WASHINGTON, March 24 (Reuters) – Former U.S. President Donald Trump warned of potential “death and destruction” if he faces criminal charges, hours after New York prosecutors investigated his payments in hush-money porn star Stormy Daniels said they are not afraid.
The early Friday post on Trump’s Truth Social media site was the latest in a series of verbal attacks on Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg since Saturday when Trump falsely predicted he would be arrested three days later.
Trump falsely claimed that his 2020 defeat was the result of fraud – a claim that inspired his followers to launch a deadly January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol in a failed attempt to stop Congress from certifying the election of Democratic President Joe Biden, who defeated Republican Trump by more than 7 million votes.
“What kind of person can charge another person, in this case a former President of the United States, who got more votes than any sitting President in history, and is the leading candidate (by far!) for in the nomination of the Republican Party, with a Crime, when everyone knows that NO Crime has been committed, and also knows that the potential death and destruction such a false accusation could do to our Country?” wrote Trump, who is seeking the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
Bragg’s office, in a letter to Republican congressional committee chairmen on Thursday, challenged their stance on the investigation into his office and said Trump had “created a false expectation that he would be arrested” in his post on Saturday.
The letter called the chairmen’s request for communications, documents and testimony an “unlawful invasion of New York’s sovereignty.”
Stormy Daniels, an adult film actress and director whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, said she received the money in exchange for silence about a sexual encounter she had with Trump in 2006.
Trump has denied having an affair with Daniels, and called the payment a “simple private transaction.” He said he had committed no crime and called the investigation a political one.
The Manhattan grand jury investigating Trump is not due to reconvene until next week.
In other cases, prosecutors in Georgia are looking into Trump’s attempts to reverse his election loss there, and a special federal prosecutor is investigating his attempts to reverse his loss and the removing classified documents from the White House after Trump left office.
On Saturday, Trump will hold a campaign rally in Waco, Texas, 30 years after the attack on the Branch Davidians religious sect by federal agents that resulted in 86 deaths, including four officers of the law enforcement.
The event became a symbol of government overreach for some and a seminal moment for some right-wing extremist groups.
In an e-mail, a spokesman for the Trump campaign said that Waco was chosen because it is located among several population centers and has the infrastructure necessary to host a large event.
Reporting by Gram Slattery and Nathan Layne; Editing by Scott Malone and Howard Goller
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
