Donald Trump claims probe into hush money payment to Stormy Daniels has been dropped by Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg
WACO, TEXAS: Former president of the United States, Donald Trump, has claimed that the investigation into the hush money payment to a porn star has been dropped by Manhattan's DA Alvin Bragg. This news comes just a week after he claimed that he would be arrested within days but for now, it seems that there has been a major turnaround in favor of the business tycoon.
On Saturday night, March 25, Trump told a small group of reporters aboard his private jet that the prosecutors would be left with no other choice but to give up in the face of recent evidence. As he traveled back from the first rally of his campaign in Waco, Texas, the 76-year-old cut a relaxed figure with a bottle of Diet Coke by his side.
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What did Trump say?
"I have no idea what's going to happen..." he said according to Daily Mail. "I think they've already dropped the case. From what I understand ... I think it's been dropped. But I believe that if anything ever happened with the case, it's a fake case." Trump told fans in Waco that Bragg had 'nothing' on him earlier on Saturday. He insisted that a $130,000 payment that he made to the former pornstar Stormy Daniels weeks before the October 2016 election was not a campaign finance violation. The former president also denied a 2006 one-night-stand with the adult entertainer.
Despite claiming that he would be arrested, Trump spent the days following his usual routine of heading to his West Palm Beach golf course, maintaining a picture of business as usual. On Saturday, after addressing a crowd of around 25,000 people in Waco, he ridiculed any idea that the probe had been a distraction.
"I'm not frustrated by anything," he said in response to a question. "I just did a speech for two hours. I'm not first frustrated to do that. I just had polls that came out where I'm 40 points ahead. See, this is what I hate about fake news."
Trump says the case was politically motivated
Trump said that the hush money scandal was made up and politically motivated which was used to raise money. His claims were even backed up by New York's former governor Andrew Cuomo, an avowed Democrat, saying that he thinks the case against Trump is political.
Trump further added he was convinced that testimony from lawyer Robert Costello had thrown doubt on evidence given by his former fixer Michael Cohen, who said he made the payment and was then reimbursed by Trump. He said the emergence of a letter by Cohen's lawyer, stating in 2018 that Cohen had not been reimbursed, had destroyed the case against him. "Two of the most respected lawyers in the country, one wrote a letter about Cohen which made him want to be a liar," said Trump. "The other one did even more so he went before the grand jury and he explained that this guy was a liar."
The ex-president was accused of going too far when he shared a picture of himself wielding a baseball bat next to an image of the Manhattan prosecutor. Besides, Trump also warned of 'death' and 'destruction.'
Violence was not the answer
Trump clarified to the reporters who were traveling with him on Saturday that violence was not the answer. "I don't like violence and I'm not for violence," he said. "But a lot of people are upset and you know they rigged an election, they stole an election, they spied on my campaign. They did many bad things. They did a fake dossier."
He even referenced the case during his 90-minute speech in Waco, along with other probes and investigations he has faced since winning the 2016 election. "The Biden regime's weaponization of law enforcement against their political opponents is something straight out of the Stalinist Russia horror show," he said. "From the beginning it's been one witch hunt and phony investigation after another."
Even before his plane landed in Texas, Trump's choice of location and timing triggered controversy. The rally comes amid the 30th anniversary of the Waco siege, a 51-day standoff that ended with a raid by federal agents on the Branch Davidians religious sect there that resulted in 86 deaths. The area has become a hotspot for far-right groups since then.