Willie R. Tubbs, FISM News
For the first time in America’s history, a former president has been charged with a crime.
Thursday, the grand jury that had been working at the behest of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg indicted former President Donald Trump, a 2024 presidential hopeful, with as many as 30 crimes related to business fraud.
Bragg’s office, as of this writing, had confirmed only that an indictment had been filed under seal. CNN, however, reported the number of potential crimes with which Trump has been connected.
“This evening we contacted Mr. Trump’s attorney to coordinate his surrender to the Manhattan D.A.’s Office for arraignment on a Supreme Court indictment, which remains under seal,” a spokesperson for the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said in a statement Thursday. “Guidance will be provided when the arraignment date is selected.”
Investigators in Manhattan have spent years investigating Trump for alleged payments of hush money to, most prominently, adult actress Stormy Daniels as well as other women in the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election.
Trump’s former attorney, Michael Cohen, has attested that Trump was connected to a $130,000 payment to Daniel as well as a less-discussed $150,000 payment to former Playboy model Karen McDougal.
“This is Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history,” Trump said in a statement. “From the time I came down the golden escalator at Trump Tower, and even before I was sworn in as your President of the United States, the Radical Left Democrats – the enemy of the hard-working men and women of this Country – have been engaged in a Witch-Hunt to destroy the Make America Great Again movement. You remember it just like I do: Russia, Russia, Russia; the Mueller Hoax; Ukraine, Ukraine, Ukraine; Impeachment Hoax 1; Impeachment Hoax 2; the illegal and unconstitutional Mar-a-Lago raid; and now this.
“The Democrats have lied, cheated and stolen in their obsession with trying to ‘Get Trump,’ but now they’ve done the unthinkable – indicting a completely innocent person in an act of blatant Election Interference.”
Trump added that he expected the effort to “backfire” on the left, a likely allusion to the fact that Trump has experienced his biggest leaps in popularity, at least among Republicans, when conservatives view the former president as unjustly attacked by local, state, or federal power structures.
“Never before in our Nation’s history has this been done,” Trump said. “The Democrats have cheated countless times over the decades, including spying on my campaign, but weaponizing our justice system to punish a political opponent, who just so happens to be a President of the United States and by far the leading Republican candidate for President, has never happened before. Ever.
“Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, who was hand-picked and funded by George Soros, is a disgrace. Rather than stopping the unprecedented crime wave taking over New York City, he’s doing Joe Biden’s dirty work, ignoring the murders and burglaries and assaults he should be focused on. This is how Bragg spends his time!”
It is unclear how or if Trump will turn himself in, or how he will be arrested, processed, and arraigned.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, the highest-ranking official in the state in which Trump lives, has already promised to not extradite Trump to New York if requested. And, although Trump is unlikely to express much (if any) gratitude toward his expected top rival for the Republican bid, DeSantis has rallied behind the former president.
“The weaponization of the legal system to advance a political agenda turns the rule of law on its head,” DeSantis tweeted. “It is un-American. The Soros-backed Manhattan District Attorney has consistently bent the law to downgrade felonies and to excuse criminal misconduct. Yet, now he is stretching the law to target a political opponent.
“Florida will not assist in an extradition request given the questionable circumstances at issue with this Soros-backed Manhattan prosecutor and his political agenda.”
The weaponization of the legal system to advance a political agenda turns the rule of law on its head.
It is un-American.
The Soros-backed Manhattan District Attorney has consistently bent the law to downgrade felonies and to excuse criminal misconduct. Yet, now he is…
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) March 30, 2023
As reported by Reuters, the overwhelming majority of Republican leaders, including those already declared for the 2024 race, have stated their support for Trump.
The fact that Trump was indicted Thursday was something of a shock. In recent weeks, Bragg’s investigation had on numerous occasions seemed stalled or close to shuttering.
Last week, the emergence of what Trump said was an exonerating letter – a statement from Daniels saying she had never engaged in sex with Trump – was thought to have thrown a wrench in Bragg’s case.
It was also reported that the grand jury was experiencing internal strife and was expected to break until after Easter before making a determination.
Trump had originally predicted he would be arrested on March 21 and has called for protests in the event of his arrest.
Numerous prominent Republicans, among them House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, have said they oppose the idea of mass protest over Trump. Greene has stated her hesitance has been a belief the FBI would infiltrate the protest and encourage violence, which is something conservatives have long alleged happened on Jan. 6, 2021.
Virginia Democratic Sen. Mark Warner, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has stated the FBI would be ready to respond in the event of violent protests.