Will he or won’t he? Only Alvin Bragg’s hairdresser knows for sure. But the day has arrived when Donald Trump predicted that the Manhattan District Attorney would order his arrest. And if the activity around the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse last night was any indication, the city is preparing for a worst-case scenario. As our Townhall colleague Leah Barkoukis reports, barricades were being erected around the building and extra police officers were being scheduled to work overtime.
Barricades were erected on Monday around the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse ahead of an expected indictment of former President Trump over his alleged involvement in a hush-money payment scheme to porn star Stormy Daniels.
According to Politico, NYPD, Secret Service, and court officials also met to plan for the potential indictment.
The 45th president will reportedly be fingerprinted and get his mug shot taken but may not be handcuffed or “perp walked.”
Some of the barricades being unloaded yesterday didn’t really look all that daunting.
Wow. Looks like it’s happening. 😳
“Steel barricades arriving outside Manhattan Criminal Court”
— Justin Hart (@justin_hart) March 20, 2023
This could still all just be for show, though I tend to doubt it. Until the actual order (if it exists) is signed, Alvin Bragg still has time to walk back from the brink. And that would probably be a good idea. Virtually every legal analyst who isn’t effectively on the payroll of the Democrats has said that the hush money charge wouldn’t amount to more than a misdemeanor and even then the prosecution would have to prove there was an intent to commit fraud of some sort. Granted, Bragg could probably find a never-Trump judge who is willing to throw the book at him, but the conviction would probably crumble on appeal.
Then we have all of the people who are predicting that arresting Donald Trump in this fashion would prove to the world that the Democrats are engaged in a political witch hunt. Trump would use that moment to his advantage and, at least according to some, it might just launch him back into the White House.
If this happens, Trump will be re-elected in a landslide victory
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 18, 2023
I’m not at all sure that this should be seen as a foregone conclusion this early in the primary process. There is a lot of ground to cover between now and then and Trump’s support, while still significant, is far from universal in his own party. But none of that makes arresting him a good idea, even for his loudest critics.
Even MSNBC was forced to concede that this indictment could blow up in the Democrats’ faces. They still flail around insisting that the former President must have done something illegal, but the Stormy Daniels case is probably impossible to win for Bragg and Trump would use that victory as a battle banner going forward.
If Trump successfully defends himself against an indictment for his role in the payment to Daniels, we can predict he will use it as vindication that any and all charges brought against him are merely so-called witch hunts. It doesn’t take much to imagine Trump’s ceaseless gloating about a loss by the New York prosecutors. And this could have a cascade effect, not only emboldening Trump’s false claims that he has done nothing wrong, but also making other prosecutors skittish about charging Trump in other cases.
Don’t expect Alvin Bragg to suddenly demonstrate the best judicial judgment in this matter. Why would he start now? Keep in mind that Bragg has consistently failed to bring charges against or severely undercharged actual criminals since taking office. In fact, he’s more famous for charging the victims of violent crimes than the criminals themselves. His own prosecutors resigned in droves shortly after he took office rather than having their names associated with him.
We’ll keep an eye on the situation and update this report as required. But the scene in Manhattan this morning has all the trappings of some sort of drama potentially taking place.
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