Joe Biden. .
They also come as the 77-year-old business magnate uses increasingly violent rhetoric towards his opponents.
Democratic elected official Adam Schiff affirmed that with his remarks Donald Trump was “clearly” inciting “violence once his judgment is known”.
But “I don’t think the population is responding to this call. I hope we have learned lessons from the terrible experience of January 6,” he added on CNN.
In her first reaction since the verdict, the former porn actress at the heart of the affair which led to Donald Trump being found guilty called on the courts to incarcerate her.
“Put him in jail,” said Stormy Daniels, 45, on the British newspaper’s website DailyMirror.
” Very difficult “
After six weeks of arguments in Manhattan court, a jury found Donald Trump guilty of 34 counts of accounting falsification for payments in late 2016 to Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet about a sexual encounter she said she had with him in 2006.
Mr. Trump categorically denies this relationship.
This verdict, the first in criminal proceedings in the history of the United States against a former president, will not prevent the billionaire from being a presidential candidate against Joe Biden, even in the event of a prison sentence.
But he immediately let his anger explode, denouncing a “very unfair” and even rigged trial – without providing the slightest proof.
He also accused Joe Biden and his “gang” of being “sick” and “fascists” responsible for his legal setbacks.
In the interview broadcast on Sunday, the ex-president also said that his recent trial had been “very hard” for his wife, Melania, whose absence was noted among the members of his family who came to support him in court.
“She’s doing well, but I think it’s very hard for her,” he said. “She has to read all this rubbish. »
“Punching bag”
As for Stormy Daniels, whose silence since Thursday’s verdict has been very noticed (she usually does not hesitate to comment in a sharp tone on Donald Trump’s legal troubles), she ended up reacting to the DailyMirror.
“I believe he should be sentenced to prison and community service for the less fortunate, or serve as a voluntary punching bag in a women’s shelter,” she added with her freedom of usual tone.
In recent days, she had remained in the background and allowed her husband and her lawyer to speak in the media. Both men suggested that apprehension, even fear, was not unrelated to his silence.
Stormy Daniels recently said she had received death threats since Donald Trump was indicted.
She also judged in the interview with Daily Mirror que the Republican candidate was “completely and totally disconnected from reality”.
Testifying in court “was so intimidating, with the jurors looking at you,” said Stormy Daniels, “but like I said before, I told the truth the whole time.”
The testimony of Stephanie Clifford, her real name, was one of the high points of the debates. She notably recounted in detail the supposed sexual relationship, according to her consensual, but where the “balance of power” was “unbalanced”.
“It will never be over for me,” she said. Donald Trump may be found guilty, but “I still have to live with this legacy.”
