Former US President Donald Trump vows to escalate attacks against Manhattan DA

NEW YORK: Former US President Donald Trump has reportedly told his legal team and political advisors that he will escalate attacks against the Manhattan District Attorney (DA) Alvin Bragg whose prosecution on the hush money case involving adult film star Stormy Daniels created a nationwide political firestorm resulting in his possible sealed indictment by a New York grand jury.

The DA has issued an internal memo to law enforcement agencies in the metro to be ready in uniform and vigilant against any possible law and order problem from Trump supporters.

The entire nation is on alert against possible attacks by Trump supporters reminiscent of the January 6, 2021 Capitol Hill riot.

The former President has told advisers and associates he is ready to upscale attacks against the Manhattan DA who has taken the criminal prosecution into his hush money payments to Daniels in 2016 to a climax resulting in a grand jury reportedly indicting him, media reports said.

Trump has told people close to him he will take the offensive route revealing his sense of deep hurt by the possible indictment - so much so he told them at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida over the weekend, he intends to “rough’ em up”.

Media reports perceive Trump’s posts on his social platform Truth Social as being pugilistic, that his prosecution was purely political and the accusations against Bragg of being a psychopath.

The language increasingly used by Trump on Truth Social on his possible indictment shows his determination to double down on those attacks reflecting his time-tested political stunts of brawling with prosecutors, especially when faced with legal trouble that he knows he cannot avoid, people close to him were quoted by the media as saying.

The Guardian claimed that the Mar-a-Lago decision to retort against the Manhattan DA is part of an overall strategy Trump has hatched to respond to the indictment from a legal and political standpoint.

The New York lower Manhattan case against Trump focuses on the alleged payments of $130,000 that he paid to Daniels through his former lawyer Michael Cohen in the final days of his 2016 run for the presidency which he won defeating the democratic candidate former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton.

Media reports claim that Trump later reimbursed Cohen with $35,000 checks, which were recorded as legal expenses. Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to federal tax evasion and campaign-finance violation charges.

With the judgement day approaching, no one has a clue as to what are the exact charges levelled against him. But there is general belief in the media that they could include the falsification of business records at Trump businesses and some additional charges that could easily enhance a “misdemeanour to a felony”, the Guardian said. (IANS)

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