Former US President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally on April 2, 2024 in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images
Donald Trump said Saturday he welcomes the prospect of going to prison for violating a hush-money deal in New York.
“I will happily become a modern-day Nelson Mandela – it will be a great honor,” the former president wrote in a lengthy Truth Social post attacking New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, who Trump’s case leads.
It wasn’t the first time Trump compared himself to a martyr amid a flood of criminal charges.
In an October tirade against his various lawsuits, the presumptive Republican nominee also compared himself to Mandela, the former president of South Africa who served 27 years in prison for his anti-apartheid activism.
And last week, Trump used Truth Social to spread a message comparing his legal troubles to the persecution of Jesus Christ.
Saturday’s tirade came just over a week before the trial was scheduled to begin on April 15.
On this day, jury selection begins in the state criminal case against the former president on 34 counts of falsifying business documents, allegedly to conceal a hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels weeks before the 2016 presidential election.
Trump has accused Merchan of being compromised over his daughter’s role at a progressive consulting firm that worked for Democrats.
Trump’s rant on social media Saturday was the latest of several he has posted about the judge’s daughter since Merchan first imposed an initial gag order in late March.
That order banned Trump from making public statements about the witnesses, jurors and lawyers in the case. He was also banned from speaking publicly about court personnel, employees of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and their family members. This initial gag order came in response to Trump’s repeated calls for the judge to recuse himself.
A day after imposing the first gag order on March 26, Trump lashed out at Merchan’s daughter on social media.
Shortly thereafter, Merchan granted prosecutors a request to expand the scope of the order to prohibit direct attacks on Merchan’s family members and the family of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Under the expanded order, Trump can continue to criticize Merchan and Bragg individually. But he can’t publicly target their families.
Playing with fire in his advertising orders is becoming routine for Trump.
In October, Judge Arthur Engoron threatened Trump with prison time for violating a similar order in a civil case and ultimately fined him $10,000.
President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign seized on Mandela’s comments on Saturday.
“Imagine being so self-centered that you compare yourself to Jesus Christ and Nelson Mandela in just over a week: That’s Donald Trump for you,” Biden campaign spokeswoman Jasmine Harris said Saturday.
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2024-04-06 22:58:34
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