Donald Trump has called his grand jury indictment in an alleged hush money scheme a “Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history.”
The statement was issued shortly after a grand jury in New York City voted on Thursday, March 30, to indict the former president, the first time a former U.S. president has faced criminal charges.
A payment of $130,000 was allegedly made to adult film star Stormy Daniels during the closing days of the 2016 presidential campaign. Daniels claimed she slept with the married Trump in 2006, a claim he has denied. Trump had classified his reimbursement of the payout as a legal expense to his then-lawyer.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office has been investigating the former president in connection with his alleged role in a hush money payment scheme and cover-up involving adult film star Stormy Daniels that dates to the 2016 presidential election.
Trump accused “Radical Left Democrats” of a “Witch-Hunt to destroy the Make America Great Again movement” in the statement, which was also posted to his Truth Social network.
“The Democrats have lied, cheated and stolen in their obsession with trying to ‘Get Trump,’ but now they’ve done the unthinkable – indicting a completely innocent person in an act of blatant Election Interference,” Trump continued.
“You remember it just like I do: Russia, Russia, Russia; the Mueller Hoax; Ukraine, Ukraine, Ukraine; Impeachment Hoax 1; Impeachment Hoax 2; the illegal and unconstitutional Mar-a-Lago raid; and now this,” Trump said.
Trump repeated, without evidence, another frequent refrain about the “weaponization” of the justice system and continued his verbal assault on Bragg, accusing the district attorney of “doing Joe Biden’s dirty work.”
He finished with a rallying call to MAGA voters amid his campaign for the presidency in 2024.
“So our Movement, and our Party – united and strong – will first defeat Alvin Bragg, and then we will defeat Joe Biden, and we are going to throw every last one of these Crooked Democrats out of office so we can MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” he said.
In a follow-up post on Truth Social, Trump lashed out at “Thugs and Radical Left Monsters.” In all caps, he further called the indictment an attack on “our once free and fair elections” and the U.S. a “third world nation.”
In a further post, the former president said he “cannot get a fair trial in New York.”