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Donald Trump has said that New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg should be arrested instead of him. The former president accused the lawyer of breaking the law and persecuting a 2024 presidential candidate for a crime Trump says doesn't exist.
Trump wrote on Monday on his social-media site, Truth Social: "It is the District Attorney of Manhattan who is breaking the law by using the fake and fully discredited testimony (even by the SDNY [Southern District of New York]!) of a convicted liar, felon and jailbird, Michael Cohen, to incredibly persecute, prosecute, and indict a former president, and now leading (by far!) presidential candidate, for a crime that doesn't exist.
"Alvin Bragg should be held accountable for the crime of interference in a presidential election," Trump added.
It's not the first time the embattled former president has attacked Bragg, who won a conviction for tax fraud against the Trump Organization in 2022. In that case, though, Trump wasn't personally charged.
Earlier this month, Trump called Bragg, who is Black, a "racist in reverse." He said the lawyer—a Democrat, former federal prosecutor and deputy New York attorney general—is taking orders from Washington, D.C. to run a "witch hunt" against him. In posts on Truth Social, Trump has repeated false claims that he won the 2020 presidential election.
The 76-year-old former president has said that he will be arrested by a Manhattan grand jury on Tuesday. Trump called on his supporters to protest and "take our nation back," as he wrote on Truth Social on Saturday.
It's unclear why Trump gave Tuesday as the date of his arrest. Two hours after he wrote on Truth Social that he will be arrested on that day, a spokesperson issued a statement that the former president had not written his post with direct knowledge of the timing of any arrest. "President Trump is rightfully highlighting his innocence and the weaponization of our injustice system," the statement read.
Bragg is expected to accuse Trump of concealing a $130,000 hush-money payout made by his former lawyer Michael Cohen to porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Prosecutors for the attorney have reportedly suggested that Trump's indictment might be imminent, though they haven't given an exact date. Trump has denied any wrongdoing.
Trump's indictment would be a historic and unprecedented development. No U.S. former president has ever been charged with a crime.
However, Trump has made clear that he will frame any indictment as a political witch hunt against him. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy appears to follow the former president's lead in this direction. He said on Saturday that he wants House committees to investigate whether federal funds are being used for politically motivated prosecutions.
Other senior Republicans appear to support Trump. Talking about Bragg, former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence told ABC News that the district attorney was carrying out a "politically charged prosecution" against Trump.
"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.
"The fact that the Manhattan DA [district attorney] thinks that indicting President Trump is his top priority, I think is, just tells you everything you need to know about the radical left in this country."
Newsweek has emailed Manhattan District Attorney's Office for comment but didn't receive an immediate response.
About the writer
Giulia Carbonaro is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. Her focus is on the U.S. economy, housing market, property ... Read more