Trump blasts Stormy Daniels hush-money indictment as ‘political persecution’

Former President Donald Trump ripped news of his unprecedented indictment Thursday as “political persecution and election interference at the high levels in history” — calling Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg “a disgrace.”

“The Democrats have lied, cheated and stolen in their obsession with trying to ‘Get Trump,’ but now they’ve done the unthinkable – indicting a completely innocent person in an act of blatant Election Interference,” Trump, 76, said in a statement issued shortly after indictment charges were filed against him related to $130,000 hush-money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016.

The indictment, filed by Bragg’s office Thursday evening following months of grand jury proceedings, remains under seal.

Sources told The Post Trump is expected to surrender sometime early next week.

Trump erroneously predicted he’d be arrested on March 21. He’s claimed any charges brought against him would be barred by the statute of limitations.

The criminal charges come at a time when Trump is seeking the 2024 Republican nomination for president.

He predicted his indictment will “backfire massively on Joe Biden.”

“The American people realize exactly what the Radical Left Democrats are doing here,” he wrote. “Everyone can see it. So our Movement, and our Party – united and strong – will first defeat Alvin Bragg, and then we will defeat Joe Biden, and we are going to throw every last one of these Crooked Democrats out of office so we can MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN.”

Taylor Budowich, CEO of Make America Great Again Inc., also insisted Trump was innocent and that the prosecution would only help him reach the White House again.

“This is not an indictment of a crime—there was no crime—instead, this news is the indictment of a failed nation,” Budowich said in an emailed statement.

“President Trump is promising to peacefully end the war in Ukraine, dismantle the deep state, and save our country by putting America first. For that, the political elites and powerbrokers have weaponized government to try and stop him. They will fail. He will be re-elected in the greatest landslide in American history, and together we will all Make America Great Again.”

Meanwhile, Trump’s son Eric Trump similarly reacted to the charges.

“This is third world prosecutorial misconduct,” he tweeted. “It is the opportunistic targeting of a political opponent in a campaign year.”

The president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., echoed his brother, accusing Bragg of election interference. 

“This isn’t just the radical left weaponizing the government to target their political enemies, this is them weaponizing the government to interfere in the 2024 election to stop Trump. The only solution is to shove it down their throats and put him back in the White House!!! #MAGA” Trump Jr., wrote in a tweet. 

“We all know that the RINOs are secretly happy about the indictment, but the fascist left won’t stop with Trump. They’re power-hungry & will do anything to crush their political opponents. If we’re ever going to save our country, the entire GOP needs to finally figure that out,” he added. 

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), a strong Trump ally who is leading an investigation into what he called Bragg’s “unprecedented abuse” and “politically motivated” case against the former president, tweeted one word in reaction to the indictment – “outrageous.” 

Rep Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.), who defeated Republican Trump nemesis Liz Cheney in Wyoming’s primary last year, issued a statement on the indictment Thursday, which mirrored much of the rhetoric from the Trump family. 

“It’s a sad day for this country when the political opponents of a former president use the judicial system to weaponize the government and settle scores. Even though other state and federal prosecutors have passed on this case, D.A. Alvin Bragg clearly always intended to fulfill his campaign promise, which was to ‘personally’ focus on Donald Trump,” she stated. 

“This is calculated and pre-meditated vendetta politics and it has no place in the United States of America,” she said, adding that it is “evidence of a two-tiered criminal justice system” and calling the indictment “third world stuff.”

Far-right Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) also called the indictment an example of “third world politics from a Soros DA who needs to be investigated.”

“This is clear and brazen political persecution. I proudly stand with Donald J. Trump,” he wrote in a tweet.

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) released a statement denouncing Bragg as a “corrupt Socialist District Attorney” and calling his case against Trump a “political witch-hunt.” 

“The radical Far Left will stop at nothing to persecute Joe Biden’s chief political opponent ahead of the 2024 presidential election to suppress the will and voice of the American people,” she said, adding that Thursday is “a dark day for America.”

Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas), who was Trump’s doctor at the White House, blasted Bragg as a “NATIONAL EMBARRASSMENT to our justice system,” in a tweet.  

“President Trump has been proven to have done NO wrong. This is nothing more than a political stunt to prevent Trump from becoming President in 2024!” he added.

In a preview of possible Republican retribution, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) tweeted out, “Hunter Biden: Call your lawyers,” shortly after the indictment-vote news broke.