If I get charged, that’s the crime, says former president

Former President Donald Trump Wednesday denounced as a “crime” the investigation into his hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels as a potential indictment looms in the case.

As a Manhattan grand jury prepared to meet again, Trump insisted that he is the real victim in the explosive case.

“The crime would be if I get charged!!!” Trump wrote on his social media site.

Trump derided Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg as a “rogue prosecutor” with a political ax to grind.

“[Bragg] is attempting to build a case that has never been brought before and actually can’t be brought,” he added.

Trump remained holed up in his Florida resort home as a New York grand jury mulls handing up a historic indictment that would mark the first time a U.S. president or former president has been charged with a crime.

He was reportedly focused on the optics of his impending indictment as a decision nears on charging him in New York.

The former president has told several aides that he wants to be handcuffed during his criminal processing to avoid any perception that he is receiving special treatment from authorities, The Guardian reported.

Images of Trump in handcuffs may also rile up his legions of loyal supporters who believe he is being unjustly persecuted.

Even as he faces potential infamy as the first president to be criminally charged, Trump has used the hush money case to force Republicans to mostly unite behind him in criticizing Bragg and Democrats for supposedly unfairly targeting him.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who polls say would be Trump’s most potent rival in a GOP presidential primary, slammed the prosecution but also dinged Trump for getting involved in the unseemly drama in the first place.