Trump warns prison sentence for hush money conviction could be 'breaking point' for his supporters

Donald Trump said he would accept home confinement or a prison sentence after his historic conviction by a New York jury last week, but that would be difficult for the public to accept.

“I'm not sure the public would accept it,” the Republican presidential candidate said on Fox News in an interview broadcast Sunday. “I think it would be difficult for the public to accept. You know, at some point there's a breaking point.

A jury on Thursday found Trump guilty of 34 counts of falsifying documents to conceal a payment intended to silence a porn star before the 2016 election.

When asked what Trump supporters should do if he were imprisoned, Republican National Committee co-chair Lara Trump told CNN: “Well, they're going to do what they did from the beginning, that is to say remaining calm and protesting in front of the polls. November 5. There is nothing you can do but make your voice heard loud and clear and oppose this.”

The RNC and the Trump campaign raised $70 million in the 48 hours after the verdict, Lara Trump said, a figure Reuters could not independently verify. When asked how much would be used to pay legal fees rather than run the campaign, she declined to answer.

At least one Democratic lawmaker expressed concern Sunday that Trump supporters might react violently to his conviction.

“His base listens to him. They don't listen to Lara Trump. And this is another dangerous call for violence,” Democratic US Representative Adam Schiff told CNN.

But U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Trump ally, said any response must be legal.

“We are the party of the rule of law – chaos is not a conservative value. We must fight back and we will do so with all our arsenal. But we do it within the rule of law,” Johnson told Fox News on Sunday.

Trump's lawyer, Will Scharf, told ABC News: This week that he does not expect Trump “to end up being subject to any punishment” and that he plans to take the case to the Supreme Court.

Biden, meanwhile, sought to defend the nation's justice system, saying it was “reckless” and “dangerous” to call the verdict “rigged.” The US Department of Justice denies any political interference.