“Take back our nation”: the underside of Donald Trump’s call to demonstrate in support of him

Donald Trump counterattacks in his own way. Suspected of having bought the silence of a porn star, Stormy Daniels, and under the threat of an indictment, the former tenant of the White House took the lead this Saturday and asked his supporters to organize demonstrations supporting it.

Qu’a dit Donald Trump ?

On the social network he founded, Truth Social, the former American president assured Saturday that he was going to be “arrested” on Tuesday and called for demonstrations in the United States to support him. “Protest, take back our nation!” “, he writes.

While the press evokes a possible indictment concerning a case of payment just before the presidential election of 2016, to buy the silence of a pornographic actress with whom he would have had an affair, the one who aims for a return to the White House denounces “leaks orchestrated by the New York State Prosecutor’s Office for Manhattan. In the same message, Trump describes the services of Manhattan prosecutor Alvin Bragg, an elected magistrate and Democrat, as “corrupt and very political”.

A few hours after his first publication, Donald Trump renewed his call: “We must save America, demonstrate, demonstrate, demonstrate!!! “Messages that echo the one he launched at the end of 2020, convinced that he had been “robbed” of the election against Joe Biden, so that his supporters demonstrate in Washington on January 6, 2021, a prelude to their assault on the US Capitol, seat of legislative power, that had shocked America and the world.

Is he really at risk of being arrested on Tuesday?

If his indictment soon is highly probable, there is no indication that it will take place on Tuesday and that the former head of state will be “arrested” that day. One of his lawyers, Susan Necheles, has also indicated that his client had decided to speak “on the basis of press information” published for a few days. Neither the billionaire nor his team therefore have first-hand information. Asked by the American media, the prosecutor’s office declined to comment.

According to information from the AP agency, the investigation into the Trump-Daniels case is not over anyway. The hearing of at least one witness is still planned, and a judicial source specifies that no decision has yet been made on an indictment of Donald Trump.

The procedure is in any case known. If the Republican “surrenders” to New York justice, as one of the lawyers, Joseph Tacopina, said on Friday, he will then have to give his fingerprints and then have his photograph taken in the prosecutor’s office, details CNN . He will then be presented to a judge, who should allow him to leave free.

According to a former prosecutor quoted by USA Today, Glenn Kirschner, there is little chance of seeing Trump walking in handcuffs in front of television cameras. To avoid this spectacle, the conditions for the surrender of personalities are often negotiated.

What is the former US president trying to do?

As always, as in each of the cases that target him, Trump seeks to victimize himself. He regularly denounces a political “witch hunt” by Democratic magistrates, in particular New York State Attorney General Letitia James. In the Stormy Daniels case, Donald Trump’s lawyers also present him as the victim of “extortion” from the actress.

The objective is political: to remobilize its supporters, by designating the democratic enemy. Donald Trump Jr., one of the billionaire’s sons, reposted a photo of his father on Twitter with an explicit text: “In reality they are not after me, they are after you”.

By taking the floor and anticipating the announcement of his indictment, Donald Trump is also reducing the impact of the information and putting himself back at the heart of the game. With success: the American press widely covered the appeal of the ex-president this Saturday.

Still, a possible conviction in New York justice would stain before the presidential election of 2024. “It would have a stigmatizing effect”, says John Coffee, professor of law at Columbia University, specializing in financial crime, interviewed by the AFP. The former president will do anything to delay a trial, even if legally it would not prevent him from presenting his candidacy.