The former president said on Saturday that he may be criminally charged on Tuesday.
As former President Donald Trump may be on the verge of indictment in New York, some of his political rivals are preemptively criticizing what would be an unprecedented decision—describing it as “persecution” and a “disaster.”
Speculation has swirled for the past couple weeks that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg may be about to press criminal charges against Trump. The charges would be in relation to an alleged 2016 campaign finance violation involving “hush money” payments to adult performer Stephanie Clifford, better known by her stage name Stormy Daniels.
Media reports in recent days suggested an indictment against the former president and his arrest are imminent. Trump, who is seeking the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, added substantial fuel to the speculation on Saturday morning by posting on Truth Social that he would be criminally charged on Tuesday—urging his supporters to protest.
In response to the news, Trump’s rival for the GOP nomination, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, blasted the possibility of indicting the former president.
“A Trump indictment would be a national disaster. It is un-American for the ruling party to use police power to arrest its political rivals. If a Republican prosecutor in 2004 had used a campaign finance technicality to arrest then-candidate John Kerry while Bush & Cheney were in power, liberals would have cried foul – and rightly so. Principles go beyond partisanship,” the Republican presidential hopeful tweeted.
Ramaswamy contended that “the American people” should “decide who governs.
