Mary Trump says her uncle "absolutely" should go to jail
After Donald Trump was convicted of 34 felonies in Manhattan on Thursday, his estranged niece has said he should "absolutely" go to jail.
The former president and presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee was found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection to a hush money payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during his 2016 election campaign. Trump, who pleaded not guilty, and his allies have repeatedly called the case a form of election interference and, following the jury's verdict, condemned prosecutors and Judge Juan Merchan.
Now Mary Trump—daughter of Fred Trump Jr.—has weighed in on the situation. She is a frequent critic of the former president and has publicly criticized him over everything from his potential second term to his family history.
Prison. He should go to prison.
Jail is for short-timers.
Jail is where you're held after being arrested.
Prison is where you serve your sentence.
Right?
Yes but also jail is typically for any sentence shorter than 12 months. Often why you'll see a year and a day sentences, so they go to prison instead of jail.
Ah, OK. I thought Jail was basically just the holding cell at the police station. Can one go to jail even if it's a conviction on a felony?
Jail is for pre-trial or serving time for smaller crimes. You can do time in the county jail (I don't know the exact amount of time, but I'd guess under 2 years depending on jurisdiction). Prison is for longer sentences and major crimes.
In California sentences of up to 12 weeks are served in a jail.
Jail in NYC is Rikers Island, which is so notorious that they've been trying to close it down for years. He's not gaining anything with a short sentence.
If I'm Judge Merchan, I'd cite Trump's naked attempts to intimidate the jury, witnesses, and the judge (as well as multiple violations of his gag order) as an excuse to throw the book at him.
I'd point out that all Trump had to do to get a slap on the wrist was keep his mouth shut, because it's my understanding that most people convicted of falsifying business documents don't get jail time; they usually just get fined, get some community service, maybe probation if it's bad. Most first-time defendants characterize this crime as an innocent mistake and behave accordingly, but Trump and his ego had to run his mouth.
Hopefully the judges comments on not wanting to send him to jail for contempt was only about contempt...
He should also use his actions after the jury conviction against him as well. I would love him to land on the harsher side of sentencing.
Mary is right. He should go there.
I also agree with Mary.
By the way, i would be devastated if my own family wanted to see me in prison. I hope Trump at least has an extra heartbeat out of rhythm so he feels something.
There are a lot of things that should happen, but we live in a world with a tiered "justice" system.
He's in the untouchable tier where you only ever face consequences for commiting the absolute penultimate major super ultra evil act of messing with rich peoples money. Anything less and he just gets a slap on the wrist and a stern "don't do it again or we'll be disappointed."
Unfortunately the only thing I see coming out of this is MORE funding for his campaign...
I genuinely believe that the only reason he's escaped consequences so far is because the rich have money tied up with him somehow.
This lady has the worst creepy uncle in the world.
Wouldn't being convicted for election fraud in some way stop you from actively participating in elections?
Maybe, but I have 34 reasons to believe he doesn’t care about election integrity
Constitutionally? No. But in a normal world the Republican party wouldn't be part of a cult, and would disqualify him themselves (being law and order and whatnot).
I'm not sure if this is state by state or not, but can he vote for himself now? That's technically stopping him from participating in a certain way.
I think it was Bobby Fuller who first said....
"Breakin rocks in the hot sun... I fought the law, and the law won"
I can't help myself here, sorry. The Crickets did it first. Bobby Fuller did it best.
I agree, but I don’t have hope.
Nor do I. The judge has already stated prior to the conviction that jail is not a required sentence for these crimes. I doubt he wants to start a holy war even though he should.
I think that if he'd just kept his mouth shut and not violated the gag order so many times, there'd be a 99.9% chance of no prison time. Because he kept attempting to intimidate people and will undoubtedly commit some sort of stochastic terrorism (again) as a result of the 34 guilty verdicts, now I'm not so sure. Were I a betting man, I'd say that's down to about 50% with the other 50% being still pretty tame, probably 1-6 months imprisonment + probation. Because home confinement would actually be something of a reward for him, I'm really hoping that he doesn't just get house arrest where he can watch TV, tweet, and order KFC all day every day.
If the judge allows threats of violence to sway his decision, that's literally letting the terrorists win. Do the right thing. If people act out as a result, so be it. They'll get arrested and charged for their crimes next. My realistic expectation is an aggravated temper tantrum, not an assassination conducted with surgical precision. At worst, some gravy seals might shoot a few people, but probably just random civilians because they're not smart enough to get to anybody specific.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The former president and presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee was found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection to a hush money payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during his 2016 election campaign.
Trump, who pleaded not guilty, and his allies have repeatedly called the case a form of election interference and, following the jury's verdict, condemned prosecutors and Judge Juan Merchan.
"I absolutely think he should go to jail and uh, and that's not just based on the findings here of 30—of being guilty but because of his egregious behavior during the course of this trial," Mary Trump responded, with a clip of the conversation having been posted to X, formerly Twitter.
Booking a former president into jail would raise various logistical concerns that have never been addressed before, including how the United States Secret Service would continue to provide round-the-clock protection as required by law.
Syracuse University law professor Gregory Germain told Newsweek that imprisoning a major political party's prominent presidential candidate would also "create a constitutional crisis, and I would expect emergency motions to stay the sentence pending appeal."
Allegations that Mary Trump had violated a 2001 non-disclosure agreement by publishing her book and acting as a source for The New York Times reporting on the former president's tax returns were not dismissed.
The original article contains 634 words, the summary contains 221 words. Saved 65%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!