Trump plans to ‘make America great again,’ after he faces 30 charges of business fraud

In a historical first, former US President Donald Trump is facing over 30 charges related to business fraud from a Manhattan grand jury. Trump’s response was “witch hunt” and to “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

According to two sources familiar with the case, Trump is set to appear in court on Tuesday to answer to these charges. The indictment has been filed under seal, and the charges are not publicly known at this time.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office has been investigating Trump in connection with his alleged role in a hush money payment scheme and cover-up involving porn star Stormy Daniels that dates back to the 2016 presidential election.

The grand jury’s decision to indict Trump is sure to send shockwaves across the country and push the American political system into uncharted waters. No ex-leader has ever faced criminal charges, let alone while running again for president.

Trump, who has vowed to keep running in the face of these charges, has released a statement claiming that this is “Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history.” He said…

“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 was caught off guard by the grand jury’s decision to indict him, according to a person who spoke directly with him. While the former president was bracing for an indictment last week, he began to believe news reports that a potential indictment was weeks, or more, away. His legal action jolts the 2024 presidential campaign into a new phase.

Trump has frequently called the various investigations surrounding him a “witch hunt” and has attempted to sway public opinion on them by casting himself as a victim of political probes led by Democratic prosecutors. As the indictment reportedly neared, Trump urged his supporters to protest his arrest, echoing his calls to action following the 2020 election as he tried to overturn his loss to President Joe Biden.

Trump has long avoided legal consequences in his personal, professional, and political lives. He has settled several private civil lawsuits through the years and paid his way out of disputes concerning the Trump Organization, his namesake company. As president, he was twice impeached by the Democratic-led House but avoided conviction by the Senate. In December, the Trump Organization was convicted on multiple charges of tax fraud, though Trump himself was not charged in that case.

Trump’s Republican allies, as well as his 2024 GOP rivals, have condemned the Manhattan district attorney’s office over the looming indictment.

Former Vice President Mike Pence told CNN that…

“I think the unprecedented indictment of a former president of the United States on a campaign finance issue is an outrage. It appears to millions of Americans to be nothing more than a political prosecution that’s driven by a prosecutor who literally ran for office on a pledge to indict the former president.”

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has vowed to launch an investigation into the matter, and congressional Republicans quickly rallied to Trump’s defence, attacking Bragg on Twitter and accusing the district attorney of a political witch hunt.

The long-running investigation first began under Bragg’s predecessor, Cy Vance, when Trump was in office. It relates to a US$130,000 payment made by Trump’s then-personal attorney Michael Cohen to Daniels in late October 2016, days before the 2016 presidential election, to silence her from going public about an alleged affair with Trump a decade earlier. Trump has denied the affair.

The Trump Organization’s reimbursement and the payment made to Daniels are under investigation. Potential defendants in New York are required by law to be notified and invited to appear before a grand jury weighing charges.

Bragg’s office had signalled as recently as early March that they were close to bringing charges against Trump after they invited the ex-president to testify before the grand jury probing the hush money scheme. But Trump ultimately declined to appear before the panel.

This story is set to twist and turn but it is doubtful whether it will make warmongering America great again.