Donald Trump has floated the possibility of imprisoning his political opponents if he wins back the White House in November.
Trump made the comments days after a New York jury found him guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up a hush-money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. He denied he was guilty of any wrongdoing.
Speaking to the conservative outlet Newsmax on Tuesday, Trump added to his recent false claims that he had never called for his rival in the 2016 election, Hillary Clinton, to be jailed.
“I said, ‘wouldn’t it really be bad?… Wouldn’t it be terrible to throw the president’s wife and the former secretary of state—think of it, the former secretary of state—but the president’s wife into jail? Wouldn’t that be a terrible thing?” Trump said.
“But they want to do it,” the presumptive Republican presidential candidate added, in an apparent reference to his political opponents. “So, you know, it’s a terrible, terrible path that they’re leading us to, and it’s very possible that it’s going to have to happen to them.”
On Newsmax, Trump said the New York case against him is a “terrible precedent for our country.”
“Does that mean the next president does it to them?” He said, apparently referring to his opponents. “That’s really the question.”
Trump also said he “got a lot of credit” for not going after Clinton as president.
“Some people said I should have done it, but, you know, could have, would have been very easy to do it, but I thought it would be a terrible precedent for our country,” Trump said.
“And now, whoever it may be, you’re going to have to view it very much differently. This is a bad, bad road that they’re leading us down to as a country.”
Trump has repeatedly said the New York case was rigged and incorrectly linked Joe Biden to the state prosecution. The president has condemned Trump’s effort to undermine the legal system. Newsweek has contacted the Trump and Biden campaigns for comment via email.
Donald Trump speaks in Trump Tower last week after being found guilty in his hush-money trial. The former president has floated the possibility of imprisoning his political opponents if he is reelected to the White…
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Trump “wants you to believe it’s all rigged,” Biden said during a campaign event in Greenwich, Connecticut, on Monday. “But nothing could be further from the truth. The facts are Donald Trump was given every opportunity to defend himself. It was a state case, even though he said Biden set this up, and not a federal case.”
Trump is set to be sentenced on July 11 by Judge Juan M. Merchan. Each of the felony counts of falsifying business records is punishable by up to four years in prison. However, it is not clear whether prosecutors intend to seek imprisonment or whether Merchan would sentence him behind bars even if it is the recommendation.
Trump is also charged in three other criminal cases, but it is not clear if any of them will go to trial before November.
Update 6/5/24, 3:30 a.m. ET: This article has been updated to add additional information.
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