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According to a report on Saturday, former President Donald Trump plans to take advantage of his court appearance on Tuesday after being indicted by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg last Thursday in a way that he hopes will solidify his frontrunner status for the 2024 GOP nomination.
According to sources who spoke to the Washington Times, Trump is planning to give a speech to his America First supporters during a press event after he is formally arrested, booked, and makes his initial court appearance.
In response to the indictment, Trump has been fine-tuning his communication to rally his supporters, as it marks the first instance of a former president facing criminal charges, according to the report.
“The Deep State will use anything at their disposal to shut down the one political movement that puts YOU first,” Trump said in a social media message in which he also sought campaign donations, the Times reported.
The outlet added: “Mr. Trump’s supporters believe the indictment will backfire on notoriously liberal Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and propel Mr. Trump to the presidency in 2024. They think it will energize not just Mr. Trump’s base in the Make America Great Again movement but also a broader coalition of Republicans and independents. Mr. Trump is expected to arrive in New York on Tuesday for an unprecedented perp walk, fingerprinting, mugshot and post-arraignment press conference.”
Since the indictment, Trump’s fundraising and polling numbers have skyrocketed.
According to a survey by Yahoo/YouGov, Trump is now leading his closest rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, by 57 percent to 31 percent – “a huge 26-point lead that triples the previous result of this survey a mere two weeks ago,” Mediaite reported, noting that, “at that time, Trump was ahead of DeSantis by just 8%, at 47% to 39%.”
But not all of the news was good for the former president. When asked, “If Donald Trump is convicted of a crime in this case, do you think he should be allowed to serve as president again in the future?” — just 31 percent said yes, while 52 percent said he should not.
Yahoo added: “When asked if they ‘think Donald Trump did or did not falsify business records to conceal a hush money payment to a porn star,’ less than half of Republicans (48%) are confident that he did not. Another 17% say he did — and a whopping 35% say they’re not sure.”
Still, Trump’s campaign has gotten a financial windfall as well.
“Trump’s supporters threw in $4 million in the first 24 hours alone, followed by more than $1 million the following day, according to Axios. The funding surge serves to partially confirm the claims from Trump and some of his allies that an indictment would only serve to further ingratiate him to his base,” Fox News reported Sunday.
“This is someone who has run twice for President of the United States,” Trump campaign advisor Jason Miller told Axios. “There’s a whole new group of Trump supporters who are angered by what they see as this political persecution.”
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung added: “The Manhattan DA’s crusade against President Donald J. Trump is nothing more than political persecution and, just like with every other hoax that President Trump has been targeted with, there is no crime whatsoever, except for election interference by radical Democrats through weaponization of our justice system against President Trump and his supporters.”
Even some longtime rivals of Trump’s have jumped in with their own takes.
“Bragg’s predecessor didn’t take up the case. The Justice Department didn’t take up the case. Bragg first said he would not take up the case. This is very political, not a matter of justice. In this case, let the jury be the voters,” former Florida governor and 2016 GOP challenger Jeb Bush tweeted on Saturday, according to Fox News.
The massive wave of cash follows the Thursday indictment over allegations of campaign finance violations ahead of the 2016 presidential campaign. The charges involve a “hush money” payment of $130,000 to adult film star Stormy Daniels and a $150,000 “catch and kill” payment to Playboy model Karen McDougal, both of whom claimed they had an affair with Trump at various points in the preceding years.
Trump has vigorously denied the allegations by both women.
