Former US president Donald Trump has made his most explicit reference to violence yet, as he awaits to find out if he will be indicted for making alleged “hush” payments to the adult film star Stormy Daniels.
In a post on the Truth Social network, the social media platform he founded, Mr Trump intensified his rhetoric even beyond its usual level of bombast and threat.
“What kind of person can charge another person, in this case a former President of the United States, who got more votes than any sitting President in history, and leading candidate (by far!) for the Republican Party nomination, with a Crime, when it is known by all that NO Crime has been committed, & also known that potential death & destruction in such a false charge could be catastrophic for our Country?” Trump wrote on Friday.
“Why & who would do such a thing? Only a degenerate psychopath that truely [sic] hates the USA!”
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The attack appears to be against Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg who is leading the criminal investigation into whether Mr Trump paid $130,000 to Ms Daniels so that she wouldn’t reveal to the press an alleged sexual affair between them.
A grand jury had invited Mr Trump to testify in the case this week – often a sign that an indictment is close.
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It’s just one of a slew of criminal and civil investigations that the former president is facing.
His Trump Organization is being pursued by New York attorney general Letitia James over fraud charges, while the US Justice Department is investigating whether he removed classified documents from the White House.
He is also facing charges relating to attempts to change the Georgia election result in 2020 and the January 6 storming of Congress.
Mr Trump has been escalating his language in recent days as he seeks to fire up his base to show their support for him in public. He claimed at the weekend that he would be arrested on Tuesday and called on supporters to “PROTEST, TAKE OUR NATION BACK!”.
On Thursday, after Republican allies cautioned against violent protests, Mr Trump posted: “OUR COUNTRY IS BEING DESTROYED, AS THEY TELL US TO BE PEACEFUL!”
He also posted a link to an article which was illustrated with a composite image of himself with a baseball bat next to one of Mr Bragg.
