Did Donald Trump “create a false expectation” in the media? This is the charge brought Thursday, March 23 by the prosecutor Alvin Bragg who is investigating the former president of the United States. In any case, Donald Trump will probably neither be charged nor “arrested” this week in New York as he announced on Saturday March 18.
The 76-year-old Republican billionaire, who dreams of “reclaiming” the White House in 2024, must answer before the justice of the State of New York and his attorney for Manhattan, Alvin Bragg, in a case of payment of 130,000 dollars to porn actress Stormy Daniels in 2016, with whom he allegedly had an affair.
Donald Trump pulled off a bang by assuring on his Truth Social network on Saturday that he would be “arrested” on Tuesday March 21 on a criminal charge by prosecutor Bragg. But nothing happened. This did not prevent New York – its police, its justice and the press – from being suspended all week on the hypothetical appearance, indictment and even brief “arrest” of the 45th American president. Which would be unprecedented in the United States.
The Letter from Attorney Bragg’s Office
Prosecutor Alvin Bragg, an elected Democrat at the head of the Manhattan prosecution since 2022 and who inherited the Stormy Daniels case, remained silent. But in a letter dated Thursday and addressed to three Republican parliamentarians, his services denounced the media and political thunderbolt caused by Donald Trump on Saturday.
In this letter consulted by AFP, the Manhattan prosecution responds to these three elected members of the House of Representatives who had summoned, in a letter of March 20, the prosecutor Bragg to testify before Congress. They accused the magistrate ranked on the left of carrying out “politically motivated prosecutions”.
“Your letter”, retorts Alvin Bragg’s general secretary, Leslie Dubeck, “is an unprecedented interference in an ongoing local investigation”. And it “only came after Donald Trump created a false expectation that he would be arrested the next day, and after his lawyers apparently pressed you to intervene.” “No fact offers a legitimate basis for a Congressional investigation,” she sweeps.
Possible indictment postponed until next week
According to several media like the washington postNew York justice has again postponed, until next week, the possible indictment of Donald Trump.
This decision must be voted on by a grand jury, a panel of citizens with broad investigative powers that works with the prosecutor, who must comply and formally indict. This grand jury did not seem to meet on this file on Thursday, the last day of the judicial week.
Even charged, Donald Trump would not be “arrested” immediately anyway. It would take several days for him to appear in Manhattan, in what would doubtless be an indescribable mess. All week, authorities in New York have had barriers erected in front of the courthouse and Trump Tower in Manhattan. To prevent any risk of clashes in a city with a history of violence, the municipal police (NYPD) have boosted “the presence of police officers in uniform”.
“The Madmen of the Radical Left”
Donald Trump had called on his supporters on Saturday to “protest”, recalling what he had done in December 2020 and on January 6, 2021, the day of his supporters’ assault on the Capitol in Washington, to contest without proof a “stolen” presidential election. “, according to him, by Democrat Joe Biden. But there were only a few dozen protesters this week outside the courthouse and Trump Tower in New York, and outside Donald Trump’s home in Palm Beach, Florida.
In a final post on Thursday on Truth Social, the former president reiterated that he was “100% innocent,” being pursued by “radical left crazies” and warning, “Our country is being destroyed and they tell us to stay peaceful”.
On the merits, the Stormy Daniels case is complex. Justice is seeking to determine whether Donald Trump was guilty of misrepresentation, an offense, or breach of campaign finance laws, a criminal offense, by having paid money to this actress of pornographic films, from his real name Stephanie Clifford, just before her presidential victory in November 2016. For what purpose? For her to conceal a supposed extramarital relationship ten years earlier, according to the prosecution.
Images of Donald Trump’s fake arrest
The key man in the file is called Michael Cohen: former lawyer and now enemy of Donald Trump, he had paid Stormy Daniels. He testified before the grand jury, and the actress also cooperated with the law.
While waiting for a possible criminal charge, Internet users have shared strikingly realistic photos of the former American president, behind bars. These fake images were created using artificial intelligence.
As TF1 recalls, thanks to the Midjourney tool, everyone can create very realistic images, bordering on deepfakes, these fake news images or videos intended to deceive the public. All it takes is one descriptive sentence to instruct Midjourney to craft the image of their choice. According to the magazine Forbesthe first images of Donald Trump in the hands of justice were posted on Twitter by a user who did not specify that they were fake images.