U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, the third-ranked Republican in Congress, rushed to the defense of former President Donald J. Trump after he announced early Saturday that he is expecting to face criminal charges in Manhattan next week.GOP sources told the Times Union last week that they had expected an indictment against Trump to be handed up on Friday. But according to published reports, there may be at least one more witness scheduled to testify before the grand jury reviewing the case that’s being pursued by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.The investigation is related to the 2016 effort to secure the silence of Stormy Daniels, an adult film actress who has said she had a sexual encounter with Trump — a claim he denies. Trump, who in November announced his bid for the 2024 Republican nomination, would become the first former U.S. president to face criminal charges after leaving office. In a statement Saturday morning on Trump’s own Truth Social platform, he railed in an all-caps post against what he said is a “highly political Manhattan district attorney’s office, which has allowed new records to be set in violent crime (and) whose leader is funded by George Soros…. ” He added that the “far (and) away leading Republican candidate (and) former president of the United States of America, will be arrested on Tuesday of next week. Protest, take our nation back!”Stefanik’s response, released by her campaign, was equally heated as she characterized the expected criminal case as “unAmerican and the radical left has reached a dangerous new low of Third World countries.””Knowing they cannot beat President Trump at the ballot box, the radical left will now follow the lead of Socialist dictators and reportedly arrest President Trump, the leading Republican candidate for president of the United States,” Stefanik added. “This is just a continuation of the disgraceful and unconstitutional pattern going back to the illegal Russian collusion hoax to attempt to silence and suppress the will of the voters who support President Trump and the America First Movement.”The congresswoman, who was among the first prominent Republicans to endorse Trump’s 2024 bid and been one of his staunchest congressional supporters for several years, described Bragg as a “leftist” prosecutor and said that his “Socialist allies fail to understand is that America First Patriots have never been so energized to exercise their constitutional rights to peacefully organize and vote at the ballot box to save our great republic.”Former Vice President Mike Pence — another potential 2024 contender who has at times been critical of Trump since leaving the White House — also questioned the decision by Bragg’s office to pursue a criminal case against the former president.”You have literally a Democratic party that’s literally dismantled the criminal justice system in that city, undercut the NYPD, and this is what the Manhattan DA says is their top priority?” he said Saturday during an interview on SiriusXM. “It reeks of the kind of political prosecution that we endured back in the days of the Russia hoax and the whole impeachment over a phone call” — a reference to Trump’s first impeachment, which emerged from his efforts to compel Ukraine to conduct an investigation into a company that employed Hunter Biden.Daniels, a former stripper, initially approached the National Enquirer with her story of a 2006 sexual liaison with Trump. The tabloid’s management — which had already purchased the rights to another woman’s account of an alleged relationship with Trump — instead connected Daniels with Trump’s confidant, attorney Michael Cohen, who eventually paid her $130,000. After his election, Trump reimbursed Cohen for the payment — classifying them as attorneys’ fees — but claimed he had no knowledge of the arrangement.Cohen, who in 2018 pleaded guilty to federal charges related to false statements about the deal, and Daniels testified in recent days before a Manhattan grand jury weighing the evidence in the matter.Republicans in New York and beyond have been critical of Bragg. Last year, his first month in office was marred by the leak of an internal memo in which he had instructed prosecutors in his office not to seek jail time for crimes including robbery, assault and gun possession. Bragg later walked backed the directive after becoming a political target of other public officials as well as police officers and small business owners who painted him as too lenient at a time when surging crime has plagued New York City.Trump and his allies have also called Bragg, who is Black, a “racist” — the same charge they have lodged against Democrats including New York Attorney General Letitia James, whose office has pursued numerous investigations of Trump’s business interests, including last fall’s civil action alleging widespread financial fraud, and Fulton County, Ga., District Attorney Fani T. Willis, whose office is investigating Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in that state. James’ civil action against Trump’s businesses tracked with an investigation begun by the Manhattan district attorney’s office under Bragg’s predecessor, Cyrus Vance Jr. After taking office, Bragg decided against bringing criminal charges related to that alleged conduct, though he has said the investigation remains open.Trump is under investigation by federal prosecutors related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election as well as his retention of classified documents despite assurances given by his legal team that all presidential records that they had been required to surrender were turned over to the National Archives. Trump has similarly attacked those investigations as politically motivated, and denied all wrongdoing.The optics of the investigation of Trump’s retention of classified documents has been clouded by the discovery in November of classified documents from President Joe Biden’s time in office as vice president. The initial batch of documents were found by Biden’s personal attorneys in the Penn Biden Center in Washington, D.C., and additional classified documents were later discovered at other locations, including the garage of Biden’s private residence in Wilmington, Delaware.The Justice Department has appointed a special prosecutor to investigate the classified documents found in several locations connected to Biden. In January, it was revealed the FBI had searched the Penn Biden Center in mid-November — which had not been disclosed by the White House. FBI agents also searched Biden’s residences in Delaware as part of the ongoing probe.
U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, the third-ranked Republican in Congress, rushed to the defense of former President Donald J. Trump after he announced early Saturday that he is expecting to face criminal charges in Manhattan next week.
GOP sources told the Times Union last week that they had expected an indictment against Trump to be handed up on Friday. But according to published reports, there may be at least one more witness scheduled to testify before the grand jury reviewing the case that’s being pursued by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
The investigation is related to the 2016 effort to secure the silence of Stormy Daniels, an adult film actress who has said she had a sexual encounter with Trump — a claim he denies. Trump, who in November announced his bid for the 2024 Republican nomination, would become the first former U.S. president to face criminal charges after leaving office.
In a statement Saturday morning on Trump’s own Truth Social platform, he railed in an all-caps post against what he said is a “highly political Manhattan district attorney’s office, which has allowed new records to be set in violent crime (and) whose leader is funded by George Soros…. ” He added that the “far (and) away leading Republican candidate (and) former president of the United States of America, will be arrested on Tuesday of next week. Protest, take our nation back!”
Stefanik’s response, released by her campaign, was equally heated as she characterized the expected criminal case as “unAmerican and the radical left has reached a dangerous new low of Third World countries.”
“Knowing they cannot beat President Trump at the ballot box, the radical left will now follow the lead of Socialist dictators and reportedly arrest President Trump, the leading Republican candidate for president of the United States,” Stefanik added. “This is just a continuation of the disgraceful and unconstitutional pattern going back to the illegal Russian collusion hoax to attempt to silence and suppress the will of the voters who support President Trump and the America First Movement.”
The congresswoman, who was among the first prominent Republicans to endorse Trump’s 2024 bid and been one of his staunchest congressional supporters for several years, described Bragg as a “leftist” prosecutor and said that his “Socialist allies fail to understand is that America First Patriots have never been so energized to exercise their constitutional rights to peacefully organize and vote at the ballot box to save our great republic.”
Former Vice President Mike Pence — another potential 2024 contender who has at times been critical of Trump since leaving the White House — also questioned the decision by Bragg’s office to pursue a criminal case against the former president.
“You have literally a Democratic party that’s literally dismantled the criminal justice system in that city, undercut the NYPD, and this is what the Manhattan DA says is their top priority?” he said Saturday during an interview on SiriusXM. “It reeks of the kind of political prosecution that we endured back in the days of the Russia hoax and the whole impeachment over a phone call” — a reference to Trump’s first impeachment, which emerged from his efforts to compel Ukraine to conduct an investigation into a company that employed Hunter Biden.
Daniels, a former stripper, initially approached the National Enquirer with her story of a 2006 sexual liaison with Trump. The tabloid’s management — which had already purchased the rights to another woman’s account of an alleged relationship with Trump — instead connected Daniels with Trump’s confidant, attorney Michael Cohen, who eventually paid her $130,000. After his election, Trump reimbursed Cohen for the payment — classifying them as attorneys’ fees — but claimed he had no knowledge of the arrangement.
Cohen, who in 2018 pleaded guilty to federal charges related to false statements about the deal, and Daniels testified in recent days before a Manhattan grand jury weighing the evidence in the matter.
Republicans in New York and beyond have been critical of Bragg. Last year, his first month in office was marred by the leak of an internal memo in which he had instructed prosecutors in his office not to seek jail time for crimes including robbery, assault and gun possession. Bragg later walked backed the directive after becoming a political target of other public officials as well as police officers and small business owners who painted him as too lenient at a time when surging crime has plagued New York City.
Trump and his allies have also called Bragg, who is Black, a “racist” — the same charge they have lodged against Democrats including New York Attorney General Letitia James, whose office has pursued numerous investigations of Trump’s business interests, including last fall’s civil action alleging widespread financial fraud, and Fulton County, Ga., District Attorney Fani T. Willis, whose office is investigating Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in that state.
James’ civil action against Trump’s businesses tracked with an investigation begun by the Manhattan district attorney’s office under Bragg’s predecessor, Cyrus Vance Jr. After taking office, Bragg decided against bringing criminal charges related to that alleged conduct, though he has said the investigation remains open.
Trump is under investigation by federal prosecutors related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election as well as his retention of classified documents despite assurances given by his legal team that all presidential records that they had been required to surrender were turned over to the National Archives. Trump has similarly attacked those investigations as politically motivated, and denied all wrongdoing.
The optics of the investigation of Trump’s retention of classified documents has been clouded by the discovery in November of classified documents from President Joe Biden’s time in office as vice president. The initial batch of documents were found by Biden’s personal attorneys in the Penn Biden Center in Washington, D.C., and additional classified documents were later discovered at other locations, including the garage of Biden’s private residence in Wilmington, Delaware.
The Justice Department has appointed a special prosecutor to investigate the classified documents found in several locations connected to Biden. In January, it was revealed the FBI had searched the Penn Biden Center in mid-November — which had not been disclosed by the White House. FBI agents also searched Biden’s residences in Delaware as part of the ongoing probe.
