Trump Prosecutions Likely to Stir Ex-President’s Base: Former President Donald Trump’s legal woes are heating up. Prosecutors in Georgia and New York have him in their sights. But the former president seems to relish in the controversy, accusing the prosecutors of being partisans.
Donald Trump Has Lots of Legal Problems
“Nobody’s ever weaponized like this before; they’re maniacs,” Trump said at a recent rally.
In New York, the former president faces charges in connection with allegedly providing hush money to former porn star Stormy Daniels.
In Georgia, a grand jury is investigating the former president’s effort to overturn the 2020 election and to block Joe Biden’s certification as the winner of that state’s electoral votes.
A grand jury met for approximately seven months and heard testimony from 75 witnesses, including many of Trump’s advisers. Witnesses included former New York Mayor Rudolph Guiliani, Sen. Lindsey Graham, and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp.
New audio has emerged of the former president pressuring late Georgia House Speaker David Ralston to call a special session of the Georgia state legislature to review what Trump considered to be voting irregularities. Trump wanted the states 16 electoral votes taken from Joe Biden and given to him.
“He’s been clear on that before, and he was clear on that in the phone conversation yesterday. You know I shared with him my belief that based on the understanding I have of Georgia law that it was going to be very much an uphill battle,” Ralston said in a December 2020 interview about his discussion with Trump. “And I don’t think that’s going to happen. And the other way is if three-fifths of each chamber.”
Trump also pressured Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” the votes he needed to overturn the election.
“All I want to do is this: I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have,” Trump told Raffensperger in a recorded Jan. 2, 2021 call.
Audit results from Cobb County found no such irregularities.
The Witchhunt?
Whether of not Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis plans to bring charges against Trump remains to be seen. Trump has dismissed her as a partisan Democrat who is on a witch hunt against him.
Trump could face solicitation to commit election fraud charges, ones for improperly influencing witnesses to make false statements, and/or charges under Georgia’s Georgia Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) law due to his systematic effort to influence the election outcome, according to CREW.
Ty Cobb, who represented the former president during the Mueller Russiagate investigation, told CNN he believes an indictment could be imminent in one of the cases against Trump.
“I think it’s highly unlikely that the president could go to jail in connection with the contemplated charges in New York,” Cobb said. “I do believe that the federal government will come forward with an indictment over the obstruction of the January 6th proceedings involving Vice President Pence, and quite likely a defrauding the United States charge as well,” Cobb said. “That will have political consequences for him. It will freeze his donors.
“He will be asking for so much money that there will be a lot of checks and balances on the donor side that will halt his ability to raise funds.”
Former Trump fixer-turned-enemy Michael Cohen told CNN that he believes that an indictment of Trump is imminent.
“Everyone needs to be held to the same standard; that includes former presidents,” Cohen said.
What Will MAGA Think?
Trump’s base will shrug off the indictments as a political witch hunt. In fact, many would argue that such charges could cause a rally around Donald Trump effect – that it could only bolster his popularity among MAGA Republicans. With so many different charges looming, one could argue there is a strong possibility we might just find out.
John Rossomando has been featured in numerous publications such as The American Thinker, Daily Wire, Red Alert Politics, CNSNews.com, The Daily Caller, Human Events, Newsmax, The American Spectator, TownHall.com, and Crisis Magazine. He also served as senior managing editor of The Bulletin, a 100,000-circulation daily newspaper in Philadelphia, and received the Pennsylvania Associated Press Managing Editors first-place award in 2008 for his reporting.
