Alina Habba: Trump ‘Will Be Like Nelson Mandela’ if Jailed for Contempt
Donald Trump’s attorney Alina Habba said on Tuesday that if the former president is jailed for violating a limited gag order imposed on him in his hush-money criminal trial, he would “be like Nelson Mandela.”
Habba’s straight-faced invocation of the former South African president who spent 27 years in prison for his anti-apartheid activism mirrors Trump’s own recent rhetoric, in which he’s repeatedly used his criminal cases to portray himself as a martyr.
In a court filing on Tuesday, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office asked Judge Juan Merchan to hold the ex-president in contempt for repeatedly using social media to disparage two of the witnesses in his criminal trial—former Trump fixer Michael Cohen and ex-porn star Stormy Daniels. A gag order imposed by Merchan bans the former president from publicly attacking trial witnesses, as well as family members of the judge and prosecutors.