Donald Trump sparked a firestorm on Saturday by revealing his belief that he was about to be indicted and arrested at the behest of the Manhattan District Attorney’s office.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy reacted to news of the impending indictment and arrest by calling it an “outrageous abuse of power” and announced he would open an investigation.
“Here we go again: an outrageous abuse of power by a radical prosecutor who lets violent criminals walk while pursuing political vendetta against President Trump,” McCarthy said. “I am directing the appropriate committees to immediately investigate whether federal funds are being used to subvert our democracy by interfering with elections with politically motivated prosecutions.”
Late Saturday night, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg sent an email to members of his office condemning “attempts to intimidate our office or threaten the rule of law.” Breanna Morello reported the email.
“Please know that your safety is our highest priority,” Bragg’s email read in part. “We have full confidence in our outstanding security personnel and investigators, along with our great colleagues at the OCA and the NYPD, and we will continue to coordinate with all of them. We do not tolerate attempts to intimidate our office or threaten the rule of law in New York.”
“Our law enforcement partners will ensure that any specific or credible threat against the office is fully investigated and that appropriate safeguards are in place so that all 1,600 of us have a safe work environment,” the email continued .
“This office is filled with the best public servants in the country,” the message added. “I am committed to maintaining a safe work environment where everyone can continue to serve the public with the same diligence and professionalism that make this institution so renowned. In the meantime, as with all our investigations, we will continue to apply the law fairly and equitably, and will speak publicly only when necessary.”
Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg was elected in November 2021 with the indirect support of left-wing billionaire George Soros, who donated $1 million to the Color of Change PAC, which spent it to elect Bragg.
Fox News reported that Soros has “poured $40 million into district attorney campaigns across the country,” including Bragg’s.
Former New York Police Commissioner Bill Bratton spoke out against “the $1 million donation that Hungarian-born philanthropist Soros gave to the political action committee Color of Change, which supported Bragg,” the New York Post reported.
“If you look at all the cities in America that are increasing violent crime and disorder … what’s the one common denominator?” Bratton said. “District attorneys, almost all of them phenomenally funded by George Soros.”
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is expected to file felony charges against Trump next week related to payments made in 2016 to settle rumors of an extramarital affair. Bragg upgraded the charges to a misdemeanor class, which contrasts with the prosecutor’s history of reducing charges in most of his cases.
Since taking office last year, DA Bragg has dropped approximately 52 percent of all cases brought to his office. Many of these cases involved reducing felony charges to misdemeanors. Under Bragg’s predecessor, fewer than 40 percent of cases were downgraded.
Constitutional lawyer Jonathan Turley is among critics of Trump’s prosecution who believe the charges against him are “violations of the law.”
“While it may be politically popular, the case is legally pathetic,” Turley argued. “Bragg is fighting to bend state laws to effectively prosecute a federal case long ago dismissed by the Justice Department against Trump over his payment of ‘hush money’ to former stripper Stormy Daniels. In 2018 (yes, that long carries that theory), I wrote how difficult a federal case would be under existing election laws. Now, six years later, the same theory can be incorporated into a state claim.”
“It is extremely difficult to prove that paying money to cover up a shameful affair was done for electoral purposes rather than for a range of other obvious reasons, from protecting a celebrity’s reputation to preserving a marriage,” he continued. “This was demonstrated by the failed federal prosecution of former presidential candidate John Edwards on a much stronger charge of using campaign funds to cover up an affair.”
“In this case, Trump paid Daniels $130,000 in the fall of 2016 to cut off or at least reduce any public scandal,” he added. “The U.S. Attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York had no love lost for Trump, pursuing him and his associates in a myriad of investigations, but ultimately declining a prosecution based on violations of the electoral law. He was not alone: the president of the Federal Electoral Commission (FEC) also expressed doubts about the theory.”
Trump’s arrest may be the event that Democrats are looking for to incite a backlash that will trigger a new violation of Americans’ rights.
NOW READ:
Billy Baldwin mocks protesters outraged by Trump’s upcoming arrest: ‘It’s going to end in two of Ashli Babbitt’
“*” Indicates mandatory fields
OPINION: This article contains comments that reflect the opinion of the author.
English 
Español de Venezuela