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Former Vice President Mike Pence joined most Republicans Thursday in casting doubt on Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's motives in the indictment of Donald Trump.
The former president was indicted on more than 30 counts, CNN reports. His first court appearance is scheduled for Tuesday.
“I think the unprecedented indictment of a former president of the United States on a campaign finance issue is an outrage, and it appears to millions of Americans be nothing more than a political prosecution that's driven by a prosecutor who literally ran for office on a pledge to indict the former president,” Pence told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer in a primetime interview scheduled before Trump’s indictment was known publicly.
“Prosecutors make discretionary decisions about what they bring all the time. Federal prosecutors passed on this, the Manhattan DA initially delayed it, passed on it, but when you have an attorney general in New York and a Manhattan DA that targeted, one particular American in their campaigns, I think that offends the notion of the overwhelming majority of the American people who believe in fairness, who believe in equal treatment before the law, and this appears to be just one more example, Wolf, of the kind of two-tiered justice system that the American people have had enough.”
Pence is considering a presidential run himself and said during travels around the country Trump’s legal troubles don’t appear to be on the radar of ordinary Americans.
RELATED: Stephanie Grisham: 'Voters are not stupid' — and Republicans can't wave away Trump's indictment
“The media's obsession about these investigations into Donald Trump I think is being lost on the American people,” Pence said.
Pence spoke critically of the former president over incendiary remarks on social media, including a statement that "death and destruction" would likely follow charges being brought against him.
“There's no excuse for that kind of rhetoric on either side of this debate,” Pence said.
Pence declined to say whether a person who is indicted should run for president, but acknowledged that presidents shouldn’t be immune from prosecution.
“No one is above the law, including former presidents, let me be clear on that point, and the American people know this,” Pence said.
“But in this case, a controversy over campaign finance, I can't speak to the merits of this case at all, but I can speak to the issue emanating out of a question over campaign finance should never have risen to the level to bring an unprecedented and historic prosecution” of the former president.
Watch video below or at this link.
CNN 03 30 2023 21 00 56 www.youtube.com
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Stephanie Grisham: 'Voters are not stupid' — and Republicans can't wave away Trump's indictment
March 30, 2023
Republicans are already going to bat for former President Donald Trump following his indictment by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, attacking the prosecution as illegitimate.
But this is not going to fly with voters, said former Trump Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham on CNN's "OutFront" on Thursday.
"So Kevin McCarthy just tweeting a moment ago, 'Alvin Bragg as irreparably damaged our country in an attempt to interfere in our presidential election,'" said anchor Erin Burnett. "Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, of course, the presumed at number-two nominee for the GOP, although undeclared so far, coming out and saying of Bragg, 'He is stretching the law to target a political opponent. Florida will not assist in an extradition request, given the questionable circumstances at issue.' And the former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, also a likely candidate in the GOP field, 'It is a dark day for America when a former president is indicted on criminal charges. Donald Trump should not be the next president, but that should be decided by the voters.'"
"Stephanie, obviously interesting he took the hardest line there, but from McCarthy and from DeSantis, loud and clear," added Burnett. "They're going to slam the indictment, but not endorse the indictee."
"Yeah well, coming from McCarthy, that doesn't surprise me at all, I've got to say that," said Grisham. "And I think that DeSantis is playing to play to Trump's base. But I do believe that once this indictment — people are able to see it, the rubber is going to really meet the road for Republicans. Is this what the party stands for? Right now?"
"It's one man with multiple investigations, questionable morals, and somebody who takes the air out of the room every single day rather than us talking about immigration, crime, etcetera," Grisham continued. "And I've got to say, how long are we going to say it's the world's biggest conspiracy that DOJ, a state A.G., local D.A.s, Members of Congress, and the media are all out to get this one man? Voters are just not stupid. And I have to say that I think his base is loud on social media, his base is very loud at his rallies, but people are watching and waiting and seeing his corruption, and his base is clearly not loud enough at the polls. You could see that in the last two elections, the midterms and the last presidential election."
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Stephanie Grisham says "voters are not stupid" about Trump indictment www.youtube.com
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Maggie Haberman: This indictment is the first time Trump 'can't control' his situation
March 30, 2023
Former President Donald Trump is in an unprecedented situation with the new indictment from the Manhattan District Attorney, said New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman on CNN Thursday — largely because this is the first time he's had effectively no control over his legal situation. In fact, she said it caught them all by surprise.
"Historic night," said anchor Jake Tapper.
"It certainly is, and a busy one," said Haberman. "Look, there's so much that we don't know, and I know that we have been saying a version of that for many, many weeks. But I would just like to remind people that the word that people supporting Trump were putting out yesterday was fanning the flames of reports of the grand jury was out for a month. So, I think there's a lot of twists to take on this."
"He is now going to go through the process of getting arrested, and I think that that is going to be much more jarring for him than I think people realize," Haberman continued. "I've been told that he has been briefed on what that will look like. It will involve fingerprinting. It's going to be unlike a normal arraignment because he's going to have Secret Service. And this is going to look different. This is somebody who has spent more than four decades trying to avoid being arrested or being indicted. And so, this is a really scary moment for him, despite whatever he says. Now, you talk to different people tonight. You hear he's fine. You talk to others who say that he is very angry. I expect that we will be hearing all of those emotions going in various ways for the coming days. I don't know what the fallout is going to be politically."
Furthermore, Haberman said, "I think this is the first time that I can think of where he can't he can't control this."
"He was able to control impeachment in some way because Mitch McConnell was on his side in the Senate trial, because House Republicans were on his side," said Haberman. "He was even able to control the second impeachment to some extent, with the Mueller report and the investigation. He was never going to get indicted as a sitting president, and I think that he has an overconfidence in his ability to impact events by intimidation tactics, by pushing out headlines. This is now in the hands of whatever judge he draws, and what the voters think."
Watch below or at the link here.
Maggie Haberman says this is the first time Trump can't "control" his legal situation www.youtube.com
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