Donald Trump says his historic trial and criminal conviction have been “very difficult” for his wife, former first lady Melania Trump.
Jurors last week found Trump guilty of falsifying business records to conceal hush-money payments made to former porn star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign.
With the sentencing, he became the first U.S. president to be convicted of a crime. He has repeatedly called the trial rigged and politically motivated.
In an interview with Fox News over the weekend, Trump vowed that success in the upcoming November US election would be his “revenge.”
He is expected to be sentenced on July 11 and plans to appeal his conviction.
Trump said in an interview on Fox on Sunday that his legal battle in New York has been particularly difficult for his wife.
“She’s fine, but I think it’s very difficult for her,” he said, adding, “In a lot of ways, it’s even harder for them [his family] More important than me.
Under New York law, each of the 34 felonies for which Trump was convicted could result in up to four years in prison – although this is considered unlikely.
Trump acknowledged the possibility of incarceration in an interview on Fox, saying he was “ok with it” but he was “not sure if the public would accept it.”
“I think it’s hard for the public to accept,” he said. “You know, at some point there’s going to be a turning point.”
In a separate interview published over the weekend, the woman at the center of the New York case, former adult film actress Stormy Daniels, said she was “shocked” by how quickly the jury reached its verdict.
In her first public speech since the conviction, Ms Daniels told British newspaper The Mirror that she believed Mr Trump “should be jailed and given some community service to the less fortunate”.
“Or become a volunteer punching bag at a women’s shelter,” she added.
Even after the conviction, Ms. Daniels said the case was “not over” for her.
“This will never end for me,” she said. “Trump may be guilty, but I still have to live with the legacy.”
Trump remains facing dozens of other charges in three separate criminal cases, including one in Georgia where he is accused of conspiring to overturn his victory in the state where he was narrowly defeated by President Joe Biden during the 2020 election. result. The case is currently on appeal.
In Florida, where he faces a federal case over alleged mishandling of classified documents, a judge postponed the trial indefinitely, saying it would be “imprudent” to set a date before evidentiary issues are resolved.
