Trump Labels Indictment ‘Election Interference,’ Predicts It Will ‘Backfire Massively’

Former president Donald Trump predicted that Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s “witch-hunt” against him will “backfire massively against Joe Biden” after a Manhattan grand jury voted Thursday to indict the former president in connection with a hush-money payment made to porn actress Stormy Daniels.

Trump called the indictment “Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history.”

“Never before in our Nation’s history has this been done,” said Trump, who is now the first former president in U.S. history to face criminal charges. “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.”

“The American people realize exactly what the Radical Left Democrats are doing here,” he added. “Everyone can see it. So our Movement, and our Party – united and strong – will first defeat Alvin Bragg, and then we will defeat Joe Biden, and we are going to throw every last one of these Crooked Democrats out of office so we can MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

The indictment accuses Trump of falsifying business records in relation to the hush-money payments. Daniels claimed in the final days of the 2016 presidential election that she had previously had a sexual affair with Trump. Trump’s former fixer, Michael Cohen, paid Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet about her claims.

Prosecutors claim Trump falsified internal business records to conceal the reimbursement payments to Cohen as legal expenses. Cohen claims Trump was aware of the misleading record keeping.

Trump lawyer Joe Tacopina said Thursday that his client “did not commit any crime.”

“We will vigorously fight this political prosecution in court,” he said in a statement.

Trump’s attorneys told the New York Post he is expected to surrender to law enforcement in New York next week.

Florida governor Ron DeSantis, who is widely seen as Trump’s top opponent in the 2024 race despite not having formally announced a bid, said Thursday that Florida “will not assist in an extradition request given the questionable circumstances at issue with this Soros-backed Manhattan prosecutor and his political agenda.” It was not immediately clear how or if this would impact Trump’s arrest.

“The weaponization of the legal system to advance a political agenda turns the rule of law on its head. It is un-American,” DeSantis said in a statement. “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.”

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) said Bragg “has 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,” McCarthy added. “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.”

Former Vice President Mike Pence said during an appearance on CNN that the “unprecedented indictment of a former president of the United States on a campaign finance issue issue is an outrage.”

To millions of Americans, the indictment appears “to be nothing more than a political prosecution,” added Pence, who is considering running against Trump in 2024.

Presidential candidate Nikki Haley said the indictment is “more about revenge than it is about justice.”

Former secretary of state Mike Pompeo, who is also considering launching his own 2024 challenge to Trump, accused Bragg of “undermining America’s confidence in our legal system” after the indictment news broke on Thursday.

“Bragg is the same Soros-funded prosecutor who refuses to prosecute violent crimes and who has downgraded more than half of all felonies to misdemeanors,” Pompeo said in a statement. Prosecuting serious crimes keeps Americans safe, but political prosecutions put the American legal system at risk of being viewed as a tool for abuse. DA Bragg – spend taxpayers’ money and your energy protecting law-abiding citizens. Not playing politics.”

Meanwhile, Senator Ted Cruz (R., Texas) said: “The Democrat Party’s hatred for Donald Trump knows no bounds. The ‘substance’ of this political persecution is utter garbage. This is completely unprecedented and is a catastrophic escalation in the weaponization of the justice system.”

Former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson, who is weighing his own 2024 bid, said it is “a dark day for America when a former President is indicted on criminal charges.”

“While the grand jury found credible facts to support the charges, it is important that the presumption of innocence follows Mr. Trump,” he said, adding that it is “essential that the decision on America’s next President be made at the ballot box and not in the court system. ”

“Donald Trump should not be the next President, but that should be decided by the voters,” he said.

House majority leader Steve Scalise called the indictment a “sham.”

More from National Review

• Manhattan Grand Jury Votes to Indict Trump

• Trump Lawyer Says Former President’s Post Attacking Bragg Was ‘Ill Advised’

• DeSantis Condemns Political Trump Prosecution, Takes Swipe at Former President for Porn Star Cover Up