The grand jury that will vote out an indictment on Donald Trump — or not — isn’t sitting today, delaying DA Alvin Bragg’s big moment in the sun of getting to arrest the former president.
Trump has reportedly told aides that as long as he’s going to be arrested and processed, he may as well make a “spectacle” of the event. He has allegedly made it known to several aides that he wants to be handcuffed and perp-walked into the courthouse. Trump believes that refusing special treatment — a “remote” surrender or him arriving at the courthouse surreptitiously — would show strength and defiance.
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That may be. But the Secret Service insists that Trump take a safer route to his arraignment — one that doesn’t involve a showy pageant and media circus.
Trump’s legal team in the hush money case has recoiled at the idea of him going in person and recommended that Trump allow them [sic] to quietly turn himself in next week and schedule a remote appearance, even citing guidance from his Secret Service detail about potential security concerns.
But Trump has rejected that approach and told various allies over the weekend that he didn’t care if someone shot him – he would become “a martyr”. He later added that if he got shot, he would probably win the presidency in 2024, the sources said.
Alvin Bragg has it in his power to refuse to handcuff and perp-walk Trump into the courthouse. And if he had an ounce of common sense, that’s exactly what he’d do. Trump probably knows that Bragg wouldn’t dare treat him the way the rabid, frothing left would love to see him treated — hog-tied, gagged, and taken to jail. Nevertheless, Trump will somehow find a way to make his arrest a three-ring circus, even if Bragg tries to keep it under wraps.
Trump has also been fixated on how an indictment might be a boon for his 2024 presidential campaign, betting that it would enrage his Maga base and force the rest of the Republican party to fall in line to defend him, in what he has already characterised as a politically motivated prosecution.
In the past, publicity over political and criminal investigations have benefited Trump’s fundraising, and forced Republican rivals to stumble between criticizing prosecutors and defending otherwise politically indefensible allegations.
Whether an indictment benefits Trump for the 2024 campaign remains to be seen given his grievance-driven campaigns have faltered in recent election cycles, with independent voters, in particular, seemingly exhausted by his constant refrains surrounding “witch-hunt” investigations.
Whether any voters are “seemingly exhausted” by anything remains to be seen. Apparently, only the mind-readers at The Guardian can suss out the truth in that respect. But the effect on the GOP presidential field of these constant threats of Trump being indicted is forcing the nominating race to be driven, at least partly, by Trump’s legal status.
And that only benefits the former president.
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