As a New York grand jury probing hush money payments related to Donald Trump ahead of the 2016 election works toward its conclusion, the former president wrote on his social media platform overnight that “potential death and destruction” may follow if he is indeed charged.
“What kind of person can charge another person, in this case a former President of the United States, who got more votes than any sitting President in history, and leading candidate (by far!) for the Republican Party nomination, with a Crime, when it is known by all that NO Crime has been committed, & also known that potential death & destruction in such a false charge could be catastrophic for our Country?” Trump wrote in a post published just after 1 a.m. ET.
“Why & who would do such a thing?” Trump continued. “Only a degenerate psychopath that truely hates the USA!”
Trump’s rhetoric has only escalated since he falsely claimed that he would be arrested on Tuesday on charges related to the Manhattan district attorney’s probe. The investigation involves alleged hush money payments made on Trump’s behalf during the 2016 campaign to adult film star Stormy Daniels, who claimed she had a sexual encounter with him years earlier. Trump has denied having a sexual encounter with Daniels.
In recent days, Trump has attacked Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg repeatedly, calling him a “[George] SOROS BACKED ANIMAL,” alleging he is “a danger to our Country” and accusing him of “doing the work of Anarchists and the Devil.” Trump has also claimed “years of hatred, chaos and turmoil” would follow his arrest.
He has also called on his followers to “PROTEST” and “TAKE OUR NATION BACK,” rhetoric similar to words he used in the lead-up to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, when a mob of his supporters stormed the building in a brazen attempt to disrupt the certification of Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.
“Be there, will be wild,” Trump wrote in a now-infamous December 2020 Twitter post calling on his followers to gather in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021.
Protests have been largely muted in this instance, with counter-demonstrators in some cases outnumbering supporters of the former president. Bragg, for his part, sent an email to his staff pledging to continue their work, undaunted.
“We do not tolerate attempts to intimidate our office or threaten the rule of law in New York,” Bragg wrote in the email, obtained by Spectrum News. “Our law enforcement partners will ensure that any specific or credible threats against the office will be fully investigated and that the proper safeguards are in place so all 1,600 of us have a secure work environment.”
“As with all of our investigations, we will continue to apply the law evenly and fairly, and speak publicly only when appropriate,” he added.
Bragg’s office also fired back this week at a group of House Republican leaders seeking information about the probe, charging that complying with such a request would “interfere with law enforcement” and would represent an “unlawful incursion into New York’s sovereignty.”
In a statement to POLITICO, civil rights leaders including Rev. Al Sharpton, Rep. Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y. and former N.Y. Gov. David Paterson condemned Trump’s rhetoric toward Bragg.
“This disgraceful attack is not a dog-whistle but a bullhorn of incendiary racist and anti-semitic bile, spewed out for the sole purpose of intimidating and sabotaging a lawful, legitimate, fact-based investigation,” the group wrote. “These ugly, hateful and anti-American attacks on our judicial system must be universally condemned without equivocation or hesitation.”
“It is clear that Trump would burn down the greatest values of our democracy, and destroy honest, ethical officials performing their constitutional duties, to escape accountability,” they added.
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., agreed with their position, saying at a press conference Thursday that Trump’s rhetoric is “dangerous,” adding: “If it keeps it up, he’s gonna get someone killed.”
The grand jury investigating Trump is not set to meet until next week, delaying any vote on an indictment of the former president until next week at the earliest.
