New York City law enforcement is on high alert due to two separate legal cases involving former President Donald Trump.
According to Bloomberg News, a bomb threat was called in to a New York City courthouse ahead of a hearing concerning a $250 million lawsuit by New York Attorney General Letitia James against Trump. Separately, steel barricades have been erected around a Manhattan courthouse in the event that Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg indicts the former president.
The news comes just hours after Senator Lindsey Graham appeared on TV claiming that a Trump indictment would “blow up our country.” He called the pending charges from Bragg “a bunch of B.S.”
While James’ investigation centers on Trump’s alleged tax fraud, Bragg’s investigation concerns alleged hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Yesterday, Graham also appeared on “The Daily Show” and went so far as to argue that the charges saddling Trump may be positive (watch clip below).
Any charges against Trump will “help him,” Graham says, arguing that Bragg’s case is just another part of the “never-ending effort to take a wrecking ball” to the former president’s political career.
“[Trump’s] got a better than good chance of winning the primary and a better than 50/50 chance of being president again,” Graham told guest host and former Senator Al Franken.
Tucker Carlson Downplays Trump Charges
On Monday, Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson also addressed the charges against Trump.
“Settlements like this, whatever you think of them, are common, both among famous people, celebrities and in corporate America,” Carlson said.
It’s worth noting that Trump is not being investigated by Bragg over the $130,000 settlement paid to Daniels. Hush money is legal. What’s at stake is whether Trump falsified business records tied to his campaign to cover up the fact that the sum was paid.
Trump has denied the affair with Daniels as well as any wrongdoing, claiming on Twitter that the $130,000 was a reimbursement to his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, and part of a “monthly retainer.”
Trump announced on his social media platform that he expected to be arrested on Tuesday, March 21. In that post, he urged his followers to “protest” and “take our nation back” — reminiscent of his diatribe on Jan. 6, 2021, when rioters stormed the Capitol in Washington, D.C. at his behest.
So far, the response from his base — at least in New York — has been tepid, with journalists outnumbering protestors.
In addition to Graham, Trump has also received vocal support from his former Vice President Mike Pence, whose life was threatened on Jan. 6. Pence reportedly called Bragg’s investigation “a politically charged prosecution.”
“I think this is an effort that’s ongoing, never ending to destroy Donald Trump, everything around Donald Trump,” Graham said on Fox News based from a tweet.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis remained somewhat reticent, except taking what observers saw as a not-so-subtle swipe against Trump as he took a swipe at Bragg.
“The Manhattan district attorney is a Soros-funded prosecutor, and so he, like other Soros-funded prosecutors, they weaponize their office to impose a political agenda on society at the expense of the rule of law and public safety,” DeSantis said on Saturday. “I don’t know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some type of alleged affair, I just, I can’t speak to that.”
If an arraignment occurs, Trump would likely be released on his own recognizance. Under New York law, prosecutors cannot request bail in nonviolent cases.
As for his blank-check company, Digital World Acquisition Corp., it will likely continue to experience setbacks.
Produced in association with Benzinga
