James Comey says Donald Trump is 'begging for a jail term' with his personal attacks on Judge Merchan

• Trump was found guilty of 34 felonies in his hush-money case and is set to be sentenced July 11.
• James Comey told CNN that usually, a white-collar crime like this wouldn't end in a prison sentence.

Usually, a white-collar offense, like the 34 felonies former President Donald Trump was convicted of in his hush-money case, wouldn't warrant a prison sentence, former FBI director James Comey told CNN in a Tuesday interview.

"But this is a defendant who's begging for a jail term by taking a flamethrower, not just to the judge, but to the entire process and the jury," Comey said. "A judge will take that very seriously into consideration when deciding whether to deter this person and to send a message more broadly, that he needs to spend some time behind bars."

Trump is set to be sentenced on July 11 by Judge Juan Merchan. Merchan, the judge's family, as well as witnesses in the case, were frequent targets of Trump's ire during the course of the proceedings — and it's likely Merchan will take that into consideration when sentencing the former president, Comey, speaking to CNN's Kaitlan Collins, said.

Comey said the personal attacks, as well as Merchan's finding that Trump had acted in contempt of the court's orders on multiple occasions, "all of that will be part of the picture that the judge looks at to decide whether a message needs to be sent that involves jail."

Representatives for Comey and the Trump campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.