(Headline USA) Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., declined to say this week whether he had confidence in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s potential prosecution of former President Donald Trump.
Bragg is reportedly getting ready to roll out an indictment of Trump for an alleged hush money the former president paid to porn star Stormy Daniels. Bragg plans to claim the hush payment, otherwise known as a non-disclosure agreement, was a campaign finance violation and that it was improperly reported.
When asked about the case, Schumer said, “Look, the bottom line, is – as I said – it’s premature to comment on what’s happening and we’ll have to wait and see what [Bragg] does … We don’t know what’s going to happen yet.”
Other Democrats, including Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., have been much more straightforward.
“There’s many reasons not to support Donald Trump. There’s many reasons why Donald Trump should not be president again of the United States, but you should not allow the court system to be viewed as a political pawn,” Manchin said on Tuesday. “I think it would basically have the reverse effect as what some people would think, not for the good.”
Bragg’s prosecution of Trump seems to have run into some roadblocks. A source with ties to his office said on Wednesday that Bragg has repeatedly delayed the convening of a grand jury to review his case because he is concerned they won’t go for it.
“The last thing he wants is for the grand jury to vote against him,” the source said. “He wants a no-doubt-about-it case. He is pressuring the ‘Trump obsessed’ to step up and prove the case.”
Trump, however, has reportedly told allies that he hopes the prosecution moves forward, saying the public spectacle would greatly benefit his 2024 presidential campaign.
The former president said he wants to be handcuffed if he has to make an in-person court appearance, saying that if he is going to be fingerprinted and taken in for a mug shot, he might as well use the event to benefit his campaign, according to a report.
