'Now you will go to jail': Conservative lawyer shows how judge could crack down on Trump
Former President Donald Trump should be thrown in jail if he does not immediately cease his attacks on jurors and witnesses in the Manhattan hush money trial, conservative attorney George Conway urged on MSNBC Thursday evening.
The former president was already hit with $9,000 in contempt fines by Judge Juan Merchan earlier this week following a hearing on his violations of the gag order, and Merchan warned at the time that he wasn't above sending Trump to jail as punishment for repeat offenses. He should be willing to follow through on that, Conway said.
"We talked a little about the psychology of prosecutors, the psychology of Trump here, right — because we can't operate like this is just a normal person worried about consequences. Does he want to be reprimanded?" asked host and former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki. "Is this kind of the goal so he can go campaign on it?"
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"I don't think he thinks that strategically," said Conway. "I think he acts the way narcissists are basically programmed, especially narcissists and sociopaths. They deny, attack. They reverse the victim and offender. You hear psychologists talk about narcissistic abusers. Basically what they say to victims is, look at what you made me do to you. He did it to the country, he is doing it to the judge, doing it to the witnesses in the case and you know it is this reptilian instinct of his. I think what the judge has to do is impose some more fines of $2,000 or $3,000 or whatever, and say, this is it."
"Now you will go to jail," cut in his co-panelist, former federal prosecutor Mary McCord.
"This is it," said Conway. "We've gone through this twice. The next time we come back with anything similar to what I had before with these fines, you are going to spend an hour on the bus going up to Rikers."