Few people turned out to protest a potential indictment against former President Donald Trump on Tuesday, despite Trump ordering his followers to do so in a social media post over the weekend.
Politico reports that the majority of the protesters gathered outside the Manhattan District Attorney’s office on Tuesday were in favor of a Trump indictment, rather than opposed. Though Trump predicted that he would be arrested on Tuesday, an indictment has yet to come to fruition.
“No one is above the law,” a group of pro-indictment protesters chanted outside the district attorney’s office.
Trump loyalists who had gathered outside the building in New York City were disappointed by the lackluster turnout, according to Politico. A small number of pro-Trump demonstrators had also gathered in support of the former president the day before.
Trump loyalists acknowledged the low turnout, claiming that it was “by design.”
Although the exact charges Bragg may potentially levy against Trump are currently unknown, it’s believed that he will indict the former president over hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels, which were made to secure her silence about an affair that allegedly took place between the two prior to the 2016 presidential election.
It’s possible that Trump illegally falsified business records in order to make the payments, instructing his former lawyer Michael Cohen to pay off Daniels, then using Trump Organization accounts to reimburse Cohen, improperly labeling the payments as legal expenses.
Trump called for protests in a Truth Social post on Saturday in which he predicted that he would be indicted by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) on Tuesday. Trump told his followers to “PROTEST” against the charges, instructing them to “TAKE OUR NATION BACK”— incendiary rhetoric that echoes his comments on January 6, 2021, the day a mob of his loyalists violently breached the U.S. Capitol building as the 2020 election was being certified.
On Tuesday, a bomb threat was called into a civil court building directly across the street from Bragg’s offices. The threat interrupted proceedings for a separate Trump case, in which state Attorney General Letitia James (D) is suing Trump for $250 million, alleging that he and the Trump Organization engaged in fraud. The threat was assessed and determined to be noncredible.
It is unclear who called in the bomb threat, or if it was related to the Manhattan District Attorney’s investigation of Trump.
As tensions heighten surrounding a potential Trump indictment this week, Trump loyalists are ramping up violent rhetoric surrounding the looming charges. In an interview on Monday with Kimberly Guilfoyle, a right-wing activist who is engaged to Trump’s eldest son Don Trump Jr., Trump lawyer Joe Tacopina said there would be an “all-out war” if the former president was indicted.
An indictment against Trump could come as soon as Wednesday. At least one final witness is reportedly scheduled to appear before the grand jury, sources have told Trump-friendly Fox News, after which the panel may vote on whether to recommend charges against him.
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