‘Death and destruction’: Trump intensifies his attack on criminal investigators

New York: Donald Trump has dramatically stepped up his attacks against prosecutors investigating him over alleged hush-money payments to silence a porn star, warning of “potential death and destruction” if he is indicted.

And hours after the post appeared on Trump’s social media platform, the Manhattan District Attorney overseeing the probe received a letter containing white powder and a note from an unknown source warning him: “I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!!!!!!”

Tensions intensified overnight when Trump fired off a rant on his Truth Social online forum reasserting his innocence over the case and suggesting that only a “degenerate psychopath” would dare to charge him.

“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 that potential death & destruction in such a false charge could be catastrophic for our country?” Trump wrote in the early hours of Friday morning, US time.

“Why & who would do such a thing? Only a degenerate psychopath that truly hates the USA!”

The comments are a significant escalation of Trump’s rhetoric towards Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who is overseeing a probe into whether Trump broke the law by reimbursing $US130,000 that his then fixer, Michael Cohen, spent to silence porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. Daniels had claimed she slept with Trump in 2006 when he was a reality TV star and she was in her 20s - although he denies both the affair and the payment of hush money.

Donald Trump has stepped up his attack on prosecutors in a new post to social media.Credit: AP

But soon after his post appeared, local station WNBC reported that Bragg had been threatened with assassination in a letter from Orlando containing powder and a typewritten note that said: “ALVIN: I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!!!!!!” A spokeswoman for the District Attorney’s office later said the situation was “immediately contained” and authorities had determined the powder was not dangerous.

While Republicans were muted in their response to Trump’s latest post, the top ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, warned that “if he keeps it up, he’s going to get someone killed.”

“We’ve already seen the consequences of incitement from the former president,” Jeffries told reporters. “He is principally responsible for inciting the violent insurrection that happened on January 6th, but clearly he has not learned his lesson.”

Also on Friday, Trump suffered another blow over a separate investigation, this time relating to the January 6 Capitol attack in 2021. In the latest development, a judge in Washington rejected Trump’s bid to prevent ex-White House aides from testifying before a grand jury by claiming executive privilege.

This means that some of Trump’s former inner circle, such as chief of staff Mark Meadows, former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, and former deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino could soon be called to give evidence against him.

The New York probe into hush money and the Department of Justice inquiry into January 6 are but two of the legal troubles Trump faces as he ramps up his 2024 presidential bid. In addition, he is also facing a Georgia-based investigation into election interference in that state; and another Justice Department investigation into the handling of classified documents.

As the walls appeared to be closing in last week, Trump put out a post flagging that he would be arrested on Tuesday and calling on supporters to protest “take our nation back”.

The pitch was chillingly reminiscent of his directive for supporters to “fight like hell” to stop Joe Biden’s victory from being certified, which led to the US Capitol attack.

Security was immediately beefed up around Manhattan in response to last week’s post, with scaffolding erected around Bragg’s office and the legal precinct in Manhattan, along with barricades outside Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue.

Trump’s claim of an arrest did not eventuate, however, and the Grand Jury deliberating on the case has now been sent home for the weekend and will not return to meet until Monday, pushing the possibility of an indictment well into next week.

Manhattan has also been free from civil unrest over the past few days despite Trump’s call for people to take to the streets on his behalf. Lone protesters and small groups of demonstrators have come and gone, but have been vastly outnumbered by police, as well as the local and international media waiting for the grand jury’s decision.

Among the demonstrators this week was David Smith, who told The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald that he wasn’t there to support Trump but to protest against Democratic billionaire donor George Soros, who has helped fund progressive prosecutors such as Alvin Bragg.

Republicans, including Trump, often argue that Soros’ donations have contributed to rising crime in America because the prosecutors he endorses are generally proponents of criminal justice reform, which critics view as being “soft on crime.”

Smith, who stood outside the Manhattan Court with a sign saying “Google It: George Soros funds DA Bragg,” agreed.

“That’s the reason crime is so high in New York City is because district attorneys who think criminals are the good guys and need our mercy,” he said. “I don’t like Trump – but I hate this guy more.”

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