Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday denounced the investigation into his secret money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels as a “crime” as a possible indictment looms in the case.
As a Manhattan grand jury prepared to reconvene, Trump insisted that he is the real victim in the explosive case.
“The crime would be if they accused me!” Trump wrote on his social networking site.
Trump mocked Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg as a “rogue prosecutor” with a political ax to grind.
“(Bragg) is trying to build a case that has never been made before and can’t really be made,” he added.
Trump remained in hiding at his Florida vacation home as a New York grand jury ponders the delivery of a landmark indictment that would mark the first time a US president or former president has been indicted for a crime.
He was reportedly focused on the optics of his impending indictment as the decision to indict him in New York nears.
The former president has told several aides that he wants to be handcuffed during his criminal proceedings to avoid any perception that he is receiving special treatment from the authorities. The Guardian reported.
Images of Trump in handcuffs can also rankle his legions of loyal supporters who believe he is being unfairly targeted.
Even as he faces potential infamy as the first president to be criminally indicted, Trump has used the secret money case to force Republicans to rally mostly behind him to criticize Bragg and Democrats for allegedly targeting him unfairly.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who in polls would be Trump’s most powerful rival in a Republican presidential primary, criticized the impeachment but also criticized Trump for getting involved in the unseemly drama in the first place.
