For all his bluster, former President Donald Trump is genuinely terrified of spending a night in jail for contempt of court because of his germophobia, his ex-aide Sarah Matthews told CNN's Jim Acosta on Wednesday.
This comes after Judge Juan Merchan has repeatedly warned the former president he is risking imprisonment if he continues to violate the gag order in the Manhattan criminal hush money case by publicly attacking witnesses and jurors — and Trump appears to have noticed this, deleting a post on Truth Social Tuesday complaining about the trial after he learned adult film star Stormy Daniels would be testifying.
"You worked for the former president," said Acosta. "How much do you think his attorneys are just sort of waiting to see if the volcano explodes today? I mean, he's — as we were just saying, he's on thin ice, if he tweets the wrong thing or posts the wrong thing, I mean, it can land them in jail. They have to be worried. And what do you think is going through Trump's mind right now after all that testimony yesterday?"
Matthews concurred. "Yeah, I certainly wouldn't want to be working on his campaign team or be one of his attorneys right now, just given, I think, that he's more than certainly lashing out at them, he's upset after that testimony."
The testimony yesterday rattled Trump, argued Matthews, particularly all the scandalous details Daniels testified about their sexual encounter and about the problems in his marriage at the time of their alleged affair. "He was definitely upset and we saw that," said Matthews.
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"The judge had to warn his lawyers to tell the defendant to stop shaking his head and swearing under his breath and things like that. So I think he definitely is on thin ice with the judge."
That said, she added, "I don't know if we'll see Donald Trump break the gag order again. I think that he is worried about going to jail. Look, he's a germophobe. I don't think he wants to go to jail, honestly" — in spite of his public boasts that he's willing to 'make that sacrifice.'
"I'm not buying it. I think it's a show of force, he wants to appear tough and strong to his supporters ... I have to imagine he is worried about doing jail time."
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