1 week ago
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Donald Trump's team is game planning how to continue campaigning if the former president ends up in jail or home confinement.
While Trump doesn't necessarily want to go to jail, he has suggested he sees himself as a martyr for his supporters and would only have that view exacerbated if ordered to report to the cell.
The biggest change would be a suspension of Trump's ability to travel the country and hold his signature large-scale campaign rallies.
'Over the past couple of months, everybody has come to the realization that [it's a possibility], and thought about what must be done,' a person close to the campaign told Semafor regarding strategy if Trump is jailed. 'These are all professionals.'
If Trump is pulled from the campaign trail because he is put behind bars, his campaign will likely deploy his surrogates and decry even louder that the sentencing is further proof of 'election interference.'
Donald Trump's team is considering how to restructure the campaign if the former president is put behind bars or placed on home confinement in the hush money case
Judge Juan Merchan (depicted in a court sketch on May 3) found Trump in contempt Monday for violating his gag order, fined him $1,000 and warned of jail time if he violates it again. Last week Trump was fined $9,000 – $1,000 for each of the nine violations
Trump's supporters, most polls show, won't be deterred if Trump is convicted of a crime and sentenced to jail time. An ABC survey released on Sunday shows 80% of the former president's backers wouldn't change their vote in November if their candidate is convicted.
Judge Juan Merchan has already admitted he is reluctant to issue jail time to the former president, calling it a 'last resort,' so Trump's team is also exploring how he would continue campaigning for 2024 if placed on home confinement.
The campaign would almost certainly scale up its fundraising messages, asking supporters to donate money to help Trump 'defend democracy.'
Some aides believe that any restrictions put on the former president would only serve his messaging that the trials are politically motivated and ways to derail his 2024 presidential campaign.
In the hush money trial on Monday, Judge Merchan found Trump in contempt for again violating his gag order and fined him $1,000. Last week he was fined $9,000 – $1,000 for each of the nine violations.
ABC News/Ipsos poll released on Sunday reveals 80% of Trump's supporters would continue to back the ex-president in 2024 if he is convicted of a crime
'It appears that the $1,000 fines are not serving as a deterrent,' the judge said on Monday before jurors were brought into the room. 'Therefore going forward, this court will have to consider a jail sanction.'
Trump glared at the judge as he handed down the ruling on Monday, then shook his head twice and crossed his arms after he was done speaking and warning about jail time.
It's highly unlikely that Trump will remain silent both when speaking to the media and on his Truth Social account, which makes the possibility of punishment beyond fines almost unavoidable.
Most obvious to Trump's team is that no matter the punishment, the former president would still take lead on the messaging.
Since it's unlikely that Trump will stop speaking to media and posting to Truth Social about the trial, there is a chance he will face time behind bars for repeatedly violating his gag order
The biggest change to Trump's 2024 strategy if he is put in a call is that he would need to suspend his signature campaign rallies
Trump's team argues the gag order is unconstitutional.
After Monday's ruling handing down the 10th violation of the gag order banning Trump from speaking about the trial and his subjects, the former president's spokesman Steven Cheung accused Judge Juan Merchan of being 'a partisan operative.'
'The threat to throw in jail the 45th President of the United States and the leading candidate in the 2024 Presidential Election for exercising his First Amendment rights is a Third World Authoritarian tactic typical of Crooked Joe Biden and his comrades,' Cheung said.
