OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul took Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to task after former President Donald Trump was indicted, saying Bragg could be forced out of office and into court himself.
“Wonder if DA Bragg remembers Durham DA Mike Nifong who withheld exculpatory DNA tests on the Duke lacrosse players. He was subsequently forced out of office, disbarred, and convicted of contempt of court,” Paul said, referring to Nifong, the district attorney in the 2006 case accusing Duke University lacrosse players of rape. The three players were exonerated and Nifong even spent one day in jail.
“A Trump indictment would be a disgusting abuse of power. The DA should be put in jail,” Paul said in a separate statement just before news late last week about the indictment.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy declared that Congress will take action after former President Donald Trump appeared in Manhattan on Tuesday for his arraignment in the case brought against him by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 charges regarding allegations that he falsified business records related to adult film star Stormy Daniels’ hush-money case. Trump was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury in a case involving his purported role in hush money payments to Daniels ahead of the 2016 election, allegedly to keep Daniels quiet about an affair the two of them had in 2006.
“Alvin Bragg is attempting to interfere in our democratic process by invoking federal law to bring politicized charges against President Trump, admittedly using federal funds, while at the same time arguing that the peoples’ representatives in Congress lack jurisdiction to investigate this farce. Not so. Bragg’s weaponization of the federal justice process will be held accountable by Congress,” McCarthy tweeted.
In late March, Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene indicated in a tweet that was “exculpatory evidence,” which proves that Bragg has no case. She also said he should now be indicted for improperly pursuing an investigation.
“Now it’s time to arrest Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg for prosecutorial misconduct after hiding hundreds of pages of exculpatory evidence!” she wrote. “Bragg is on the verge of indicting an innocent former President and top Presidential candidate against the opposing ruling party. Bragg is breaking the law and trying to incite civil unrest with his Soros-funded political war. Hold him accountable!”
Trump got some more good news this week following several days’ worth of coverage involving his indictment.
The most recent national survey conducted by Fox News indicates that Trump is widening his lead in the Republican primary race.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden is facing uncertainty among Democratic primary voters.
According to the survey, Republican primary voters were presented with a list of 15 declared and potential candidates for the 2024 nomination. The results show that since February, Trump has doubled his lead and is now ahead of Ron DeSantis by 30 points (54%-24%). In comparison, the former President was only 15 points ahead of DeSantis last month (43%-28%).
“No one else hits double digits. Mike Pence comes in third with 6%, Liz Cheney and Nikki Haley receive 3% each, and Greg Abbott comes in at 2%. All others receive 1% support or less, and just 3% are unsure,” the network reported.
The survey reveals that Trump gained support among nearly every major demographic, except for white men holding a college degree, where DeSantis leads in this demographic by a margin of 12 points.
Within the subset of voters who supported Trump in the 2020 general election, 60% continue to support him in the Republican primary. Meanwhile, 25% back DeSantis, and 5% support Pence.
Regarding second choice preferences, Trump primary voters would select DeSantis, and DeSantis primary voters would reciprocate and choose Trump, Fox News noted regarding the survey results.
On the Democratic side, the survey shows that 52% of primary voters would prefer a presidential nominee other than Biden, which is similar to the percentage from last month (53%). However, the number of voters who want Biden to be the nominee has risen from 37% in February to 44%, Fox News reported.
“That 7-point bump comes from the president solidifying support among women (+8), white voters (+9), voters age 45+ (+10), and White voters with no degree (+11),” said the network.
“We haven’t seen much movement at all in attitudes towards Biden this past year, but what we have has been positive,” said Anderson. “He’s holding the line and slowly bringing more people into the fold.”
