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Trump responds to indictment, calling it "political persecution"
Former President Donald Trump speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on March 4 in Oxon Hill, Maryland. (Alex Brandon/AP/FILE)Former President Donald Trump responded Thursday after a grand jury voted to indict him with a statement, calling it "Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history."
"The Democrats have lied, cheated and stolen in their obsession with trying to ‘Get Trump,’ but now they’ve done the unthinkable — indicting a completely innocent person in an act of blatant Election Interference.
"Never before in our Nation’s history has this been done. The Democrats have cheated countless times over the decades, including spying on my campaign, but weaponizing our justice system to punish a political opponent, who just so happens to be a President of the United States and by far the leading Republican candidate for President, has never happened before. Ever.
"Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, who was hand-picked and funded by George Soros, is a disgrace. Rather than stopping the unprecedented crime wave taking over New York City, he’s doing Joe Biden’s dirty work, ignoring the murders and burglaries and assaults he should be focused on. This is how Bragg spends his time!
"I believe this Witch-Hunt will backfire massively on Joe Biden. The American people realize exactly what the Radical Left Democrats are doing here. Everyone can see it. So our Movement, and our Party — united and strong — will first defeat Alvin Bragg, and then we will defeat Joe Biden, and we are going to throw every last one of these Crooked Democrats out of office so we can MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Trump also posted on Truth Social saying in all caps that the indictment "is an attack on our country the likes of which has never been seen before. It is likewise a continuing attack on our once free and fair elections."
Biden has a clear — and quiet — road map as he confronts an unprecedented challenge
From CNN's Phil Mattingly
President Joe Biden departs after speaking in Baltimore on March 1. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images/FILE)There has been no statement from President Joe Biden following the news of former President Donald Trump's indictment.
No comment came from the White House and there is little evidence that public posture will change any time soon, even as officials acknowledge they will be closely monitoring any security issues that may develop.
“He’s the president, not a legal analyst,” one Democrat in regular contact with the White House said. “He has an administration to run.”
Biden’s initial silence in the wake of Trump’s indictment isn’t a surprise. While officials inside the West Wing were as surprised as the rest of the country by the news, there was no scramble to prepare anything to release publicly.
The approach is designed, at least in part, to keep the administration’s focus on its priorities and agenda. But the unmistakably clear contrast it creates with Biden’s predecessor is neither subtle nor unintentional as a political message.
For Biden, who pledged to bring down the political pressure that threatened to fracture the country under Trump’s watch, it’s a strategy that will now be tested by a new front in the partisan warfare that has animated Trump’s campaigns and presidency.
If there’s anything that would draw a proactive response from Biden, one official said in the days before the indictment, it would be concern about violence in its aftermath. But officials maintain there have still been no briefings or warnings that suggest the threat of violence is imminent, despite Trump’s social media posts over the last two weeks.
“We’re constantly monitoring this – as you would think we should, particularly in the wake of what happened on January 6,” John Kirby, the National Security Council spokesman, told reporters last week.
Officials declined to provide a window into how Biden heard of the indictment news, or what he was doing in the hours after. It was already clear there would be no opportunity for reporters to ask him directly.
The White House had issued a “lid” – the notice to reporters there would be nothing more from Biden on Thursday – more than an hour before the news broke.
Pence: Indictment of Trump "is an outrage"
Former Vice President Mike Pence speaks to CNN's Wolf Blitzer in Washington, DC.Former Vice President Mike Pence called the grand jury indictment of Donald Trump an "outrage."
"I think the unprecedented indictment of a former president of the United States on a campaign finance issue is an outrage," he said Thursday night, speaking to CNN's Wolf Blitzer during a CNN Primetime interview.
He said the indictment appears “for millions of Americans to be nothing more than a political prosecution."
Pence said charging the former president is a "disservice to the country" that will only divide people further.
"I think the American people will look at this and see it as one more example of the criminalization of politics in this country," he said.
Now that Trump has been indicted, here's what to expect in the days to come
From CNN's Tierney Sneed, Holmes Lybrand and Hannah Rabinowitz
A Manhattan grand jury’s indictment of former President Donald Trump will set in motion a criminal process that will in some ways work like that of any other defendant, and in other ways, look very different.
When someone is indicted, the charges are sometimes kept under seal until the defendant’s first appearance in court. The charges that the grand jury approved against Trump are currently not public.
First appearance: First appearances are usually public proceedings. In some cases, arrangements are made with defendants or their lawyers for a self-surrender – or voluntarily turning themselves in – to law enforcement.
With their first appearance in court, defendants are usually booked and finger-printed.
Trump’s attorneys were informed of the grand jury’s vote shortly after the indictment was publicly reported, sources told CNN.
Trump will likely be allowed to turn himself in voluntarily, and multiple sources told CNN the former president is expected to appear in court Tuesday for his arraignment.
What happens in a first appearance can vary. If a first appearance is also an arraignment, a plea is expected to be entered. It is typical that release conditions are discussed – such as travel restrictions or home confinement – at a first appearance and defendants are informed of their rights. The lawyers for the government and the defendant also often enter their appearance at this stage of the court proceedings.
Additional security: Trump will have to go through certain processes that any other defendant must go through when a charge has been brought against him. But his status as a former president who is currently running again for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024 will undoubtedly inject additional security and practical concerns around the next steps in his case.
Whatever travel Trump must take for his arraignment will need to be coordinated with Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies.
Those conversations between the Secret Service, the US Marshals Service and the New York Police Department have begun, a senior NYPD source told CNN.
NYPD officers were told Thursday evening via internal memo that they should be in uniform and ready for deployment on Friday.
CNN's Kara Scannell, Paula Reid, Lauren DelValle, Shimon Prokupecz, Brynn Gingras and Evan Perez contributed to this reporting.
Trump faces more than 30 counts related to business fraud in Manhattan grand jury indictment, sources tell CNN
From CNN's Kara Scannell, John Miller, Jeremy Herb and Devan Cole
Donald Trump faces more than 30 counts related to business fraud in an indictment from a Manhattan grand jury, according to two sources familiar with the case – the first time in American history that a current or former president has faced criminal charges.
The indictment has been filed under seal and will be announced in the coming days. The charges are not publicly known at this time. Trump will likely be arraigned in court early next week, according to his defense attorney, Joe Tacopina.
The DA’s office has been investigating the former president in connection with his alleged role in a hush money payment scheme and cover-up involving adult film star Stormy Daniels that dates to the 2016 presidential election. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office will reach out to Trump’s attorneys to discuss his surrender to face an arraignment.
The decision is sure to send shockwaves across the country, pushing the American political system – which has never seen one of its ex-leaders confronted with criminal charges, let alone while running again for president – into uncharted waters.
Trump released a statement in response to the indictment claiming it was “Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history.”
“I believe this Witch-Hunt will backfire massively on Joe Biden,” the former president said. “The American people realize exactly what the Radical Left Democrats are doing here. Everyone can see it. So our Movement, and our Party – united and strong – will first defeat Alvin Bragg, and then we will defeat Joe Biden, and we are going to throw every last one of these Crooked Democrats out of office so we can MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba said in a statement that Trump “is a victim of a corrupt and distorted version of the American justice system and history. He will be vindicated.”
Read more about the indictment here.
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