Trump’s rhetoric is all too familiar
Former President Donald Trump may be indicted this week, a new national nadir and a first for any U.S. president, in or out of office. In a social media post with a dark undertone of potential volatility, Trump has echoed his call to action on Jan. 6, 2021, when insurrectionists stormed the Capitol in a failed attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Trump has said he thinks he will be arrested this week for his handling of a hush-money payment in the 2016 presidential campaign to the porn star Stormy Daniels, with whom he allegedly had an affair. It remains unclear if (or when) this will happen. What has been reported is Manhattan prosecutors have invited Trump to testify before a grand jury, which typically marks the end of an investigation.
Trump has already fundraised off the potential legal jeopardy, and he has deployed rhetoric reminiscent of Jan. 6, 2021, when he told his supporters to fight “like hell.” They did, assaulting the Capitol in one of the saddest, most horrific episodes in American history
On Saturday, Trump took to his Truth Social platform to invoke similar language: “THE FAR & AWAY LEADING REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE AND FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, WILL BE ARRESTED ON TUESDAY OF NEXT WEEK. PROTEST, TAKE OUR NATION BACK!”
The former president sparked the Capitol riot with his “Big Lie” about election fraud. More than two years later, the lie endures thanks to misinformation and a pliant news media (see Fox
News and the 2020 presidential election results).
Trump has offered no evidence for his prediction. Prosecutors have invited the ex-president to testify in their investigation of a $130,000 payment to Daniels. The question is whether this is a violation of campaign finance laws. Trump, who has denied the affair, reacted to the invitation with rage, anxiety and a thirst for retribution.
Prosecutors have not publicly responded to the social media post, although requests to testify are usually a prelude to an indictment. No timetable has been set for an announcement on their decision. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg tried to assure staff members, in private, that they will be safe.
“We do not tolerate attempts to intimidate our office or threaten the rule of law in New York,” Bragg said in a memo to office staff obtained by NBC News.
Legal experts believe Trump would have been indicted during the initial trial in 2018, when his lawyer and “fixer,” Michael Cohen, received a three-year prison sentence. Trump pleaded executive privilege in that case, but President Trump is now Citizen Trump.
If an indictment is handed down, Trump attorneys said the former president would not resist arrest. Law experts say he could continue to run for president while under indictment, and some observers believe his legal problems could animate his base. There are also questions about what could be an unprecedented approach to the prosecution given the national implications.
Some Republican officials are defending the ex-president, including House Speaker Kevin Mccarthy, who called the investigation “an outrageous abuse” of power.
“I’m directing relevant committees to immediately investigate if federal funds are being used to subvert our democracy by interfering in elections with politically motivated prosecutions,” Mccarthy said.
This reflects one of the challenges of the moment. Any indictment will be framed as politically motivated in advance of the 2024 presidential election, but if that is where the law leads, then it is where it must go. It is not the legal system that threatens to destabilize our nation.
As for Trump and his social media posts, we pray his call for protest does not incite violence.
Former president invokes Jan. 6 in response to possible indictment