FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT
NEW YORK — Donald Trump aims to turn his indictment into a worldwide live show. He allegedly told his advisers that he wants to be handcuffed when he voluntarily appears in Manhattan courthouse. And he would have added that, even if he were shot in front of the building, he would become “a martyr” and his victory in the 2024 presidential election would be assured.
The grand jury, the jury of 23 people who must decide whether there are grounds for the indictment of the first former president in the history of the United States, has not yet expressed itself: yesterday it did not meet for unknown reasons, at the request of the prosecution; the vote could take place today. Trump, who last Saturday had predicted the indictment for Tuesday, relaunched an article from the right-wing network on Truth Social during the night Fox Newsaccording to which prosecutor Alvin Bragg may have changed his mind and no longer wants to charge him. In short, the show is already in full swing.
Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Maggie Haberman last Sunday New York Timesshe said to Cnn that Trump was “very anxious” about the likely indictment related to payments made in 2016 to Stormy Daniels with false invoices and alleged campaign funds, in order to silence her about a sexual relationship a decade earlier. “Both things may be true,” says Haberman. “On the one hand, Trump thinks the indictment could help him politically… on the other, he doesn’t want to face arrest: he would have to introduce himself, they would take his fingerprints, he would have to ask for bail. None of that excites him.” But in recent days, writes Haberman herself, Trump concluded that, if he has to undergo an arrest (which will consist of his mugshot and fingerprints, before being immediately released), then he might as well turn the event into a show. rather than appearing as “a loser” by logging on remotely or sneaking into court, which lawyers and intelligence agencies had suggested to him. His lawyers are not sure that Trump fully understands the risks of the indictment: one indictment could encourage others for more “dangerous” casessuch as the attempt to subvert the result of the 2020 election in Atlanta or the refusal to hand over classified documents at the end of the term (there would be new evidence that he deliberately withheld them).
In the meantime, the former president plays golf on his estate in Florida. One evening he djed a party choosing songs by the Rolling Stones and the Phantom of the Opera. They say he believes he can bend events to his will: he’s done it in the past, surviving scandals that would sink any politician (like in 2016, when a ten-year-old video of him bragging about sexually assaulting women resurfaced). Trump wants to be the star of the primary show again as he was in 2016. He doesn’t need an indictment or the start of the trial (which would last months, if not over a year) to turn the accusations into an electoral weapon. He’s already raised $1.5 million in donations since Saturday, Republicans have sided with him. But Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is not there and in an interview on Fox he placed himself as an alternative to the tycoon.