Rand Paul Says Trump Indictment Would Be a ‘Disgusting Abuse of Power’

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) speaks in Washington on Dec. 20, 2022. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) decried Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s purported plans to indict former President Donald Trump on March 21, holding that it was Bragg who belonged behind bars.

“A Trump indictment would be a disgusting abuse of power,” Paul wrote in a tweet. “The DA should be put in jail.”

Rumors of a potential indictment began to swirl last week amid a leak from Bragg’s office, which has been investigating the former president over a $130,000 payment to his former personal attorney Michael Cohen as reimbursement for “hush money” payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in the weeks leading up to the 2016 presidential election.

It has been widely speculated that the case being built against Trump is rooted in the theory that he violated campaign finance laws by failing to report those payments as a campaign expense—an argument some elected officials and law scholars have found to be “tenuous” and without legal foundation.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg speaks during a press conference regarding Steven Lopez and the Central Park jogger case at the state Supreme Court in New York on July 25, 2022. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

For instance, George Washington University Law Professor Jonathan Turley described the anticipated indictment as “Frankensteinian” on March 19, holding that Bragg was stitching together federal and state legal codes to “reanimate a dead criminal theory.”

“It is the ultimate gravedigger charge,” Turley added, “where Bragg unearthed a case from 2016 and, through a series of novel steps, is seeking to bring it back to life.”

After taking office in 2022, Bragg had initially hesitated to move forward with the case, citing concerns that the case against Trump was not strong enough. Ultimately, however, the investigation that was launched under his predecessor continued.

Responding to speculation of a forthcoming indictment on March 20, House Republicans sent a letter to Bragg questioning his motives and requesting documents and testimony on the matter.

According to Fox News, a spokesperson for Bragg responded to that letter, noting: “We will not be intimidated by attempts to undermine the justice process.

“Many false claims have been lobbed out, so let’s set the record straight. New York remains one of the safest big cities in the United States.”

Trump Slams ‘Witch Hunt’

Without commenting specifically on the case against Trump, the spokesperson reportedly added: “In every prosecution, we follow the law without fear or favor to uncover the truth. Our skilled, honest, and dedicated lawyers remain hard at work.”

Meanwhile, Trump has maintained his innocence on the matter, criticizing Bragg’s investigation as another political “witch hunt.”

“These four horrible, radical-left, Democrat investigations of your all-time favorite president, me, is just a continuation of the most disgusting witch hunt in the history of our country,” Trump said on March 20 in a video posted to his Truth Social account.

Describing the situation as an “absolute disgrace,” Trump added, “Whether it’s the Mar-a-Lago raid, or the Unselect Committee hoax, the perfect Georgia phone call … or the Stormy ‘Horse-faced’ Daniels extortion plot, they’re all sick, and it’s fake news.”

According to RealClearPolitics, the 45th president currently leads the field of contenders for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination by a wide margin.

Noting this, Trump asserted that the investigations against him were merely an effort to keep him out of the Oval Office.

However, he also assured his supporters that he had no intention of backing down.

“They know that we can defeat them, they know that we will defeat them,” he said. “But they’re not coming after me; they’re coming after you. I’m just standing in their way, and I always will stand in their way.”