CNN Anchor Asks Maggie Haberman If Trump Trying To Incite Violence If He Gets Jail Time
CNN anchor Kasie Hunt asked New York Times correspondent and CNN analyst Maggie Haberman if former President Donald Trump’s remarks about a “breaking point” if he gets jail time amount to an incitement to violence.
The question of prison for Trump has been top of mind since the jury in the Stormy Daniels hush money trial returned “guilty” verdicts on all 34 felony counts last Thursday — and Judge Juan Merchan scheduled sentencing for July 11.
Trump came under fire when he told Fox News “I don’t know that the public would stand it, you know? I’m not sure the public would stand for it … I think it would be tough for the public to take. At a certain point, there’s a breaking point.”
Many took this as a veiled threat or invitation to violence.
On Tuesday morning’s edition of CNN This Morning, Hunt asked Haberman what she heard in those remarks, and Haberman compared them to Trump’s speech on Jan. 6:
MAGGIE HABERMAN: I should note, Kasie, he keeps insisting and his people keep insisting that President Biden is behind the Manhattan District attorney’s case against Trump. And there is absolutely no evidence for that.
KASIE HUNT: Yeah, no, it’s very, very important to underscore that, Maggie.
We also heard him talk about, he claimed he was okay with going to jail. I’m interested to hear you weigh in on that. But then he also said the public wouldn’t be, that there would be a breaking point.
What did you hear in the framing that he had there? Obviously, it’s already become a political, back and forth about whether he meant violence. I’m curious how you heard it.
MAGGIE HABERMAN: So two things. Number one, no, he does not want to go to jail. And he’s not okay with going to jail. There is nothing about his makeup. That is, I understand that he he has to. It feels like he feels like he has to say that because he believes in not showing any weakness. But no, he does want to go to jail. And I don’t know anybody who actually wants to go to jail.
Number one, number two, in terms of his language about people would be upset. It would be a breaking point. Number one, I think it’s true that there would be some kind of a reaction just based on what we have seen.
Although he has said things like that repeatedly, most notably in the lead up to the January 6th attack on the Capitol in 2021 by a pro-Trump mob. And we’ve seen less of that since.
Remember when he was indicted in this case in 2023? He openly called on people to protest against this indictment. And the results were pretty mild because the mass number of arrests that have taken place, of people who were somehow involved in what took place on January 6th has been a deterrent. We’ll see if that changes here if he is to be sentenced to jail.
Watch above via CNN This Morning.
