Trump charge will be abuse of power, say Republicans
Former president says he expects to be arrested on Tuesday over hush money for adult film actress
REPUBLICANS rallied around Donald Trump last night, accusing New York prosecutors reportedly planning to indict the former president of an “outrageous abuse of power”.
Mr Trump said he expected to be arrested on Tuesday as the Manhattan district attorney’s office considers charges over an alleged hush money payment given to pornstar Stormy Daniels in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election.
Mr Trump, a leading candidate for the 2024 GOP nomination, urged supporters in a Saturday morning post on his Truth Social website to take to the streets in demonstration, writing: “We must save America! Protest, protest, protest!!!”
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said that he was directing relevant committees to investigate whether federal funds are being used to further what he called a politically motivated prosecution by the Democrats. “An outrageous abuse of power by a radical DA,” Mr McCarthy tweeted, referring to Alvin Bragg. Despite recent strong criticism of Mr Trump, Mike Pence, his vice-president and 2024 hopeful, told SiriusXM: “It reeks of political prosecution. “You have a Democratic Party that has literally dismantled the criminal system in that city.”
Lawyers for the Florida-based businessman said he would comply with any legal order, while sources close to his team briefed CNN that he would present himself to the New York court and expressed an interest in making a speech after. They had reportedly privately urged Mr Trump not to call on protesters to demonstrate, fearing the optics on the streets of Manhattan. If indicted, it would make Mr Trump the first former president ever to face criminal charges. In a fundraising email sent out later to his followers, Mr Trump, 76, claimed such a move was not only aimed at him, but “at stopping the one political movement that promises to give citizens like YOU a voice in your own country”. Mr Trump’s call for protests echoed his appeal to supporters to march to the US Capitol on Jan 6 2021 to stop the certification of the 2020 election for Joe Biden, which ended as a deadly riot.
“Having seen what happened on January 6, I think this is potentially very dangerous,” John Bolton, the former national security adviser in the Trump administration, said of Mr Trump’s comments. “I hope prosecutors in New York are very, very sure of their case.” His arrest could galvanise voters, who see the presidential candidate as the victim of a witch-hunt.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk, meanwhile, stated that if he was to be charged, Mr Trump would “be re-elected in a landslide victory”.
There has been no public announcement of any timeframe for the Manhattan grand jury’s secret work, including any potential vote on whether to indict the former president. Jurors have one more witness to hear from tomorrow, which makes it unlikely they will return a decision by Tuesday.
The grand jury has been hearing from witnesses, including Michael Cohen, Mr Trump’s lawyer and longtime fixer, who testified last week that
he orchestrated payments in 2016 to two women to silence them about sexual encounters they said they had with the former president a decade earlier.
Mr Cohen has said that at his former client’s direction, he arranged payments totalling $280,000 (£230,000) to Ms Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, and Playboy model Karen McDougal.