Though a person familiar with the Trump operations said that they were not actively organizing protests, the Saturday morning post by the ex-president underscores the degree to which he is trying to turn the legal cases against him into a political tinderbox. His description of his anticipated arrest followed a lengthy, rambling thread in which he claimed “The American Dream is dead” and falsely asserted the 2020 election was stolen from him. The rhetoric is similar to his remarks on Jan. 6, 2021, when he urged supporters to “fight like hell” to prevent Joe Biden from taking office.
“If you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore,” Trump said at the time, before thousands of supporters marched to the Capitol and stormed the building, endangering Congress and the transfer of power.
A spokesperson for Bragg declined to comment Saturday. A spokesperson for the NYPD declined to comment. A Secret Service spokesperson said they were not able to comment on specific protection plans or protectee movements.
A flurry of news reports Friday evening said Bragg asked law enforcement authorities in New York City to begin discussions about the security issues and logistics involved in responding to a potential indictment of Trump there. It’s unclear whether the potential criminal charge would result in Trump being arrested at his new home in Florida, but one of Trump’s attorneys, Joseph Tacopina, has said Trump would turn himself in to face the charges in Manhattan if a grand jury returns an indictment in the coming days.
Bragg’s predecessor as district attorney, Cy Vance Jr., conducted a lengthy investigation into the Trump Organization’s business practices. That probe resulted in tax evasion charges against two Trump business entities and the group’s longtime chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg. He pleaded guilty last year and a jury convicted the Trump companies on the charges.
However, the probe did not result in any charges against Trump himself before Vance was replaced by Bragg at the start of last year. One of the prosecutors leading that investigation quit, saying that Bragg had balked at proceeding with a broad tax fraud and business fraud case.