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DIVISIVE FIGURE
Trump, a divisive figure in US politics with support particularly among white blue-collar and conservative Christian voters, served as president from 2017 to 2021, governing as a right-wing populist.
He was impeached twice by the House of Representatives, once in 2019 over his conduct regarding Ukraine and again in 2021 over the attack on the US Capitol by his supporters. He was acquitted by the Senate both times.
He leads his early rivals for his party’s nomination, holding the support of 43 per cent of Republicans in a February Reuters/Ipsos poll, compared with 31 per cent support for his nearest rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who has yet to announce his candidacy. Biden is expected to seek re-election.
Trump on Mar 18 wrote on social media that he had expected to be arrested on Mar 21 and urged his supporters to protest to “take our nation back,” reminiscent of his exhortations ahead of the Jan 6, 2021,attack on the US Capitol.
Some leading Republicans ahead of the indictment accused Bragg of selective prosecution with political motivations.
The Republican speaker of the US House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, called it an “outrageous abuse of power by a radical DA” and announced a congressional investigation into whether federal funding was being used to support Bragg’s probe and “subvert our democracy.”
Three House Republican committee chairmen asked Bragg to provide them communications, documents and testimony about the investigation.
On Mar 23, Bragg’s office told the three chairmen that Trump had created a “false expectation” that he would be arrested. In a letter, the district attorney’s general counsel said the representatives were seeking non-public information about a pending criminal investigation, which is confidential.
Trump in 2018 initially disputed knowing anything about the payment to Daniels. He later acknowledged reimbursing Cohen for the payment, which he called a “simple private transaction.”
In 2018, Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance law violations for his role in orchestrating the payments to Daniels and McDougal and was sentenced to three years in prison. He testified that Trump directed him to make the payments.
Cohen testified before the Manhattan grand jury investigating Trump on Mar 13. The grand jury also heard from David Pecker, the former publisher of the National Enquirer.
The tabloid publication bought the rights to McDougal’s story about her alleged relationship with Trump for US$150,000 but never published it, a method known as “catch and kill” used by some media outlets to bury damaging information about a third party.
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