Minutes after it was reported that a Manhattan grand jury had voted to criminally indict him, former President Donald Trump issued a wrathful response, denouncing it in a lengthy statement as “political persecution and election interference at the highest level in history.”
He also issued another furious rant on his social media platform Truth Social, complete with an unfortunate, all-caps misspelling saying he had been “INDICATED.”
“From the time I came down the golden escalator at Trump Tower, and even before I was sworn in as your President of the United States, the Radical Left Democrats—the enemy of the hard-working men and women of this Country—have been engaged in a Witch-Hunt to destroy the Make America Great Again movement,” he fumed in his statement. “You remember it just like I do: Russia, Russia, Russia; the Mueller Hoax; Ukraine, Ukraine, Ukraine; Impeachment Hoax 1; Impeachment Hoax 2; the illegal and unconstitutional Mar-a-Lago raid; and now this.”
ADVERTISEMENT
The 76-year-old is the first former president to face serious criminal charges, something he went on to blisteringly note. Referring to himself as “a completely innocent person,” Trump went on, “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,” he said, “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.”
Trump went on to denounce the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (“a disgrace”) and invoke President Joe Biden, on whom he swore “this Witch-Hunt will backfire massively.”
“The American people realize exactly what the Radical Left Democrats are doing here. Everyone can see it,” Trump thundered. “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!”
His eldest son reacted in similar terms, tweeting, “This is third-world prosecutorial misconduct. It is the opportunistic targeting of a political opponent in a campaign year.”
On Rumble, Donald Jr. expanded on this, hitting out at the “corrupt leftist” Bragg and calling it “communist level-shit.”
The details of Thursday’s indictment have not been released—with Bragg saying that it will remain under seal for the immediate future. Trump’s lawyer told The Daily Beast that he will likely be arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court next week—and that he plans to travel voluntarily to New York City to be booked.
