Arrest to rally support
Trump says ‘perp walk’ will boost his campaign
Donald Trump hopes to be paraded in handcuffs if he is arrested over alleged hush money payments to a former porn star as it might boost his presidential campaign, according to friends.
An indictment in the case, which could come as early as Thursday (local time), would mean Mr Trump is likely to appear in court next week. It would be the first time a sitting or former US president has faced criminal charges.
Mr Trump, 76, has told friends he is looking forward to a “perp walk”. Many suspects in criminal cases in the US are photographed wearing handcuffs and flanked by police officers when appearing in court.
Most defendants say it undermines the presumption of innocence but Mr Trump is understood to have told aides he relishes the prospect. The former president’s calculation is that being pictured in handcuffs at the behest of the government would galvanise his supporters.
At rallies and during speeches, Mr Trump regularly attacks what he calls the “deep state” – a collection of government departments, the judicial system and elements of the media he claims opposes his return to office.
In an email to supporters this week, which asked for campaign contributions, Mr Trump said: “I think the Democrats have settled on their new mantra for 2024 – ‘If you can’t beat Trump, then lie, cheat, steal and lock him up.’
“There truly is no low, no witch hunt, that the radical Left, the Deep State, and the globalist cabal won’t use to try and destroy our MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement.”
The case, brought by Alvin Bragg, the Democrat district attorney for Manhattan, relates to payments made by Mr Trump’s then lawyer to Stormy Daniels, 44, who claims she had an affair with the former president. She was given $130,000 in the run up to the 2016 presidential election. Mr Trump denies the affair and knowledge of the payment.
Mr Bragg’s team will try to prove that Mr Trump knew the payments breached federal election campaign laws.
Mr Trump has been quick to cash in on the looming indictment by issuing several fundraising emails.
In a video on Truth Social, the media platform he created, Mr Trump said: “If you are doing poorly, as so many of you are, do not send anything. If you are doing well, which was made possible through the great policies of the Trump administration, send your contribution.”
While Mr Trump remains defiant, other legal troubles are mounting. In a sealed filing, a federal judge wrote that prosecutors for Jack Smith, the special counsel who is conducting parallel investigations into Mr Trump on behalf of the US
Justice Department, had presented “compelling evidence” that the former president misled his own lawyers about keeping classified government documents after he left office.