Trump is 'enjoying' his multiple legal battles and isn't afraid of going to prison, says former Trump Organization executive
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- A former Trump Organization executive thinks Donald Trump is "enjoying" fighting off his legal woes.
- Barbara Res says Trump is likely trying to "make the most of" his multiple legal battles.
- Res, who worked with Trump for 18 years, has been critical of him since he first entered politics.
A former Trump organization executive said she thinks former President Donald Trump isn't living in fear of being imprisoned and might actually be "enjoying" his many legal battles.
"He's feeling pressure but not the kind of pressure that a normal person would feel. I don't think he's fearing jail or anything like that," said Barbara Res, a former Trump Organization executive, told CNN's Fredricka Whitfield on Sunday. Res started working for the Trump Organization in 1980 and became an executive vice president at the company before she quit in 1998.
Res — speaking from her experience of working with Trump for 18 years — said he is likely attempting to "make the most of" his legal woes and riling up his supporters to "get some mileage" out of a possible indictment.
The former president would also never lay low the way high-profile figures typically might do when faced with legal trouble, she said.
"If there were any possibility that this could have a negative effect on him, he would immediately run to twist it around and just spin it, and that's what he's doing," she said, per clips of the interview seen by Insider.
"But he likes what he's doing. I think he's enjoying this to some extent," she said.
Trump faces a possible indictment from the Manhattan district attorney's office as it investigates his involvement in a hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. While no indictment has been confirmed, Trump has taken to social media to rail against the potential indictment, and wrongly predicted he'd be arrested on Tuesday.
The former president has warned of "potential death and destruction" if he is indicted and urged supporters to "PROTEST" and "TAKE BACK OUR NATION" in the event of his arrest.
Trump has also framed the New York investigation as an abuse of the justice system, and told reporters that he believed an indictment would boost his numbers in the 2024 election. He has even strategized about how he can maximize his publicity with a "perp walk" in New York, per The New York Times.
On CNN, Res said she thinks Trump's ego is front and center in his playbook for responding to the indictment.
"To an extent, his ego is always involved. The way he spins this somewhat involves the ego to the sense that he is so great, so powerful, so wonderful that his enemies are doing everything they could possibly do to bring him down but of course, they won't," she said.
Res, an engineer, worked closely with Trump on several of his construction projects before he became president, including the building of Trump Tower between 1980 and 1984.
In an interview with Insider's Natasha Solo-Lyons, Res shared how her time working with the billionaire revealed his true character, like his penchant for ignoring expert advice, and that he seemed to hire only people he thought would be loyal to him.
Res left the Trump Organization in 1998. She has been critical of Trump ever since he entered politics in 2016.
Representatives for Trump did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment sent outside regular business hours.