The media maelstrom has catapulted Trump back into the spotlight he craves, at least temporarily limiting attention being paid to his rivals, including DeSantis, who is widely expected to challenge Trump for the nomination, and has been holding events across the county to promote his book. Jim Banks, R-Ind., who formally endorsed the former president Friday, said Trump “doesn’t back down" and was going to "fight back," telling a local radio show it was "yet another chapter where Donald Trump is going to come back on top in the end." Trump has been in contact by phone with key congressional allies, including members of House leadership and top committees, according to people familiar with the conversations, who, like others, spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the response. Ron DeSantis, in a speech Saturday to conservatives meeting in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, accused the Democratic prosecutor in New York, Alvin Bragg, of weaponizing the law “for political purposes” in bringing a case against “a former president.” DeSantis said the district attorney had indicted “a former president on misdemeanor offenses” that he was “straining to try to convert into felonies.” His campaign also continued to blast out supportive statements from dozens of top Republicans who have rallied behind Trump, including several of his declared and likely challengers, underscoring his continued hold on the party.įlorida Gov. More than 25% of donations, according to the campaign, came from first-time donors. The campaign announced Friday evening that it had raised over $4 million in the 24 hours after the indictment became public, far smashing its previous record after the FBI search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago club. In the meantime, Trump and his team have tried to use the news to his advantage, hoping to energize his loyal base by painting the investigation as part of a larger plot to derail his candidacy.Īlready, the charges have been a boon to his struggling fundraising. I think he’s now in the posture that he’s ready to fight this.” And he got into a typical Donald Trump posture where he’s ready to be combative on something that he believes is an injustice. “After he got over that," he said, Trump "put a notch on his belt and he decided we have to fight now. Trump, he said on the “Today" show, was “initially was shocked” by news of the charges, but quickly pivoted to his usual pushback playbook. That included Trump lawyer Joe Tacopina, who said Friday morning he had hoped the “rule of law would prevail.” As the deliberations dragged on, some in Trump's orbit had become convinced that the case had stalled and that charges might never be brought. Still, Trump and his team were caught by surprise when word of the New York indictment broke Thursday evening, following news reports that the grand jury hearing the case was set for a weekslong hiatus. Intensifying investigations in Atlanta and Washington are seen as potentially more serious legal threats. Even if it moves forward, there's no guarantee of conviction. Trump could seek to have a judge quickly dismiss the case. Of course, some of the celebration by Trump's detractors may be premature. “These are not things that Donald Trump ever thought in his entire life, nor I, for that matter, that he would ever be confronted with,” Michael Cohen, Trump's longtime fixer and a key witness in the case who served jail time for the payments, told CNN. “Given his track record,” he said, “I had trouble imagining he would ever be held accountable.” “You know I always thought of him as the Gingerbread Man, shouting, ‘You can’t catch me!’ as he ran away.” “Boy, after all this time it’s a bit of a shock,” Trump biographer Michael D’Antonio said of the indictment. But on a personal level, the indictment pierces the cloak of invincibility that seemed to follow Trump through his decades in business and in politics, as he faced allegations of fraud, collusion and sexual misconduct. The spectacle that is sure to unfold will mark an unprecedented moment in American history that will demonstrate once again how dramatically Trump - who already held the distinction of being the first president to be impeached twice - has upended democratic norms. Trump Indictment Live Updates: Trump Will Not Be Handcuffed Or Have a Mug Shot Taken, NBC Reports
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