They want to imprison me to break my supporters – Trump

In light of his historic criminal conviction, Donald Trump has issued a warning that if he is sentenced to prison or home detention, it might mark a “breaking point” for his fans.

The former president and Republican presidential candidate accepted the prospect that he would receive a jail sentence or a term of home detention at his July 11 sentencing in an interview that aired on Fox News on Sunday.

“I’m ok with it,” Trump said, but added he was “not sure the public would stand for it.”

“I think it would be tough for the public to take. You know at a certain point there’s a breaking point,” he added.

The warning will resonate in a country already concerned about the prospect of political violence in the increasingly heated run-up to the November 5 presidential election.

Trump will now be running as a convicted felon, and he has repeatedly made it clear he will not accept the result should he lose to President Joe Biden.

A New York jury on Thursday convicted Trump on all 34 felony charges of falsifying business records in the final stages of the 2016 presidential campaign to cover up a sex scandal involving porn star Stormy Daniels.

It was the first criminal conviction of a former president in US history.

Although each charge carries a possible four-year jail term, experts say it is extremely unlikely that the judge will actually hand down a custodial sentence.

Trump faces three other criminal trials, including one related to efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election he lost to Biden.

Trump’s supporters stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 after he delivered a fiery speech urging the crowd to “fight like hell.”

‘Vindicated’

Breaking her silence following Trump’s conviction, Stormy Daniels said the former president should be put in prison.

“I think he should be sentenced to jail and some community service working for the less fortunate, or being the volunteer punching bag at a women’s shelter,” Daniels said in an interview with the British tabloid The Mirror published late Saturday.

After years of exchanging insults with Trump on social media, Daniels now says she finally has been “vindicated,” although she admitted she was “shocked” at how quickly the jury rendered its verdict.

Daniels also accused the White House hopeful of being “completely and utterly out of touch with reality” and compared him to a child at one point in the interview.

The former adult film actor and director helped bring Trump down in court with her gripping testimony, which included graphic descriptions of what she says was a casual sexual encounter in 2006.

“Being in court was so intimidating with the jurors looking at you,” she said in the interview, adding that she was glad it was proved that she had been “telling the truth the entire time.”

“It’s not over for me. It’s never going to be over for me. Trump may be guilty, but I still have to live with the legacy.”