Former President Donald Trump’s niece, Mary Trump, on Friday spoke out about her uncle’s recent conviction in a New York hush-money case.
“I think you have to take into account that Donald never in a million years thought this would happen,” Mary Trump said on CNN’s “The Situation Room” with host Wolf Blitzer, when asked how her uncle felt about being found guilty. “Obviously, he’s a man who has lived his whole life with complete impunity. And to finally be held accountable after nearly 80 years, that must have been a disincentive for him.”
Mary Trump’s uncle became the first former U.S. president to be convicted on Thursday after a jury found him guilty on all charges of falsifying business records to hide an alleged affair during the 2016 election campaign.
The former president criticized the trial after the verdict was read.
“This was an unfair and dishonorable trial. The real verdict will be given by the people on November 5th. The people know what happened here, everyone knows what happened here,” he said.
When asked Thursday Asked by CNN anchor Abby Phillips what she thought the former president was “thinking” the night after his guilty verdict, Mary Trump responded, “Honestly, my uncle was probably trying his best not to think about anything, but even if he wanted to deny it, I don’t think there’s any denying that today he was convicted of 34 felonies, he is in fact a convicted felon and he’s going to have to deal with the consequences.”
“But having said that, I don’t think that realization will last,” Mary Trump continued. “It seems like we’re in a situation very similar to after the 2020 election, where, privately, he was able to admit he lost, but the sense of humiliation overwhelmed him pretty quickly afterwards, and we ultimately got to the ‘Big Lie,’ which led to ‘Stop the Steal,’ which led to the riots.
“So, unfortunately, I think we need to be prepared for a shift in his attempts to at least try to create an alternative reality in which he could insulate himself from what would undoubtedly be a devastating defeat in court today.”
Mary Trump has been a long-time critic of her uncle, and in 2020 published a book called “Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man.”
