Manhattan DA Alvin Brag has single-mindedly pursued age-old charges from 2016 concerning alleged events in 2006 against former President Donald Trump and has stepped into uncharted territory with the indictment of the former president this past week.
Bragg has to know that Republicans will not stand for this attempt to smear Trump and that opening the door to these proceedings will likely backfire on the DA. The media is having a field day with the charges, which are 34 counts that seem repetitive and are unexplained legally in the indictment.
Bragg is about to see his own battle start with top Republicans as Congress steps into the fray.
Top Republican lawmaker Kevin McCarthy has doubled down on his warning that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg will face a Congressional investigation over his case against Donald Trump, Daily Mail reports.
The House Speaker lashed out at the prosecutor for bringing “politicized charges” against the former president over allegations he paid hush money to two women, including ex-porn star Stormy Daniels. McCarthy, a nine-term Congressman representing California’s 22nd district, accused the 49-year-old of trying to derail the real estate mogul’s bid to return to the White House.
“Alvin Bragg is attempting to interfere in our democratic process by invoking federal law to bring politicized charges against President Trump,” he wrote on Twitter. “(His) weaponization of the federal justice process will be held accountable by Congress,” the GOP leader added.
A spokesman for McCarthy did not immediately reply to questions asking when such an investigation would be opened or what it hoped to achieve, Daily Mail noted. The 58-year-old McCarthy made his remarks after Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felonies linked to the payments totaling $310,000.
Trump himself posted today, “REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS SHOULD DEFUND THE DOJ AND FBI UNTIL THEY COME TO THEIR SENSES. THE DEMOCRATS HAVE TOTALLY WEAPONIZED LAW ENFORCEMENT IN OUR COUNTRY AND ARE VICIOUSLY USING THIS ABUSE OF POWER TO INTERFERE WITH OUR ALREADY UNDER SEIGE ELECTIONS!”
The Daily Mail reported Bragg’s position on the charges:
A court filing said hush money was given to porn star Stormy Daniels, Playboy model Karen McDougal, and a former Trump Tower doorman who claimed to have information that Trump had a child out of wedlock. But Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg argues the one-time reality TV star stumped up the cash to conceal information that could have stopped his 2016 White House run.
The registered Democrat told reporters: ‘What this case is about: 34 false statements made to cover up other crimes. These are felony crimes in New York state, no matter who you are. We cannot and will not normalize serious criminal conduct.’
The court filing said Trump and others involved in the scheme “violated election laws and made and caused false entries in the business records of various entities in New York.” The document adds that Trump and his allies “also took steps that mischaracterized, for tax purposes, the true nature of the payments.”
But Media analysts are weighing in on the matter. “This is repulsive,” Fox News host Sean Hannity said Thursday night. “It’s a disgusting political hit job the likes of which we have never seen in this country.”
The Washington Post reported that top-rated host Tucker Carlson, while not a fan of the former president personally, dissected the indictment on air noting that the 34 charges all seemed to be the same charge. He further noted that the in the charge of alleged “false” statements that supposedly would have affected the outcome of the 2016 election, the manner of which the statements would have had that effect is not stated at all.
“This effort is one in a long line of unprecedented steps that permanent Washington has taken to stop Donald Trump from holding office in a democracy, Carlson said Thursday. “It’s an effort to take him our of the political race. That’s not allowed.”
Carlson continued, “It almost feels they’re pushing the population to react,” he said referring vaguely to Democrats, and adding, “At what point do we conclude they’re doing this in order to produce a reaction?”
Carlson’s guest, former ESPN personality Jason Whitlock, struck a similar tone as he commented, “They are agitating for unrest. I’m ready for whatever’s next…if that’s what they want, let’s get to it.”
“This day will go down as a dark day for America,” Fox News host Jesse Watters told viewers. “This is a calculated move. Do you think Donald Trump would be indicted if he wasn’t running?”
Dan Bongino, a Trump fan, said the indictment proves the United States is now in a “police state” but predicted it would end up handing Trump the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
“This ushers in what will probably be a very dark era of political persecution and prosecution, the type we normally associated with the Soviet Union or banana republics,” said Mollie Hemingway, editor in chief of the Federalist, during a panel spot on Fox’s evening newscast.
