Donald Trump 'Couldn't Handle' One Night in Jail: Mary Trump

Donald Trump's estranged niece believes the former president "couldn't handle" jail for one night.

In her Substack newsletter, Mary Trump, a vocal critic of her uncle, wrote about the former president's New York criminal hush money trial: "In the last hearing, the prosecution suggested that Donald was actually angling to go to jail. I find that hard to believe.

"He may like to portray himself as a tough guy, but imagine him alone in a cell, cut off from the world, without his phone. He couldn't handle it for one night," the psychologist wrote.

Newsweek has reached out to Donald Trump for comment via email.

Trump, the presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee, is accused of falsifying business records by allegedly making a hush money payment to adult film actor Stormy Daniels in the leadup to the 2016 presidential election. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office claims that the payment was made to stop Daniels from speaking out about an alleged affair she said she had with Trump in 2006.

Trump pleaded not guilty to all 34 charges and denies having the affair.

The former president was fined $9,000 on Tuesday after being found in contempt of court. Judge Juan Merchan, who is presiding over the hush money trial, determined that Trumphad violated a gag order that prevents him from speaking publicly or online about people involved in the case.

Trump was fined $1,000 per violation. Merchan said that if the politician continues to violate the gag order, then jail time would be considered.

This is the second time in recent weeks that Mary Trump has doubted her uncle's ability to withstand prison. On The Back Room podcast with Andy Ostroy, the 59-year-old suggested the business mogul is not coping well with his New York criminal trial, describing the Republican as "dissolving before our eyes."

"It was so demoralizing when the prosecution stood up in front of Justice Merchan and opened with 'we're not asking for jail time, because we know that's what Donald Trump is angling for,'" Mary Trump told Ostroy on April 27.

"Who cares what he's angling for? If it riles up his ever-shrinking face, who cares if it benefits him in some way? It doesn't matter."

She continued: "You seriously think that guy—ya know, Mr. Hair Product and Bronzer—wants to be in a jail cell overnight?" Mary Trump continued. "Without any of his products and without his cell phone?

"Are you kidding? Imagine what he's going to look like in the morning?"

Following reports that Trump fell asleep during the first day of the trial, Mary Trump accused the real estate magnate of showing "contempt" for the jury.

"What message does it send everybody else in the courtroom that he can't be bothered to keep his eyes open?" the 58-year-old wrote in her newsletter on April 25.

In 2020, Mary Trump published a book on her uncle and the Trump family. Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man was a best-seller, with 1.35 million copies sold in the first week alone.