Donald Trump took aim at Hunter Biden as he went on a Truth Social posting frenzy overnight Thursday after learning that he had been indicted on criminal charges over the 2016 hush money payments to Stormy Daniels.
The former president – who is said to have been blindsided by Thursday’s announcement – spent hours posting away on his social media platform through the night and into the early hours of Friday morning.
In the posts, he railed against the “corrupt” charges against him, claimed he can’t get a fair trial in New York and took aim at his predecessor’s son.
“WHERE’S HUNTER?” he posted at around 3am ET.
President Joe Biden’s son Hunter has long been a target of Mr Trump and his allies, with the former president appearing to question why he has been criminally charged when Hunter has not.
The president’s son has been under federal investigation since 2018 for tax payments and the House has made him a focus of their probes since Republicans took control in January.
As well as hitting out at Hunter, Mr Trump fumed about the grand jury indictment, branding it “Fake, Corrupt, and Disgraceful”.
“They only brought this Fake, Corrupt, and Disgraceful Charge against me because I stand with the American People, and they know that I cannot get a fair trial in New York!” he wrote.
Mr Trump also went on to reTruth the statements of some of his GOP allies who came out in support of him after news of the grand jury vote broke.
Sharing posts from MAGA favourites including Matt Gaetz and Kari Lake, as well as other allies Tommy Tuberville, Ronny Jackson, Paul Gosar and Steve Scalise, Mr Trump appears to be keeping tabs on which Republicans are backing him in his fight against the charges.
In a sign he was having trouble sleeping after making history as the first former president ever criminally charged, he last posted on Truth Social at around 3am on Friday morning.
On Thursday 30 March, a Manhattan grand jury voted to indict Mr Trump on criminal charges over hush money payments to adult film star Ms Daniels days before the 2016 presidential election.
Sources confirmed the unprecedented development to The Independent on Thursday afternoon – making Mr Trump the first current or former president to ever face criminal charges in the history of the US.
It is currently unclear what the charges are but multiple reports say that Mr Trump is facing more than 30 counts related to business fraud.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg released a statement confirming that his office has been in touch with Mr Trump’s attorneys over the former president’s surrender.
“This evening we contacted Mr Trump’s attorney to coordinate his surrender to the Manhattan DA’s Office for arraignment on a Supreme Court indictment, which remains under seal. Guidance will be provided when the arraignment date is selected,” he said.
The indictment is said to have caught Mr Trump off guard, insiders told CNN.
While the former president’s team had been planning for an indictment in recent weeks – and going on a media blitz on the matter – the grand jury was not expected to be meeting on the case this week and was expected to take a scheduled break for several weeks.
This led to speculation that the indictment would be delayed.
But now, following Thursday’s grand jury vote, Mr Trump’s attorney Joe Tacopina said the former president will surrender to New York early next week.
Two officials told NBC News that Mr Trump is expected to be arraigned on Tuesday, with a tentative hearing time set for 2.15pm. This is subject to change.
Manhattan prosecutors have been investigating whether Mr Trump falsified the Trump Organization’s business records when his former lawyer and “fixer” Michael Cohen made a payment of $130,0000 to Ms Daniels days before the 2016 election.
Prosecutors claim that the money was used to silence Ms Daniels about an alleged affair she had with Mr Trump.
Mr Trump has long denied having an affair with the adult film star.
Mr Trump’s former fixer and personal attorney Cohen was convicted of tax evasion, lying to Congress and campaign finance violations related to the payments to Ms Daniels. He was sentenced to three years in prison.
In recent weeks, the probe ramped up with both Cohen and Ms Daniels testifying before the grand jury.
Mr Trump was also invited to testify. Though it was an invite he unsurprisingly turned down, it was a strong sign an indictment was on the way.
