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While Donald Trump, the former president, prepares to appear in court on federal charges, worries about the threat of violence inspired by some of his most ardent supporters are growing.
A CBS News/YouGov poll of potential Republican primary voters found that nearly three-quarters believed the accusations against Trump, who is facing a 37-count charge for handling secret documents after leaving the White House, were politically motivated.
Trump, the leading candidate for the Republican nomination for president in 2024, denounced the indictment in two speeches at GOP state conventions over the weekend and in a number of social media posts, all the while using it to raise money for his campaign. He stated to the delegates in North Carolina that he was “indicted over nothing.”
The former president is due to appear in US District Court in Miami on Tuesday in the case, which considerably expands his legal exposure and will put his devoted supporters to the test. “SEE YOU IN MIAMI ON TUESDAY!!!” he wrote on his TruthSocial platform.
While Trump characterises the indictment as a scheme by his political opponents to force him out of the 2024 presidential campaign, some of his congressional allies are defending him with confrontational images.
The House Freedom Caucus member and Republican Representative from Louisiana Clay Higgins replied on Twitter, “Buckle up,” referring to the allegations as “a perimeter probe from the oppressors.” Higgins is a veteran of the US Army. In reaction to criticism, he stated on Saturday, “We use the Constitution as our only weapon.” hold, please.
Kari Lake, a key Trump surrogate in last year’s midterm elections who lost her candidature for governor of Arizona, spoke to US gun owners in a speech to a Georgia state GOP convention that Trump visited on Saturday.
You must go through me and 75 million other Americans who are just like me if you want to reach President Trump. She then said, “And I’m going to tell you something: most of us are NRA members,” to cheers and clapping from the audience.
On Friday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries urged “Trump’s supporters and critics alike to let this case proceed peacefully in court.”
Trump’s legal problems haven’t deterred his supporters in the past. His funding and popularity among primary voters skyrocketed in April after he was charged in a Manhattan court for alleged hush money payments to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels.
In a CBS poll, 61% of prospective GOP primary voters said the latest Trump indictment would not affect their opinion of the former president, while 76% voiced concern that the accusations are politically motivated.
While 48% of respondents in an ABC News/Ipsos poll believed the Justice Department was correct to charge Trump, 35% said he shouldn’t have been.
However, the ABC poll revealed that more respondents consider the US allegations against Trump over the documents he brought to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida to be serious. While 21% of Republicans polled in April thought the New York charges were significant, 38% said the federal indictment last week was.
Trump is the first former US president to face criminal charges in federal court. The indictment, announced Friday in Miami, lists seven allegations, including deliberate retention of national defence information in violation of the Espionage Act, corruptly concealing documents, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and making false statements.
On Sunday, critics and supporters took to US network broadcasts to discuss the upcoming electoral war.
The indictment, according to William Barr, who served as US Attorney General during Trump’s presidency, is “very, very damning,” and “the idea of presenting Trump as a victim here – a victim of a witch hunt – is ridiculous.”
Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, echoed Trump’s claim that he is being “prosecuted” by President Joe Biden. Graham told ABC’s “This Week” that the indictment “will not change my support for Donald Trump,” while not “justifying his behaviour.”
Representative Nancy Mace, a Republican who has sought out centrist positions on some topics, said the allegations against Trump constitute “weaponizing the executive branch to take out your political enemies.”
Biden stated last week that he had not discussed the subject with Attorney General Merrick Garland.
“I think there’s no evidence that the federal Department of Justice has been weaponized,” Senator Chris Coons, a Democrat from Delaware and a Biden friend, said Sunday on “This Week.”
