Former President Donald Trump has some concerns about being sent to jail amid his criminal trial in New York, according to lawyer Alina Habba, his “legal adviser.”
Trump is on trial in Manhattan, facing 34 felony charges accusing him of falsifying business records to conceal payment of hush money to former adult-film actress Stephanie Clifford, also known as Stormy Daniels, during his 2016 presidential campaign. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
In addition to a possible prison sentence if convicted at the conclusion of the trial, the former president could also face up to one month in jail if he’s ruled in contempt of court over alleged violations of a gag order imposed on him by New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan.
During a Tuesday interview with Fox News host Martha MacCallum, Habba—who is not representing Trump in the criminal trial but now serves as his adviser—at first answered “no” when asked whether the ex-president was “concerned” about jail.
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Habba then conceded that Trump was concerned, before claiming the ex-president would “be like Nelson Mandela,” the South African president and anti-apartheid activist who was imprisoned for decades before rising to power, if he is sent to jail for 30 days over a gag order violation.
“I think, like anybody, he’s concerned about going to jail,” Habba said. “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. And frankly, they’ll win him the election.”
Newsweek reached out for comment to Trump’s office via email on Tuesday night.
One day earlier, conservative lawyer and Trump ally Mike Davis also suggested that attempting to jail the former president would transform him into a Mandela-like figure and help him defeat President Joe Biden in this year’s presidential election.
“When the American people tune into this and see that they’re trying to imprison the leading presidential candidate for the rest of his life … This is not going to end well for Biden,” Davis said during an interview on right-wing streaming show Human Events Daily.
“It’s gonna make President Trump Nelson Mandela,” he continued. “It’s gonna put President Trump back in the White House.”
Trump has repeatedly compared himself to the Nobel Peace Prize-winning civil rights icon over his recent legal troubles, telling his supporters at an October rally in New Hampshire that he did not “mind being Nelson Mandela.”
“I don’t mind being Nelson Mandela, because I’m doing it for a reason,” Trump said. “We’ve got to save our country from these fascists, these lunatics that we’re dealing with. They’re horrible people and they’re destroying our country.”
Trump made the comparison again this month in a post to Truth Social, writing that it would be his “great honor” to “become modern day Nelson Mandela” by being jailed for speaking “the open and obvious truth.”
According to former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen’s 2020 book Disloyal, Trump said the following about Mandela following his death in 2013: “Mandela f****d the whole country up. Now it’s a s***hole. F*** Mandela. He was no leader.” The Trump White House disputed that the remarks were made.
South Africa’s governing political party, the African National Congress (ANC)—of which Mandela was a member— released a statement at the time condemning Trump as the most “divisive, misogynistic and disrespectful person” to ever serve as U.S. president.
“All freedom-loving people of the world are appalled by these insults, which come from a person who himself is not a model of competent leadership,” the ANC wrote. “The mark of a true leader is not how many enemies you create but how many friendships you cultivate, even where strong differences of opinion exist.”
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.