Alina Habba Says Trump ‘Will Be Like Nelson Mandela’ If He’s Sent to Jail

 

Attorney Alina Habba said if her client Donald Trump is ordered to jail for violating the gag order in his Manhattan criminal trial, the former president “will be like Nelson Mandela.”

Trump is on trial on 34 counts of falsifying business records to obscure hush money payments to conceal extramarital affairs. He has pleaded not guilty. As he has done in other cases against him, Trump has made comments attacking the prosecution and the judge. However, in this instance Trump has gone a step further by attacking the daughter of Judge Juan Merchan. That prompted Merchan to issue an expanded gag order barring the ex-president from criticizing court staff and their families, though the order does not apply to Merchan or Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

Bragg filed a motion on Tuesday seeking to hold Trump in content of court for three social media posts he made regarding two of the witnesses in the case. The district attorney urged Merchan to jail the former president for up to 30 days.

Habba appeared on Tuesday’s episode of The Story with Martha MacCallum on Fox News to discuss the case and whether Trump is concerned about going to jail:

MACCALLUM: Do you think that this threat of 30 days in jail will change the social media actions of the former president in any way? Or will he keep doing this?”

HABBA: I don’t think so. I think that he is respectful, but there has to be boundaries and we should appeal it. It’s currently on appeal. So, there’s also a due process element to this. We have items on appeal in this case that have not yet been heard. So –

MACCALLUM: Is he concerned about the possibility of it being sent to jail as a ramification?

HABBA: No.

MACCALLUM: He’s not concerned about being sent to jail?

HABBA: I, I don’t, I think like anybody, he’s concerned about going to jail. But if they put him in jail for his First Amendment right, he will be like Nelson Mandela. I mean, that would be just absurd.

Trump has repeatedly likened himself to Mandela.

Watch above via Fox News.

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Mike is a Mediaite senior editor who covers the news in primetime. Follow him on Bluesky.