Mary Trump, former President Trump’s niece, expressed mixed confidence that her uncle will be convicted in court, suggesting there is “always a way out for him,” as his criminal hush money trial continues in New York.
“I think the real split screen we need to think about is Donald Trump, presidential candidate for the Republican Party and Donald Trump, anti-American authoritarian wannabe,” Mary said in an inteview on MSNBC.
“And the problem is that we’re seeing that these are being treated as two entirely different people. It’s as if the fact that he is a criminal defendant, the fact that he committed alleged crimes against the United States of America have no impact whatsoever on his relevance or his standing as a candidate for the presidency.”
She continued, saying that she finds it “really troubling because it seems that there’s always a way out for him. There’s always somebody willing to bail him out. Even if it looks like there’s no escape…. And I don’t know it worries me quite honestly that as deep the trouble is that he’s in, it may not be enough.”
Trump on Thursday was back in court in Manhattan, where he faces 34 counts of falsifying business records. The charges are centered on a hush money payment Trump’s ex-fixer and onetime attorney Michael Cohen made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in 2016 to stay quiet about an alleged affair with Trump.
Last week, the trial heard testimony from media-mogul David Peck, the ex-National Enquirer publisher who allegedly worked as the “eyes and ears” for Trump’s 2016 campaign before taking a closer look this week into the paperwork behind the charges.
Trump’s niece said she does not want to get “too excited” since the trial is still in “early days,” when asked by MSNBC how it feels to see her uncle face “accountability.”
She argued Trump has been able to “normalize outrageous, egregious behavior,” and make outlandish remarks without any proper liability.
“This is a trend that’s been happening for decades now. Donald is incredibly good at pushing the envelope and pulling back in those rare instances in which he gets pushed back. But usually what happens is he pushes the envelope, he breaks norms, he defies expectations, and he gets away with it,” Mary said. “So being who he is, he pushes the envelope some more to see what else he can get away with.”
Mary has been a staunch critic of her uncle in recent months, and published a book titled “Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man.”
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