Donald Trump said on Sunday he would accept home confinement or jail time after his historic conviction on criminal charges by a New York jury last week but that it would be tough for the public to accept.
Trump is scheduled to be sentenced on July 11, four days before Republicans gather to formally choose their presidential nominee to face Democratic President Joe Biden in November’s election.
Prison time is rare for people convicted in New York state of felony falsification of business records, the charge Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, faced at his trial. The maximum sentence for such a charge is four years imprisonment.
“I’m not sure the public would stand for it,” the former president told Fox News of a potential prison sentence.
“I think it’d be tough for the public to take. You know, at a certain point, there’s a breaking point.”
Trump has vowed to appeal his conviction by the New York jury, which found him guilty of 34 felony counts over falsifying documents to cover up a payment to silence a porn star ahead of the 2016 election.
To succeed on appeal, Trump, 77, must demonstrate that Justice Juan Merchan made significant errors overseeing the trial.
His lawyers have said they expect to take the case to the Supreme Court. On Sunday, Trump, who tried to disqualify Merchan from the case, repeated allegations of bias by the judge and the district attorney who prosecuted the case.
“The United States Supreme Court MUST DECIDE!,” Trump wrote on social media.
Trump plans to appeal after his July 11 sentencing date, his lawyers say. If an appeal in New York state courts proves unsuccessful, he could appeal to the Supreme Court. Trump’s attorneys would have to persuade at least four of the court’s nine justices to hear his case.
To prevail, Trump would then have to demonstrate that the state prosecution violated his federal constitutional rights and that his legal team followed proper procedures during earlier stages of his legal proceedings.