Former Vice President Mike Pence called the Manhattan District Attorney’s investigation into former President Donald Trump a “politically charged prosecution.”
In an interview with ABC News’s Jonathan Karl broadcast on “This Week” Sunday, Pence blasted Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg for prioritizing prosecuting Trump over the crime epidemic in New York City. Pence’s comments come after Trump said he expected to be indicted and arrested on Tuesday in connection with alleged hush money payments made to two women, including former porn star Stormy Daniels.
“I’m taken aback at the idea of indicting a former president of the United States, at a time when there’s a crime wave in New York City,” Pence said. “The fact that the Manhattan DA thinks that indicting President Trump is his top priority, I think just tells you everything you need to know about the radical left in this country… It just feels like a politically charged prosecution here. And I, for my part, I just feel like it’s just not what the American people want to see.”
Pence also responded to Trump’s calls for his supporters to protest, saying that the American people have the right, but they must do so peacefully.
“The frustration the American people feel about what they sense is a two-tiered justice system in this country, I think, is well-founded,” Pence said. “But– I believe that people understand that if they give voice to this, if this occurs on Tuesday, that they need to do so peacefully and in a lawful manner, that the violence that occurred on January 6, the violence that occurred in cities throughout this country in the summer of 2020 was a disgrace.”
“The American people won’t tolerate it and those that engage in that kind of violence should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” he continued.
EXCLUSIVE: Former Vice Pres. Mike Pence tells @JonKarl that a possible arrest of former Pres. Donald Trump would be “a politically charged prosecution.”
“And I, for my part, I just feel like it’s just not what the American people want to see.” https://t.co/jXLkYTiWjz pic.twitter.com/aapbdXt9vF
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) March 18, 2023
According to a recent report from NBC News, law enforcement officials are preparing for Trump to be criminally indicted. Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen admitted he made the payments, but the investigation stems from how Cohen was reimbursed. The money was listed as legal fees, but it was not related to any legal expenses from Cohen.
The payment can be prosecuted as a misdemeanor criminal charge of falsifying business records. According to the New York Times, prosecutors can elevate the misdemeanor to a felony if they can prove that Trump’s “‘intent to defraud’ included an intent to commit or conceal a second crime.” Cohen said the payments were for the “principal purpose of influencing” the 2016 election.
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Trump blasted the NBC News report and called for his supporters to protest his potential arrest.
“ILLEGAL LEAKS FROM A CORRUPT & HIGHLY POLITICAL MANHATTAN DISTRICT ATTORNEYS OFFICE, WHICH HAS ALLOWED NEW RECORDS TO BE SET IN VIOLENT CRIME & WHOSE LEADER IS FUNDED BY GEORGE SOROS, INDICATE THAT, WITH NO CRIME BEING ABLE TO BE PROVEN, & BASED ON AN OLD & FULLY DEBUNKED (BY NUMEROUS OTHER PROSECUTORS!) FAIRYTALE, THE FAR & AWAY LEADING REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE & FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, WILL BE ARRESTED ON TUESDAY OF NEXT WEEK,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “PROTEST, TAKE OUR NATION BACK!”