Former President Donald Trump said his youngest son, Barron, has struggled amid the fallout of the New York criminal trial.
In an interview with Phil McGraw, known as “Dr. Phil,” the former president answered questions about how the jury’s guilty verdict impacted his family.
Referring to the allegations, the former president said that his son “doesn’t say it, and I think he doesn’t say it because he doesn’t want to hurt me, and he thinks it’s possibly a hurtful conversation.”
“But it has to affect my family, and I think that’s really very unfair. Because I have a very good family; I have good kids, I have a wonderful wife,” he added, again describing the case against him as consisting of “fake” allegations.
“It certainly is not a good thing. It affects me more than it would if it were just about me, I wish it would be just about me,” he added.
During an interview several days ago with Fox News, the former president made similar statements, particularly about his wife, former First Lady Melania Trump, after the conviction was handed down on May 30.
In that interview, the former president said that Mrs. Melania Trump is doing “fine” but added that the trial was “very hard for her.” He added, “It’s tougher, I think it’s probably in many ways, it’s tougher on my family than it is on me”
The former president was found guilty last week of 34 counts of falsifying business records. Prosecutors alleged he fraudulently misclassified payments to Stephanie Clifford, better known as adult entertainer Stormy Daniels.
He denied the allegations and pleaded not guilty, later vowing to appeal the guilty verdict that was handed down.
Neither Mrs. Melania Trump nor Mr. Barron Trump appeared at the courthouse during the several-week-long trial in Manhattan. However, in late May, the former president and former first lady attended a graduation event for their son in Palm Beach, Florida, after the judge overseeing the case allowed him to take a court day off to attend.
That same judge, Justice Juan Merchan, set a sentencing date for former President Trump of July 11, or about four days before the start of the Republican National Convention.
When asked during a press conference last week, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg did not say whether he would seek a prison term for the former president. Justice Merchan has also not made any public indication of how he will respond.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the U.S. Secret Service reaffirmed that it has a duty to protect current and former presidents in light of the conviction and potential prison sentence.
On Thursday, while speaking at an Arizona event organized by Turning Point USA, former President Trump called on appeals courts to “step up and straighten things out” in his New York case “or we’re not going to have a country anymore,” according to a live stream of the event. In recent days, he has also called on the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene before the sentencing date.
The Trump campaign reported that he hauled in tens of millions of dollars in donations in the aftermath of his conviction.
