Former President Donald Trump will travel to Texas next weekend for what will be his first major rally as he seeks the GOP nomination for president in 2024.

Announced Friday, the leading Republican’s rally will be held on March 25 in Waco, Texas, which is part of McLennan County, which Trump won in 2020 by more than 23 points.

Trump has made numerous visits to the state over the years. Waco is the site of a deadly 1993 massacre where federal agents seized a compound of the Branch Davidians, a religious cult.

The plans for Trump’s rally come amid reports that the Manhattan District Attorney’s office may be preparing to issue an indictment for alleged hush money payments Trump made as a presidential candidate in 2016.

But the potential indictment and Trump’s claim that he may be arrested Tuesday is not preventing the former president’s team from ensuring the rally goes on.

‘There has been no notification, other than illegal leaks from the Justice Dept. and the DA’s office, to NBC and other fake news carriers, that the George Soros-funded Radical Left Democrat prosecutor in Manhattan has decided to take his Witch-Hunt to the next level,’ a Trump spokesperson said Saturday. ‘President Trump is rightfully highlighting his innocence and the weaponization of our injustice system. He will be in Texas next weekend for a giant rally. Make America Great Again!’

A court source told Fox News Digital that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office will meet with law enforcement to ‘discuss logistics for some time next week, which would mean that they are anticipating an indictment next week.’

The potential indictment stems from the years-long investigation surrounding Trump’s alleged hush money scandal involving porn star Stormy Daniels. Towards the end of the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump’s then-lawyer Michael Cohen sent $130,000 to Daniels to prevent her from disclosing her 2006 affair with Trump. Trump reimbursed Cohen through installments.

Trump lashed out at the reports suggesting he would be arrested next week via his Truth Social app on Saturday morning, telling his supporters to ‘PROTEST, TAKE BACK OUR NATION.’

‘NOW ILLEGAL LEAKS FROM A CORRUPT & HIGHLY POLITICAL MANHATTAN DISTRICT ATTORNEYS OFFICE, WHICH HAS ALLOWED NEW RECORDS TO BE SET IN VIOLENT CRIME & WHOSE LEADER IS FUNDED BY GEORGE SOROS, INDICATE THAT, WITH NO CRIME BEING ABLE TO BE PROVEN, & BASED ON AN OLD & FULLY DEBUNKED (BY NUMEROUS OTHER PROSECUTORS!) FAIRYTALE, THE FAR & AWAY LEADING REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE & FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, WILL BE ARRESTED ON TUESDAY OF NEXT WEEK. PROTEST, TAKE OUR NATION BACK!,’ Trump wrote.

In a lengthy statement to Fox News Digital, Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung blasted the investigation as a ‘witch hunt’ and accused Bragg of being in the pocket of President Biden and ‘radical Democrats.’

‘President Donald J. Trump is completely innocent, he did nothing wrong, and even the biggest, most Radical Left Democrats are making that clear,’ Cheung said.

Fox News’ Chris Pandolfo, Marta Dhanis, Adam Sabes, and Brandon Gillespie, as well as The Associated Press, contributed to this report.

Prosecutors in the Manhattan district attorney’s office won’t have much of a legal leg to stand on if they indict former President Donald Trump on violating campaign finance law, according to a legal expert and former member of the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

‘If the state charges are based on a supposed violation of federal campaign finance law, then the Manhattan DA is way off base,’ Hans von Spakovsky told Fox News Digital.

Von Spakovsky’s comments came shortly after Trump said Saturday that he expects to be arrested Tuesday amid reports saying the Manhattan district attorney’s office is preparing to issue an indictment for alleged hush money payments that Trump made as a presidential candidate in 2016.

‘NOW ILLEGAL LEAKS FROM A CORRUPT & HIGHLY POLITICAL MANHATTAN DISTRICT ATTORNEYS OFFICE, WHICH HAS ALLOWED NEW RECORDS TO BE SET IN VIOLENT CRIME & WHOSE LEADER IS FUNDED BY GEORGE SOROS, INDICATE THAT, WITH NO CRIME BEING ABLE TO BE PROVEN, & BASED ON AN OLD & FULLY DEBUNKED (BY NUMEROUS OTHER PROSECUTORS!) FAIRYTALE, THE FAR & AWAY LEADING REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE & FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, WILL BE ARRESTED ON TUESDAY OF NEXT WEEK. PROTEST, TAKE OUR NATION BACK!, [sic]’ Trump posed to his Truth Social account.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office will reportedly meet with law enforcement officials to discuss logistics for some time next week regarding a potential indictment, which stems from a years-long investigation into Trump’s alleged hush money scandal involving porn star Stormy Daniels.

In the final weeks of the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump’s then-lawyer Michael Cohen sent $130,000 to Daniels to prevent her from disclosing her alleged 2006 affair with Trump, who has denied the affair. Trump subsequently reimbursed Cohen.

It’s been widely speculated that Trump could be charged with overseeing the false recording of the reimbursements in his company’s internal records as ‘legal expenses.’

Prosecutors are also expected to charge Trump with violating campaign finance laws by arranging the payments to buy Daniels’ silence weeks before the 2016 election. However, experts have questioned the legal reasoning behind such a charge.

‘A settlement payment of a nuisance claim is not a federal campaign expense,’ said von Spakovsky, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation. ‘The state DA has no authority to prosecute a federal campaign finance violation in any event.’

Such cases, he argues, are within the province of the FEC, where he served as a commissioner, or the U.S. Justice Department, explaining that both agencies have known about the facts for years but have chosen not to prosecute Trump.

‘So, the federal agencies with jurisdiction did not consider it a violation,’ said von Spakovsky, who’s been following this case for years.

In 2018, von Spakovsky wrote that the payment to Daniels seemed to be a ‘nuisance settlement,’ which celebrities often make, especially when faced with the threat of a false or salacious claim.

‘Critics of the president claim this not only was a campaign expense that should have been reported but a potentially illegal loan by Cohen. But the settlement was ultimately paid out of Trump’s personal funds and had nothing to do with the campaign since their alleged one-night stand occurred 10 years before the campaign,’ wrote von Spakovsky. ‘No reasonable member of a jury would consider this to be a campaign-related expense that needed to be reported, or to which any other campaign finance rules in the Federal Election Campaign Act apply.’

Von Spakovsky noted in his 2018 analysis that the Department of Justice already tried out this theory with former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, whose campaign donors paid up to $1 million to Edwards’ mistress, Rielle Hunter, while she was working as a videographer for Edwards and his presidential campaign.

The Department Justice tried to argue these were campaign-related payments, even though they didn’t go through the Edwards campaign’s accounts, because they were intended to protect Edwards’ reputation during his presidential bid. A jury acquitted Edwards on one charge of accepting an illegal campaign donation and failed to reach a verdict on the other charges, resulting in a mistrial.

The Department of Justice dropped its prosecution and never retried Edwards.

‘The alleged one-night stand between Daniels and Trump is far more of a stretch,’ wrote von Spakovsky. ‘Daniels had no connection to the presidential campaign of any kind and the encounter — if it occurred — didn’t happen during the campaign itself. In any event, even if the Daniels payment were to be considered a campaign-related expense, unlike Edwards, the nominal $130,000 payment wasn’t made by Trump campaign donors but by Trump’s personal attorney (not the campaign’s attorney) with whom he has a long-standing business relationship. . . . Even if one might be able to reasonably construe the payment to Daniels as somehow related to the presidential campaign, there still would be no violation since candidates are allowed to spend as much of their own money as they want on their own campaigns.’

Von Spakovsky told Fox News Digital that his ‘opinion hasn’t changed’ since writing that article.

Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung described the ongoing probe as a ‘witch hunt,’ calling the former president ‘completely innocent’ and accusing Bragg of being in the pocket of President Biden and ‘radical Democrats.’ 

The Manhattan district attorney’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment for this story.

The Department of Justice is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to allow a federal ban to remain in force that would prohibit people under domestic abuse restraining orders from having guns.

The Justice Department is seeking the intervention after a federal appeals court ruled last month that people with domestic violence restraining orders have a constitutional right to own guns.

‘More than a million acts of domestic violence occur in the United States every year, and the presence of a firearm increases the chance that violence will escalate to homicide,’ a Justice Department petition states.

The Supreme Court petition was posted to Twitter by Pepperdine University law professor Jake Charles Friday.

The national debate began after police in Texas found a rifle and a pistol at the home of a man who was the subject of a civil protective order that banned him from harassing, stalking or threatening his ex-girlfriend and their child. The order also banned him from having guns.

A federal grand jury indicted the man, who pled guilty. He later challenged his indictment, arguing the law that prevented him from owning a gun was unconstitutional.

At first, a federal appeals court ruled against him, saying it was more important for society to keep guns out of the hands of people accused of domestic violence than it was to protect a person’s individual right to own a gun.

But, last year, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a new ruling in the case of New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, that set new standards for interpreting the Second Amendment by saying the government had to justify gun control laws by showing they are ‘consistent with the Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.’

The appeals court withdrew its original decision and decided to vacate the man’s conviction, ruling the federal law banning people subject to domestic violence restraining orders from owning guns was unconstitutional.

The decision came from a three-judge panel consisting of judges Cory Wilson, James Ho and Edith Jones. Wilson and Ho were nominated by former Republican President Trump. Jones was nominated by former Republican President Reagan.

Former President Trump said leaks indicate that he will be arrested on Tuesday after reports that the Manhattan District Attorney’s office is preparing to issue an indictment for alleged hush money payments made in the weeks leading up to the 2016 presidential election.

But investigations and talk of possible charges are nothing new for Donald Trump. 

Trump’s presidency was clouded by investigations — several probed whether he colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 election, some focused on his finances, and others led to impeachment, making him the first president in United States history to have been impeached twice.

Trump’s post-presidential life is reminiscent of his days in the Oval Office, marred by probes which the former president and his allies say are all just part of an effort by his political opponents to derail his 2024 presidential campaign.

Manhattan District Attorney investigation

On Saturday morning, Trump posted about the possible indictment on Truth Social, indicating that he will be ‘ARRESTED ON TUESDAY.’ 

‘NOW ILLEGAL LEAKS FROM A CORRUPT & HIGHLY POLITICAL MANHATTAN DISTRICT ATTORNEYS OFFICE, WHICH HAS ALLOWED NEW RECORDS TO BE SET IN VIOLENT CRIME & WHOSE LEADER IS FUNDED BY GEORGE SOROS, INDICATE THAT, WITH NO CRIME BEING ABLE TO BE PROVEN, & BASED ON AN OLD & FULLY DEBUNKED (BY NUMEROUS OTHER PROSECUTORS!) FAIRYTALE, THE FAR & AWAY LEADING REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE & FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, WILL BE ARRESTED ON TUESDAY OF NEXT WEEK. PROTEST, TAKE OUR NATION BACK!,’ Trump wrote.

A court source told Fox News Digital that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office will meet with law enforcement to ‘discuss logistics for some time next week, which would mean that they are anticipating an indictment next week.’ 

The potential charges stem from the $130,000 hush money payment then-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, in the weeks leading up to the 2016 presidential election in exchange for her silence about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump in 2006. 

Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison in 2018 after pleading guilty to federal charges, including tax evasion, lying to Congress, and campaign finance violations. Cohen pleaded guilty to arranging payments to Daniels and model Karen McDougal to prevent them from going public with alleged affairs with Trump, which Trump has repeatedly denied. 

Cohen said Trump directed those payments. Federal prosecutors opted out of charging Trump related to the Stormy Daniels payment in 2018, even as Cohen implicated him as part of his plea deal.

Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 through his own company and was later reimbursed by Trump’s company, which logged the payments as ‘legal expenses.’ McDougal received $150,000 through the publisher of the supermarket tabloid the National Enquirer.

The Trump Organization ‘grossed up’ Cohen’s reimbursement for Daniels’ payment for ‘tax purposes,’ according to federal prosecutors who filed the 2018 criminal charges against Cohen for the payments. 

Trump has repeatedly denied wrongdoing with regard to the payments made to Daniels, and has repeatedly said the payments were ‘not a campaign violation,’ but rather a ‘simple private transaction.’ 

The Federal Election Commission in 2021 tossed its investigation into the matter.

The line of inquiry and potential charges come as part of an investigation opened in 2019 by then-Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance. The probe was focused on possible bank, insurance and tax fraud. The case initially involved financial dealings of Trump’s Manhattan properties, including his flagship Fifth Avenue building, Trump Tower, and the valuation of his 213-acre estate Seven Springs in Westchester.

The investigation last year led to tax fraud charges against The Trump Organization, and its finance chief Allen Weisselberg, who pleaded guilty.

Special Counsel investigation into classified records at Mar-a-Lago

Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Jack Smith, a DOJ official, as special counsel to investigate Trump’s alleged improper retention of classified records from his presidency at his Mar-a-Lago home. 

Smith has also taken over the Justice Department’s investigation into the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021—specifically whether Trump or other officials and entities interfered with the peaceful transfer of power following the 2020 presidential election, including the certification of the Electoral College vote on Jan. 6, 2021.

President Biden is also currently under special counsel investigation for his alleged improper retention of classified records from the Obama administration. Former Vice President Pence also had classified records at his home—a matter under review by the Justice Department. 

The appointment of a special counsel in the matter comes after the FBI, in August, in an unprecedented move, raided Trump’s private residence at Mar-a-Lago in connection with an investigation into classified records the former president allegedly took with him from the White House.

The raid was related to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), which said earlier this year that Trump took 15 boxes of presidential records to his personal residence in Florida. Those boxes allegedly contained ‘classified national security information,’ and official correspondence between Trump and foreign heads of state.

The NARA notified Congress in February that the agency recovered the 15 boxes from Mar-a-Lago and ‘identified items marked as classified national security information within the boxes.’ The matter was referred to the Justice Department by NARA.

Trump, earlier this year, said the National Archives did not ‘find’ the documents, but that they were ‘given, upon request.’ Sources close to the former president said he had been cooperating and there was ‘no need’ for the raid.

Classified material that was reportedly confiscated by the FBI during the raid Monday included a letter to Trump from former President Obama, a letter from Kim Jong Un, a birthday dinner menu and a cocktail napkin.

Trump’s tax returns probe

Then, on Tuesday, a federal appeals court paved the way for the House Ways and Means Committee to finally obtain Trump’s tax returns from the Internal Revenue Service—something the panel has been trying to obtain since 2019, under a law that permits the disclosure of an individual’s tax returns to the congressional committee.

Trump may seek emergency intervention measures from the Supreme Court in an attempt to temporarily block any release of these tax records.

Civil investigation into Trump Organization

Over the summer, Trump appeared in downtown New York City for his deposition before New York Attorney General Letitia James. James’ office has been conducting a civil investigation into the Trump Organization to find out whether Trump and his company improperly inflated the value of assets on financial statements in order to obtain loans and tax benefits. 

‘I did nothing wrong, which is why, after five years of looking, the Federal, State and local governments, together with the Fake News Media, have found nothing,’ Trump said in a statement in August. 

‘The United States Constitution exists for this very purpose, and I will utilize it to the fullest extent to defend myself against this malicious attack by this administration, this Attorney General’s Office, and all other attacks on my family, my business, and our Country.’

‘I once asked, ‘If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?’ Now I know the answer to that question,’ he continued. ‘When your family, your company, and all the people in your orbit have become the targets of an unfounded, politically motivated Witch Hunt supported by lawyers, prosecutors, and the Fake News Media, you have no choice.’ 

‘If there was any question in my mind, the raid of my home, Mar-a-Lago, on Monday by the FBI, just two days prior to this deposition, wiped out any uncertainty,’ Trump said. ‘I have absolutely no choice because the current Administration and many prosecutors in this Country have lost all moral and ethical bounds of decency.’

Trump added: ‘Accordingly, under the advice of my counsel and for all of the above reasons, I declined to answer the questions under the rights and privileges afforded to every citizen under the United States Constitution.’

A spokesperson for the New York State Attorney General’s Office confirmed that the office conducted Trump’s deposition.

‘Attorney General Letitia James took part in the deposition during which Mr. Trump invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination,’ the spokesperson said. ‘Attorney General James will pursue the facts and the law wherever they may lead.’

The spokesperson added: ‘Our investigation continues.’

However, Trump’s Republican allies are seeing a pattern, and encouraging him to continue to fight back.

‘Before he’s in the White House, they go after him. While he’s in the White House, they go after him, and they’re continuing to do so now that he’s left,’ the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, told Fox News. ‘It actually started before he was even president.’

FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane probe

When Trump took office in January 2017, the FBI was in the middle of conducting a counterintelligence investigation into whether candidate Donald Trump and members of his campaign were colluding or coordinating with Russia to influence the 2016 election. That investigation was referred to inside the bureau as ‘Crossfire Hurricane,’ and began on July 31, 2016.

That investigation was opened, despite then-CIA Director John Brennan briefing then-President Obama on July 28, 2016 about a purported proposal from one of Hillary Clinton’s campaign foreign policy advisers ‘to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by the Russian security service.’

In September 2016, the CIA properly forwarded that information through a Counterintelligence Operational Lead (CIOL) to then-FBI Director James Comey and then-Deputy Assistant Director of Counterintelligence Peter Strzok, with the subject line: ‘Crossfire Hurricane.’

Fox News first obtained and reported on the CIOL, which stated: ‘The following information is provided for the exclusive use of your bureau for background investigative action or lead purposes as appropriate.’

 ‘An exchange [REDACTED] discussing US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s approval of a plan concerning US presidential candidate Donald Trump and Russian hackers hampering US elections as a means of distracting the public from her use of a private email server,’ the referral states.

It is unclear how the FBI handled that memo.

Special Counsel John Durham is currently investigating the origins of the FBI’s Trump-Russia probe. 

After Trump’s victory and during the presidential transition period, Comey briefed Trump on the now-infamous anti-Trump dossier, containing salacious allegations of purported coordination between Trump and the Russian government. It was authored by Christopher Steele, an ex-British intelligence officer.

The DOJ inspector general later revealed that the unverified dossier helped serve as the basis for controversial Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants obtained against former Trump campaign aide Carter Page. 

It is now widely known that Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee funded the dossier through the law firm Perkins Coie.

During the early months of Trump’s administration, Jeff Sessions, who served as attorney general at the time, recused himself from oversight of the FBI’s Russia investigation, due to his involvement with the Trump campaign, per Justice Department regulations. Then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein was then tasked with oversight of the investigation.

Trump, in May 2017, fired then-FBI Director James Comey. Comey, during his June 2017 testimony to Congress, said he deliberately leaked a memo from a key meeting with Trump to a friend after he was fired in order to prompt the appointment of a special counsel.

‘I asked a friend of mine to share the content of the memo with a reporter—I thought that might prompt the appointment of a special counsel,’ Comey testified.

Mueller’s investigation and report

Days after Comey was fired, Rosenstein appointed Special Counsel Robert Mueller to take over the FBI’s Trump-Russia probe.

The Mueller investigation clouded the Trump administration for nearly two years.

Simultaneously, investigations into Trump-Russia allegations were launched on Capitol Hill—in both chambers of Congress.

The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the Senate Intelligence Committee opened investigations into whether Trump and members of his campaign colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 presidential race. 

Neither the House nor Senate investigation found evidence of collusion between Trump and Russia. 

After nearly two years, Mueller’s investigation, which concluded in March 2019, yielded no evidence of criminal conspiracy or coordination between the Trump campaign and Russian officials during the 2016 presidential election.

Mueller, though, did not draw a conclusion on whether the president obstructed justice. At the time, then-Attorney General Bill Barr and Rosenstein concluded the evidence from the Mueller case was ‘not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offense.’

Once Mueller’s findings were made public, congressional Democrats seized on the issue of obstruction of justice, and began ramping up investigations on matters that spanned from Trump’s personal finances to security clearances for Trump administration officials, all whilst the drumbeat of impeachment built within the House Democratic caucus.

Investigations led by House Democrats

In March 2019, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., announced a wide-ranging probe into almost every aspect of Trump’s administration, business ventures, and family dealings, subpoenaing more than 81 individuals and entities to investigate ‘alleged obstruction of justice, public corruption, and other abuses of power by President Trump.’ 

But Nadler wasn’t alone— a number of other House panels also stepped up inquiries.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee, which was chaired, at the time, by Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., dissolved the panel’s subcommittee on terrorism and re-directed those resources to a subcommittee dedicated, instead, to investigations related to Trump—specifically his relationships and communications with foreign officials, such as Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Congressional committees, at the time, were also seeking access to State Department employees and contractors with knowledge of Trump’s communications with Putin, including the ‘linguists, translators, or interpreters’ who participated in or listened to Trump-Putin meetings.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who pushed the Trump-Russia collusion narrative for years, in 2019, continued his investigation into the matter, claiming he had evidence of collusion, despite Mueller’s findings.

Declassified transcripts from House Intelligence Committee interviews, which Fox News first reported on in 2020, revealed, among other things, that top Obama officials acknowledged they had no ’empirical evidence’ of collusion or a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia in the 2016 election. 

Also in the spring of 2019, the House Ways and Means Committee sued the Trump administration, accusing officials of violating federal law by refusing to comply with the panel’s requests and subpoenas for documents related to Trump’s tax returns.

The House Oversight Committee, at the time, also subpoenaed Trump’s accounting firm, Mazars USA LLC for his financial information, including annual statements, periodic financial reports and independent auditor reports from Mazars, as well as all communications with Trump.

Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee also subpoenaed Deutsche Bank and Capital One over Trump’s financial statements.

In the middle of the congressional investigations into his finances, Trump’s business dealings were also being probed in two separate investigations in New York— one by then-Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance and the other by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Trump’s administration was even being investigated by the House Oversight Committee over security clearances given to officials, probing the process that gave clearances to White House staff.

Ukraine call and first impeachment

But everything came to a head in July 2019—Trump had a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

During that call, Trump pressed Zelenskyy to launch investigations into the Biden family’s actions and business dealings in Ukraine—specifically Hunter Biden’s ventures with Ukrainian natural gas firm Burisma Holdings. Hunter Biden, at the time, was, and still is, under federal criminal investigation for his tax affairs, prompted by suspicious foreign transactions.

The president’s request came after millions in U.S. military aid to Ukraine had been frozen, which Democrats and some witnesses have cited as a quid pro quo arrangement. Democrats also claimed Trump was meddling in the next presidential election by asking a foreign leader to look into a Democratic political opponent.

Trump’s conversation with Zelenskyy prompted a whistleblower complaint, which led to the House impeachment inquiry, and ultimately, impeachment proceedings in the Senate.

The House voted to impeach Trump in December 2019 on two counts— abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The Senate voted for acquittal in February 2020.

‘At some point, you got to ask, you know, the motive,’ Jordan said of the investigations. ‘And the motive is this guy came to town and shook up the place—he changed the clique that exists there in D.C., he took on the clique and the bureaucracy and everything else, and the folks there said, no, we just can’t have this, and that’s why they go after him so hard.’

COVID-19 accusations

Weeks after Trump’s first acquittal, in March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic rocked the world, shutting down the U.S. economy and global markets, with millions of people around the world contracting the novel coronavirus.

Trump was accused, throughout, of not taking the virus seriously. Democratic senators, including now-Vice President Kamala Harris, called for an investigation into the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. Democrats also said they would create a 9/11-style commission to probe Trump’s response.

The Trump administration, though, launched Operation Warp Speed—a public-private partnership to create vaccines against the novel coronavirus, as the pandemic raged in 2020. Under his administration, the Food and Drug Administration approved emergency use authorizations (EUAs) for the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines. 

Trump in December 2020 signed an executive order that would ensure all Americans had access to coronavirus vaccines before the U.S. government could begin aiding nations around the world. 

Russian bounties to kill U.S. troops

In another congressional probe, during the pandemic, Trump was hammered by Democrats over when he was briefed, and his response to Moscow, related to intelligence that Russia offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants to kill U.S. troops.

A year later, during the Biden administration, officials admitted that intelligence was unverified.

2020 presidential election

Throughout 2020, Trump was also criticized for questioning the security of the upcoming presidential election, and for repeatedly saying it would be ‘rigged’ due to the pandemic-era process of mail-in ballots.

Biden won the 2020 election, but Trump claimed it was stolen, and his legal team filed a slew of lawsuits in battleground states across the nation.

January 6 riot and second impeachment

On Jan. 6, 2021, pro-Trump rioters breached the U.S. Capitol during a joint session of Congress to certify the Electoral College results in favor of President Biden. Trump was permanently banned from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube after the riot.

The House of Representatives then drafted articles of impeachment against him again, and ultimately voted to impeach him on a charge of inciting an insurrection for the Jan. 6 Capitol riot—making him the first and only president to be impeached, and ultimately acquitted, twice in history.

Trump’s legal team denounced the proceedings as an unconstitutional ‘sham impeachment’ against a private citizen, driven by Democrats’ ‘hatred’ for Trump and desire to silence a political opponent. 

The Senate voted to acquit, but had Trump been convicted, the Senate would have moved to bar the 45th president from holding federal office ever again, preventing a 2024 White House run.

In Georgia, in early 2021, prosecutors in Fulton County opened a criminal investigation into Trump’s alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in the state, including his phone call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in which Trump suggested the Republicans ‘find’ enough votes to change the results. 

And when Trump left office, the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol began its probe into the Capitol riot.

That committee spent more than a year investigating, and launched a series of hearings last summer, some during primetime, in an attempt to capture Americans’ attention before the November midterm elections—as they compete with record-high inflation, record-high gas prices, shortages in baby formula, a looming recession, and more for political attention.

When Republicans took the majority in the House of Representatives after the 2022 midterm elections, the Jan. 6 committee’s work was completed, and the committee was shut down.

Special Counsel Jack Smith took over the Justice Department’s Jan. 6 investigation. 

Fulton County, Georgia 2020 election investigation

In Georgia, in early 2021, prosecutors in Fulton County opened a criminal investigation into Trump’s alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in the state, including his phone call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in which Trump suggested the Republicans ‘find’ enough votes to change the results. 

A special grand jury last month released portions of a report detailing its findings in the investigation last month.

The report indicated a majority of the grand jury believes that one or more witnesses may have committed perjury in their testimony, and recommends that prosecutors pursue indictments against them, if the district attorney finds the evidence compelling.

Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung told Fox News Digital that the report does ‘not even mention’ Trump’s name and has ‘nothing to do with the president because President Trump did absolutely nothing wrong.’

‘The President participated in two perfect phone calls regarding election integrity in Georgia, which he is entitled to do—in fact, as President, it was President Trump’s constitutional duty to ensure election safety, security, and integrity,’ Cheung said. ‘Between the two calls, there were many officials and attorneys on the line, including the Secretary of State of Georgia, and no one objected, even slightly protested, or hung up.’

He added: ‘President Trump will always keep fighting for true and honest elections in America.’ 

 

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., spoke out Saturday against a possible indictment of former President Donald Trump from the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, urging the 2024 GOP presidential candidate to fight back and ‘take this all the way to the damn Supreme Court.’

‘The prosecutor in New York has done more to help Donald Trump get elected president than any single person in America today,’ said Graham, speaking from Charleston, South Carolina, at the Palmetto Family Council’s Vision ’24 Forum, a prominent conservative Christian event.

In New York City, ‘you’re lucky if you don’t get mugged on the way to where you’re going. Is this really the most important thing going on in Manhattan?’ Graham questioned. ‘I think this is an effort that’s ongoing, never ending to destroy Donald Trump, everything around Donald Trump.’

Graham also questioned the legal reasoning behind the potential indictment, quoting a New York Times report that said the possible charges rested on an ‘untested and therefore risky legal theory.’

‘They’re making stuff up that they’ve never used against anybody because they hate Trump. That’s what this is. They’re brewing a legal cocktail, to try to come up with some bizarre theory,’ Graham said. ‘The law never used by anybody in New York, just because they hate Trump. You know why they’re doing this? Because they’re afraid of Trump. That’s why they’re doing it.’

Graham referred to the targeting of Trump as ‘selective prosecution’ and said that if he were Trump, he would ‘take this all the way to the damn Supreme Court.’

The comments from Graham, who has endorsed Trump in the 2024 race for president, follow reports that the Manhattan District Attorney’s office may be preparing to issue an indictment for alleged hush money payments Trump made as a presidential candidate in 2016.

A court source told Fox News Digital that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office will meet with law enforcement to ‘discuss logistics for some time next week, which would mean that they are anticipating an indictment next week.’

The potential indictment would likely stem from the years-long investigation surrounding Trump’s alleged hush money scandal involving porn actress Stormy Daniels. Towards the end of the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump’s then-lawyer Michael Cohen sent $130,000 to Daniels to prevent her from disclosing her 2006 affair with Trump. Trump reimbursed Cohen through installments.

Like Graham, other Republican lawmakers are also pushing back against the possible Trump indictment, including House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who said Saturday he is directing House committees to investigate whether federal funds are being used for ‘politically motivated prosecutions’ like that of Trump.

‘Here we go again — an outrageous abuse of power by a radical DA who lets violent criminals walk as he pursues political vengeance against President Trump,’ McCarthy wrote in a tweet.

Bragg has been criticized for downgrading half of all felony charges in Manhattan last year, including armed robberies of commercial businesses, and for other progressive crime policies.

Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., said Bragg ‘allows violent criminals to walk the streets, yet abuses the rule of law & powers of his office to target political opponents in partisan witchhunts. He’s unfit for office.’

Reached for comment Friday, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office would neither ‘confirm or comment’ on the impending indictment.

Trump lashed out at the reports, saying they indicate he would be arrested next week on his Truth Social app Saturday morning, telling his supporters to ‘PROTEST, TAKE BACK OUR NATION.’

‘NOW ILLEGAL LEAKS FROM A CORRUPT & HIGHLY POLITICAL MANHATTAN DISTRICT ATTORNEYS OFFICE, WHICH HAS ALLOWED NEW RECORDS TO BE SET IN VIOLENT CRIME & WHOSE LEADER IS FUNDED BY GEORGE SOROS, INDICATE THAT, WITH NO CRIME BEING ABLE TO BE PROVEN, & BASED ON AN OLD & FULLY DEBUNKED (BY NUMEROUS OTHER PROSECUTORS!) FAIRYTALE, THE FAR & AWAY LEADING REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE & FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, WILL BE ARRESTED ON TUESDAY OF NEXT WEEK. PROTEST, TAKE OUR NATION BACK!,’ Trump wrote.

Amid a possible indictment, Trump is planning to travel to Waco, Texas, next weekend for what will be the first major rally of his 2024 presidential campaign.

Fox News’ Adam Shaw, Marta Dhanis, Adam Sabes, and Brandon Gillespie contributed to this report.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., on Saturday slammed former President Donald Trump’s statement that he expects to be arrested next week, calling it ‘reckless’ and accusing him of inciting violence.

‘The former president’s announcement this morning is reckless: doing so to keep himself in the news & to foment unrest among his supporters,’ tweeted Pelosi, the former House speaker. ‘He cannot hide from his violations of the law, disrespect for our elections and incitements to violence. Rightfully, our legal system will decide how to hold him accountable.’

Pelosi’s tweets came after Trump announced he anticipates his arrest on Tuesday amid reports saying the Manhattan district attorney’s office is preparing to issue an indictment for alleged hush money payments that Trump made as a presidential candidate in 2016.

‘NOW ILLEGAL LEAKS FROM A CORRUPT & HIGHLY POLITICAL MANHATTAN DISTRICT ATTORNEYS OFFICE, WHICH HAS ALLOWED NEW RECORDS TO BE SET IN VIOLENT CRIME & WHOSE LEADER IS FUNDED BY GEORGE SOROS, INDICATE THAT, WITH NO CRIME BEING ABLE TO BE PROVEN, & BASED ON AN OLD & FULLY DEBUNKED (BY NUMEROUS OTHER PROSECUTORS!) FAIRYTALE, THE FAR & AWAY LEADING REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE & FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, WILL BE ARRESTED ON TUESDAY OF NEXT WEEK. PROTEST, TAKE OUR NATION BACK!, [sic]’ Trump posed to his Truth Social account.

In her tweets, Pelosi hinted at the potential for an indictment against Trump.

‘Whatever the Grand Jury decides,’ wrote Pelosi, ‘its consideration makes clear: no one is above the law, not even a former President of the United States.’

Pelosi wasn’t the only Democrat to comment on Trump’s statement on Saturday. Indeed, her successor as the top House Democrat, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., appeared to be referencing Trump in a tweet lambasting ‘right-wing extremists’ for ‘inflammatory’ rhetoric.

‘We live in a democracy,’ wrote Jeffries. ‘Right-wing extremists who fan the flames of political violence with inflammatory rhetoric are not fit to serve. American values over autocracy.’

Meanwhile, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., took aim at House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., for saying he’s directing House committees to investigate whether federal funds are being used for ‘politically motivated prosecutions’ amid reports that Trump could be indicted as early as next week.

‘Here we go again: Kevin McCarthy once again playing the part of criminal defense counsel to shield Trump from accountability,’ tweeted Schiff. ‘Heedless of the consequences to the country, he stirs the pot, and calls for an investigation of the investigators. It’s all part of Trump’s playbook.’

Rep. Eric Swalwell, R-Calif., similarly accused McCarthy of ‘using his powers in government to stop an independent prosecution of his boss.’

Rep. Ted Lieu similarly slammed McCarthy, claiming he ‘bends the knee’ to Trump.

‘Dear [McCarthy]: Do you even know what the charges are?,’ wrote Lieu. ‘Have you seen any of the grand jury evidence? No. You are being a craven, partisan politician who doesn’t respect the rule of law. In America, no one is above the law, including the person to whom you bend your knee.’

Lieu also tweeted that no one is above the law, including former presidents, but noted that Trump has the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty ‘beyond a reasonable doubt to a judge or jury.’

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office will reportedly meet with law enforcement officials to discuss logistics for some time next week regarding a potential indictment, which stems from a years-long investigation into Trump’s alleged hush money scandal involving porn star Stormy Daniels.

In the final weeks of the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump’s then-lawyer Michael Cohen sent $130,000 to Daniels to prevent her from disclosing her alleged 2006 affair with Trump, who has denied the affair. Trump subsequently reimbursed Cohen.

Charges that prosecutors may bring against Trump are expected to relate to the false recording of the reimbursements in his company’s internal records as ‘legal expenses.’

It’s also been widely speculated that Trump could be charged with violating campaign finance laws by arranging the payments to buy Daniels’ silence weeks before the 2016 election. However, some experts have questioned the legal reasoning behind such a charge.

Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung described the ongoing investigation by the Manhattan district attorney’s officeas a ‘witch hunt,’ calling the former president ‘completely innocent’ and accusing District Attorney Alvin Bragg of being in the pocket of President Biden and ‘radical Democrats.’

Republican lawmakers on Saturday lashed out amid reports that an indictment of former President Donald Trump could be coming next week, with representatives and senators decrying what they see as a politically motivated attack on the former president and 2024 candidate.

Fox News was one of a number of outlets this week to report that the Manhattan’s district attorney has requested a meeting with law enforcement ahead of a possible indictment.

According to a court source, the meeting was requested Thursday and is to ‘discuss logistics for some time next week, which would mean that they are anticipating an indictment next week.’

The potential indictment stems from the lengthy investigation surrounding Trump’s alleged payment of ‘hush money’ to porn actress Stormy Daniels. Toward the end of the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump’s then-lawyer Michael Cohen sent $130,000 to Daniels to prevent her from disclosing a 2006 affair with Trump. Trump, who denies the affair, reimbursed Cohen through installments. 

Reached for comment Friday, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office would not ‘confirm or comment’ on the impending indictment. 

The office, led by DA Alvin Bragg, has been investigating the hush money payment — which allegedly took place in 2016 — for the past five years.

Trump, who is running for president again in 2024, said on Saturday on Truth Social that illegal leaks indicate he will be ‘arrested on Tuesday.’

The apparently looming indictment sparked fury from Republicans, who see a politically motivated prosecution. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said he has directed House committees to investigate ‘if federal funds are being used to subvert our democracy by interfering in elections with politically motivated prosecutions.’

‘Here we go again — an outrageous abuse of power by a radical DA who lets violent criminals walk as he pursues political vengeance against President Trump,’ McCarthy tweeted.

Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., dismissed the indictment as ‘based on an untested, tortured legal theory.’

‘This is an absurd abuse of the criminal process in our politics,’ he said. ‘It must be seen for the partisan pathetic ploy it is.’ 

Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-NY, called any such move ‘unAmerican’ and said that the ‘radical Left has reached a dangerous new low of Third World countries.’

‘Knowing they cannot beat President Trump at the ballot box, the Radical Left will now follow the lead of Socialist dictators and reportedly arrest President Trump, the leading Republican candidate for President of the United States,’ she said. ‘This is just a continuation of the disgraceful and unconstitutional pattern going back to the illegal Russian collusion hoax to attempt to silence and suppress the will of the voters who support President Trump and the America First Movement.’

Other Republican lawmakers took the opportunity to criticize Bragg himself. Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., said Bragg ‘allows violent criminals to walk the streets, yet abuses the rule of law & powers of his office to target political opponents in partisan witchhunts. He’s unfit for office.’

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, said that a potential indictment must be treated as ‘a politically motivated prosecution based on a strained, convoluted legal theory.’ 

‘It makes clear the danger of a politicized ‘justice’ system that will be (is being) weaponized against ALL Americans,’ he said.

In the upper chamber, Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., said the potential indictment is ‘some Third World Banana Republic lunacy and a very, very dangerous road to go down.’

‘If this same behavior occurred in an authoritarian state, our own U.S. State Department would condemn it. In liberal New York, evidently it’s politics as usual,’ he said.

Meanwhile, Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, said he had been asked whether he would rescind an endorsement of Trump if he was indicted.

‘The answer is: hell no. A politically motivated prosecution makes the argument for Trump stronger. We simply don’t have a real country if justice depends on politics,’ he said.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., meanwhile, took aim at Democrats in general, claiming that it was part of a trend for the party.

‘The Democrats used the FBI against parents, they used the FBI against Catholics, they used Big Tech against vaccine critics & anyone who questioned them. Now they want to arrest Trump, their leading political opponent,’ he said. ‘They are the banana republic party.’

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy criticized rumors of President Trump’s possible looming indictment on Saturday, calling it ‘un-American’ to prosecute the former president.

‘It is un-American for the ruling party to use police power to arrest its political rivals,’ the entrepreneur said on Twitter. ‘If a Republican prosecutor in 2004 had used a campaign finance technicality to arrest then-candidate John Kerry while Bush & Cheney were in power, liberals would have cried foul – and rightly so.’

‘This will mark a dark moment in American history and will undermine public trust in our electoral system itself,’ Ramaswamy continued. ‘I call on the Manhattan District Attorney to reconsider this action and to put aside partisan politics in service of preserving our Constitutional republic.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office is reportedly planning to indict the former president regarding his alleged hush money scandal with porn star Stormy Daniels.

During his 2016 presidential campaign, Trump’s then-lawyer Michael Cohen allegedly sent $130,000 to Daniels to prevent her from publicizing her 2006 affair with Trump. Cohen was allegedly reimbursed by Trump through installments.

Prosecutors will likely argue that the $130,000 payment to Daniels was an improper donation to the Trump campaign, as Daniels’ NDA helped his candidacy.

A court source informed Fox News Digital that members of Alvin Bragg’s office will meet with law enforcement to ‘discuss logistics for some time next week, which would mean that they are anticipating an indictment next week.’

President Trump has lashed out at the reports on Saturday morning, encouraging his followers to protest.

‘NOW ILLEGAL LEAKS FROM A CORRUPT & HIGHLY POLITICAL MANHATTAN DISTRICT ATTORNEYS OFFICE, WHICH HAS ALLOWED NEW RECORDS TO BE SET IN VIOLENT CRIME & WHOSE LEADER IS FUNDED BY GEORGE SOROS, INDICATE THAT, WITH NO CRIME BEING ABLE TO BE PROVEN, & BASED ON AN OLD & FULLY DEBUNKED (BY NUMEROUS OTHER PROSECUTORS!) FAIRYTALE, THE FAR & AWAY LEADING REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE & FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, WILL BE ARRESTED ON TUESDAY OF NEXT WEEK. PROTEST, TAKE OUR NATION BACK!,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Fox News’ Kyle Morris contributed to this report.

Former President Donald Trump returned to Facebook on Friday, posting for the first time in more than two years with a simple two-word message: ‘I’M BACK!’

Included in the post was a 12-second video clip from Trump’s 2016 election night victory speech. ‘Sorry to keep you waiting. Complicated business,’ he said in the clip.

Trump was banned from the platform, as well as his Instagram and Twitter accounts, following the riot at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021; however, Meta Platforms, which owns Facebook and Instagram, announced earlier this year his access to the accounts would be reinstated.

Nick Clegg, president of global affairs at Meta and liberal former U.K. politician, said the company determined Trump is no longer a ‘serious risk to public safety’ and they had ‘guardrails’ in place for his return.

Ahead of Meta’s announcement that Trump would be able to return, his campaign confirmed to Fox News Digital that it was discussing a potential reinstatement with CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Trump, however, downplayed any need he had for the platform, telling Fox that Facebook had lost a whopping $700 billion since his ban took effect.

‘If they took us back, it would help them greatly, and that’s okay with me,’ Trump said. ‘But they need us more than we need them.’

Trump’s return to the platform comes as the 2024 race for the White House continues to heat up. He has so far been joined in the Republican primary race by former U.N. Ambassador and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, multi-millionaire businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, and Michigan businessman Perry Johnson.

Fox News’ Brooke Singman contributed to this report.

Florida Senator Rick Scott on Friday demanded answers from the Biden administration on a watchdog report that said grant funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) was directed to China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology, and pressed the administration to explain if it is barring future funding to the lab that some think is the source of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a letter sent to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, Scott noted that an HHS report from the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) found that NIH failed to properly monitor their grant awards, including one to the Wuhan lab. The OIG report found that HHS grants to the non-profit group EcoHealth Alliance weren’t properly monitored as they made their way to the lab.

‘NIH allowed EcoHealth Alliance to sub-award the grant to the Communist Chinese government and failed to conduct proper oversight,’ Scott wrote. ‘American tax dollars should always be protected from waste, fraud, and abuse. It is vital that NIH provide oversight of how these funds are spent on grants.’

The report also recommended that NIH consider barring the Wuhan lab from future grants, and Scott asked NIH how it was going to handle that recommendation.

‘OIG recommends that the [Wuhan Institute of Virology] should be debarred from future federal contracts,’ he wrote. ‘What is NIH doing about this matter?’

Scott said that because of the overall failure to properly oversee the grant funding to the Wuhan lab, EcoHealth Allliance failed to report in on how the money was being spent. He argued that some of the information that was missing related to the Wuhan grant could have shed light on the source of COVID-19, a question that is still being debated within the U.S. government. Some federal agencies believe the most likely source of COVID was the Wuhan lab.

‘Some of the missing information included data from the [Wuhan lab],’ Scott wrote. ‘This information, which could provide further clarity on the origin of COVID-19, has been lost.’ He added that neither the lab nor China’s government have shown any interest in ‘being transparent and providing information to NIH.’

Scott also noted that federal standards require oversight before grants are sent to institutions that might perform gain-of-function research. But he said the federal system of oversight failed to review the grant to the Wuhan lab.

‘The first priority of the NIH should be to protect taxpayer dollars and ensure that all funds are properly accounted for with appropriate oversight of both the funding and the research,’ Scott’s letter read. ‘This failure by NIH is unacceptable.’

Scott listed more than a dozen other questions for Becerra to answer, including how NIH monitors and determines where its grant money goes and whether EcoHealth is going to receive any more federal funding.

He called for grants that are going to foreign governments in particular to receive ‘a higher level of scrutiny.’

‘Allowing awardees to do sub-awards to foreign government should require NIH to provide a higher level of scrutiny. Despite knowing that the Communist Chinese government was receiving NIH funds at the [Wuhan lab], NIH kept a hands-off approach—completely ignoring the oversight process,’ Scott wrote.