"Trump Claims He Isn't Concerned About Potential Jail Time: 'It Doesn't Cross My Mind'"

By NBC News
Posted on 09/18/23 | News Source: NBC News

Former President Donald Trump isn't losing sleep over the prospect that he could end up behind bars, he said in an exclusive interview with NBC's "Meet the Press" moderator Kristen Welker.

"I don't even think about it," Trump, who has been indicted four times this year, said when asked if he worries about prison at night. "I'm built a little differently I guess, because I have had people come up to me and say, 'How do you do it, sir? How do you do it?' I don't even think about it."

Later in the interview, which was recorded Thursday at Trump's Bedminster golf club and which airs Sunday on NBC affiliates, the former president returned to the question.

"When you say, do I lose sleep? I sleep," he said. "I sleep. Because I truly feel that, in the end, we're going to win."

NBC News has also extended an invitation to President Joe Biden to sit down with Welker for an interview.

Trump, who is running far ahead of his competitors for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, offered his most extensive remarks on Jan. 6 and the peril he faces from charges that his retention of classified documents and failed attempts to overturn the 2020 election were illegal.

He took responsibility for the decision to try to reverse his loss.

"We have many people, and it’s my choice,” he said at one point, later adding, “It was my decision. But I listened to some people.”

He said he did not heed advice from top administration and campaign lawyers who told him he had lost the election "because I didn't respect them as lawyers."

When Welker noted that he had hired them, Trump portrayed them as turncoats — Republicans in name only.

"They turn out to be RINOs, or they turn out to be not so good, in many cases, I didn't respect them," he said. "But I did respect others. I respected many others that said the election was rigged."