Trump Indictment Thread

There is news that the Manhattan District Attorney may indict Trump next week for paying hush money to a porn star (who I assume is Stormy Daniels). Trump could be indicated and prosecuted for several other crimes–crimes related to election interference (in Georgia) and refusing to return classified information. And there may be more. This is a thread track all of this.

One recommendation: when following these stories, to decide if an indictment is political, ask yourself the following questions: If any president behaves in the similar way, what would and should the reaction be?

According to WaPo, here’s what Trump posted on the Truth Social website:

“WILL BE ARRESTED ON TUESDAY OF NEXT WEEK. PROTEST, TAKE OUR NATION BACK!”

More from that article,

Meanwhile, Trump’s team has begun fundraising on the prospect of his arrest, after the FBI raid of his Mar-a-Lago home last year led to his best fundraising days since leaving the White House, The Washington Post reported.

“MANHATTAN D.A. COULD BE CLOSE TO CHARGING TRUMP,” one pitch Saturday morning read. “Patriot — With the Deep State gunning for President Trump with phony witch hunts like never before, we had to be sure you saw the *private and secure* message he wrote for YOU. See below!”

Trump and his team are preparing to go to “political war,” in the words of one adviser, to impugn the credibility of Bragg, Cohen and Daniels.

Later,

Trump also wants to force Republicans to defend him against the investigation publicly, the adviser said. 

Here’s a tweet from House Speaker, Kevin McCarthy today:

Here we go again — an outrageous abuse of power by a radical DA who lets violent criminals walk as he pursues political vengeance against President Trump. 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 will be culpable if violence breaks out. He’s fueling the idea that this a political attack on Trump. I believe he knows this is not true.

3 thoughts on “Trump Indictment Thread

  1. GOP threatens to defund the prosecutor as Trump indictment looms from NBC News

    “Your decision to pursue such a politically motivated prosecution—while adopting progressive criminal justice policies that allow career ‘criminals [to] run[ ] the streets’ of Manhattan — requires congressional scrutiny about how public safety funds appropriated by Congress are implemented by local law-enforcement agencies,” Reps. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, James Comer, R-Ky., and Bryan Steil, R-Wis., wrote to Bragg on Monday.

    Later,

    An aide to McCarthy, R-Calif., provided a copy of House Republicans’ 2022 “Commitment to America” agenda in response to a question about the difference between defunding the police and defunding a prosecutor. In it, Republicans promise to “oppose all efforts to defund the police” and “crack down on prosecutors who refuse to prosecute crime.”

    But, turning the argument on its head, Republicans are now applying pressure to get a prosecutor to avoid indicting Trump.

    (emphasis added)

    Rand Paul: Manhattan DA Bragg ‘Should Be Put in Jail’ If Trump Indicted from the National Review

    Republican Senator Rand Paul said Tuesday that progressive Manhattan prosecutor Alvin Bragg should be locked up for dereliction of duty if he indicts former president Trump surrounding a porn hush money scandal.
    “A Trump indictment would be a disgusting abuse of power. The DA should be put in jail,” the senator tweeted.

    From Mike Pence:

    I’m taken aback at the idea of indicting a former president of the United States, at a time when there’s a crime wave in New York City,” Pence said on ABC’s “This Week.” “The fact that the Manhattan DA thinks that indicting President Trump is his top priority, I think… just tells you everything you need to know about the radical left in this country.”

  2. Trump’s crazed social media posts

    A lot of things stand out, but I’ll mention one, which may be relatively minor–namely, the insistence on describing his phone call to Rafensberger as “perfect.” And this is the same descriptor he uses regarding his phone call to Zelensky, asking the latter for a favor (i.e., announce an investigation into Biden).

    Another from truth social site:

    EVERYBODY KNOWS I’M 100% INNOCENT, INCLUDING BRAGG, BUT HE DOESN’T CARE. HE IS JUST CARRYING OUT THE PLANS OF THE RADICAL LEFT LUNATICS. OUR COUNTRY IS BEING DESTROYED, AS THEY TELL US TO BE PEACEFUL!

    If we don’t see violence we will be very fortunate. All the congressional Republicans who are boosting Trump’s narrative (i.e., the DA’s are politicized) are also complicit in fomenting violence.

    3/24/2023

    According to the NYT, hours after that post, DA Alvin Bragg received a letter:

    …the district attorney’s office discovered a threatening letter addressed to Mr. Bragg containing white powder — later determined not to be dangerous — in its mailroom.

    The envelope in which it was sent was addressed to Mr. Bragg, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. The person said that inside the envelope was a single piece of white paper with a brief message containing the typewritten words “ALVIN: I AM GOING TO KILL YOU” followed by 13 exclamation points.

    Regarding the social media post with Trump holding a bat and a photo of DA Bragg next to it:

    (My understanding is that Trump took down his social media post featuring him holding a bat next to DA Alvin Bragg. I’m not sure if that’s going to get Trump off the hook, though.)

    My prediction: GOP enablers of Trump will continue to say reckless, inflammatory things, until someone of high status dies.

    Missed this one from yesterday:

    (Note: I went to truth social to verify it was posted there.)

    Trump’s referring to an African-American DA as an “animal.”

    Here’s another on Trump post on Truth Social from yesterday:

    The District Attorney’s Office under Alvin Bragg is allowing Violent Crime to flourish in New York City, like never before, while he spends all of his time making his Office, which is in total chaos, trying to find anything on “Trump.” He is doing the work of Anarchists and the Devil, who want our Country to fail. The “Horseface” agenda is dead, even by the most Radical Left Haters, but he doesn’t care, he wants to go with it anyway.

    Equating DA’s office with “Anarchists and the Devil.” More incitement of violence.

  3. Trump Indicted by New York Grand Jury from WaPo

    Here’s what Trump said about that Grand Jury yesterday:

    (He thought they were going to recess for a month.)

    Here’s Governor DeSantis’s response:

    The NYT has other reactions from the right:

    Mike Pence to CNN:

    “The unprecedented indictment of a former president of the United States on a campaign finance issue is an outrage.”

    Tucker Carlson

    “…the ruling showed it was “probably not the best time to give up your AR-15s.”

    “The rule of law appears to be suspended tonight — not just for Trump, but for anyone who would consider voting for him,…”

    Jesse Waters on Fox News:

    “the country is not going to stand for it,” adding: “And people better be careful. And that’s all I’ll say about that.”

    Governor Glenn Younkin on twitter:

    “arresting a presidential candidate on a manufactured basis should not happen in America.”

    Speaker McCarthy:

    Mr. Bragg had “irreparably damaged our country in an attempt to interfere in our presidential election.”

    “As he routinely frees violent criminals to terrorize the public, he weaponized our sacred system of justice against President Donald Trump,” Mr. McCarthy wrote on Twitter. “The American people will not tolerate this injustice, and the House of Representatives will hold Alvin Bragg and his unprecedented abuse of power to account.”

    Sen. Ron Johnson:

    Trump’s social media post:

    In contrast to the responses above, here’s a normal, responsible response from a former Republican governor:


    Personal reaction

    First, I want to say that indicting a former president is highly problematic and not a good day for our country, at least on one level. On the other hand, if this indictment is justified, then sending the message, no one is above the law, is good thing for the country and the world.

    However, it’s important to say that Congress should have impeached and removed President Trump. That was the appropriate means of dealing with Trump. I really believe the Founding Fathers designed a system to protect the nation against someone like Trump. Impeachment and removal was the one of the key means to do so, and the Republicans to due their duty to protect the Constitution in my view.

    But since that hasn’t happened the burden now falls on the Third Branch to hold Trump accountable. Again, that is highly problematic. The precedent is set that former POTUS’s can be indicted. This is not to say that I believe they should never be indicted, but it’s not a good thing, even if it may be necessary.

    And that leads another point: Bragg better have a really, really strong case. The evidence has to be strong. His decision should not only fit with past practice, but should the evidence and circumstances should be even stronger. I hope this is the case.

    Finally, I’m sickened by the reaction from conservatives and the GOP–particularly those who do not believe what they’re saying. Incitement of violence by politicians has been totally normalized. I predict they won’t stop until a politician dies (and I actually wonder if that will do it).

    (Addendum: The GOP’s playbook includes referencing George Soros, as a puppet master behind Bragg. This is too close to anti-semitic tropes about the conspiracy that Jewish financiers control the world. These politicians at best are being reckless and possibly anti-semitic.)

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