The daughter of the former president of the United States, Ivanka Trump, and her son-in-law Jared Kushner broke their silence on Friday after the former president was indicted the day before for alleged money paid to a porn star in 2016.
Trump is to be booked, fingerprinted and have a mugshot taken at a New York courthouse on Tuesday afternoon before appearing before a judge as the first American president ever to face criminal charges.
In a brief statement posted on social media, Ivanka Trump said, “I love my father, and I love my country.”
“Today, I am in pain for both. I appreciate the voices across the political spectrum expressing support and concern,” she wrote.
Kushner said the indictment was evidence of “fear” among Donald Trump’s opponents.
“As an American, it worries me very much to indict the leader of the opposition party, and I think that clearly shows the fear that the Democrats have of Trump and the political strength that he has,” Kushner said at the Florida summit. at the Future Investment Initiative Institute.
“It was difficult to watch his opponent continue to violate all norms in recent years to try to get it,” Kushner said during opening remarks focused on the Abraham Accords. Kushner linked the indictment to allegations against Trump of collusion with Russia, his impeachments, and law enforcement raids aimed at finding classified documents on his properties.
“I’ve been by his side in a lot of these situations and it’s only strengthened him and his determination to take on the big challenges of fighting for change, fighting for the American people,” Kushner said.
The former president and his legal team on Friday went on the offensive after the historic indictment, vowing that Trump would never seek a plea deal and that he was ready “to fight” all charges.
The 76-year-old Trump, who hopes to recapture the White House in 2024, attacked the prosecutors who brought the charges against him and the judge expected to hear the case.
“ELECTION INTERFERENCE, KANGAROO COURT!” Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social, adding that Juan Manuel Marchal, the judge who may eventually preside over a trial, “hates me”.
“The president will not be put in a bind,” said Joe Tacopina, one of Trump’s attorneys, adding that he doesn’t believe prosecutors will “allow it to be a circus.”
Tacopina said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s soft money case against Trump faces “substantial legal challenges” and that the former president would plead not guilty.
There is “zero” chance Trump would accept a plea deal, he told NBC’s Today show. “It’s not going to happen. There is no crime.”
Trump, who is currently at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, was initially “relaxed” by the indictment, his attorney said, but “is now in a position where he is ready to fight it this.”
Former US president Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Waco Regional Airport, March 25, 2023, in Waco, Texas. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Trump’s pending arrest throws a political grenade into next year’s White House race and President Joe Biden has faced questions from reporters about the impeachment of Republicans he defeated in 2020 and could face again in November next year.
“I have no comment on Trump,” Biden said.
A New York grand jury indicted Trump on Thursday over a scandalous $130,000 payment made to a porn star to buy her silence during his 2016 campaign.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing and has been accused by Bragg, a Democrat, of waging a “political witch hunt” to destroy his new bid for the White House.
In predicting his indictment, Trump called for protests and warned that it could lead to “potential death and destruction” for the country.
And in a statement, the former president said he had already raised $4 million for his 2024 presidential campaign in the 24 hours after receiving news of the indictment.
Extra security has been deployed in recent days around the downtown Manhattan courthouse where Trump is to be booked and arraigned, with the New York Police Department saying on Friday that there were “no credible threats at this time” to the city.
Trump survived two impeachments while in the White House and kept prosecutors at bay over everything from the US Capitol riot to missing classified files – only to land in court over a Stormy sex scandal Daniels, a 44-year-old adult film actor.
Adult film actress Stormy Daniels attends the opening of the adult entertainment fair ‘Venus,’ in Berlin, October 11, 2018. (Markus Schreiber/AP)
He is facing felony investigations in Georgia related to the 2020 election and in Washington regarding the classified files and the attack of his supporters on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Top Republicans have battled the former president who remains the favorite to win the party’s 2024 presidential nomination.
Kevin McCarthy, the top Republican in the House, said the indictment had done “irreparable harm” to the country.
Trump’s former vice president and potential 2024 rival Mike Pence called it an “outrage” that would only “further divide the United States”.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, another likely 2024 Republican contender, criticized the indictment as “un-American.”
On the Democratic side, former speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said “no one is above the law” and Representative Adam Schiff – the lead prosecutor of Trump’s first impeachment – called it “sobering”.
Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, told Congress in 2019 that he made the payment to Daniels on Trump’s behalf to cover up the 2006 attempt and was later repaid.
The grand jury that indicted Trump was asked to consider whether there was a cover-up intended to benefit his campaign by burying the scandal.
