Last Saturday, former US President Donald Trump announced that he could be arrested on March 21 in connection with an ongoing investigation by Manhattan District Attorney (DA) Alvin Bragg. Bragg's investigation comes in relation to an alleged payment of "hush money" to adult movie star Stormy Daniels by Trump via his former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, in 2016.
"This is plain and simple an election interference witch hunt," said Pastor Mark Burns, who proudly calls himself a personal friend of Donald Trump. "This has never happened before. Never before has a former president ever been charged in the history of the United States of America. This is clearly a Soros-backed-funded New York district attorney who's essentially weaponizing the justice-political system to really influence the 2024 presidential election. To be honest with you, the American people aren’t fooled by foolish tips. And I think that the radical left, they underestimated the power of 'we the people'."
The federal case concerning the alleged "hush money" was rejected by the Justice Department during Trump's presidency. Federal prosecutors repeatedly rejected the case after Trump left the Oval Office since they considered the issue "trivial and outdated." According to some US legal experts, the DA's case is dead in the water.
Meanwhile, constitutional experts assume that Trump's indictment and conviction could not prevent him from running. Twitter owner Elon Musk and some Republican lawmakers suggested that Trump's indictment will only reinvigorate the former president's base and boost his 2024 odds.
"If he actually is indicted, this is the greatest news for President Trump's campaign. They will have essentially just reelected him. Because, again, the American people aren't fooled by this. Let's just talk about Alvin Bragg, the district attorney (…) This guy is clearly not a neutral prosecutor. This is simply a personal vendetta against the leading candidate for the Republican nomination and by many polls, the 47th president of the United States of America, because polls show that Biden and Trump are head to head on it, that [former] President Trump wins," the pastor said.
"[Biden] has undoubtedly caused what would essentially be the breakdown of the American belief system in our justice system. And it would be completely destroyed because now they have completely weaponized the Justice Department."
In response, the local New York City Police Department (NYPD) strengthened its forces with a couple of officers earlier this week. On Monday, barricades were seen waiting to be put in place and leaning against the walls outside of the Manhattan Criminal Court with all media waiting for a possible indictment of Trump.
For their part, top House GOP lawmakers demanded that DA Bragg testify to Congress on a possible indictment of the former president. In response, a spokesperson for Bragg’s office told the US press: "We will not be intimidated by attempts to undermine the justice process, nor will we let baseless accusations deter us from fairly applying the law." It is clear that Biden is trying to get rid of his political opponent, according to Burns.
"[Former] President Trump breaks the hopeless agenda of Joe Biden," the pastor said. "Joe Biden's agenda is not the American people. We clearly see that when he is recently trying to raise the income and the salaries of the DC's federal swamps, while regular, hardworking Americans are suffering at home. And [former] President Trump is about taking care of the American people first, then taking care of the DC federal swamps. Joe Biden's focus is not the American people (…) The billions that's going to Ukraine is going to the military conflict. It is not going to the innocent people, the bystanders, those people who are desperately helpless (…) It is clear that this is all about might, game and Joe Biden hides the real issue that happened in Ukraine that he and his son, Hunter Biden, are directly involved. And so this is why he really despises [former] President Trump, because Trump really has gained the heartbeat of the American citizen."