- Former President Donald Trump is planning to bolster a PR campaign against the Manhattan DA.
- According to the New York Times, Trump plans to respond to a potential indictment with conspiracies.
Former President Donald Trump is privately beefing up his staff as he prepares to launch personal attacks on Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, as Bragg's office appears to be moving closer to bringing a criminal indictment against Trump, according to The New York Times.
The DA's office has zeroed in on a $130,000 hush-money payment that Trump and his then-fixer, Michael Cohen, sent to the adult film actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election in exchange for her silence about an alleged affair with Trump.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing and says the affair, which Daniels alleges took place in the mid-2000s, never happened.
The Manhattan US attorney's office began investigating the payment to Daniels when Trump was in office, and Cohen pleaded guilty in August 2018 to eight felonies, including tax evasion, bank fraud, and illegal campaign finance contributions.
Cohen has since become a key witness against his former boss and appeared before a grand jury in the Manhattan DA's probe twice this week. The panel is expected to vote in the next few days on whether to indict Trump.
According to the Times, the former president is dealing with the new reality by hiring extra staff to increase attacks against Bragg, and spread allegations that President Joe Biden influenced the Manhattan DA's probe for political reasons.
Trump has already started attacking Bragg in recent public statements and on Truth Social, calling him a "racist."