Trump following indictment: 'This is political persecution'
Former President Donald Trump slams his indictment as a 'witch hunt.'
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said his state "will not assist" in any extradition request by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg amid what he called "questionable circumstances" while slamming the charges against former President Donald Trump as "un-American" and as a "weaponization of the legal system to advance a political agenda."
TRUMP INDICTMENT: LIVE UPDATES
The former president and 2024 Republican presidential candidate was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury on Thursday after a years-long investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
"The weaponization of the legal system to advance a political agenda turns the rule of law on its head," DeSantis tweeted Thursday. "It is un-American."
Gov. Ron DeSantis, left, and former President Donald Trump. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
"The Soros-backed Manhattan District Attorney has consistently bent the law to downgrade felonies and to excuse criminal misconduct," he continued. "Yet, now he is stretching the law to target a political opponent."
DeSantis added: "Florida will not assist in an extradition request given the questionable circumstances at issue with this Soros-backed Manhattan prosecutor and his political agenda."
TRUMP INDICTED AFTER MANHATTAN DA PROBE FOR HUSH MONEY PAYMENTS
Trump's primary residence is his property at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida.
Former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Fla., is seen on Nov. 8, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
DESANTIS SLAMS ‘SOROS-FUNDED’ MANHATTAN DA FOR ‘WEAPONIZING THE OFFICE’ AS TRUMP RUMORS SWIRL
Trump was indicted as part of the Manhattan District Attorney's Office's years-long investigation, possibly for hush money payments.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg speaks at a press conference after the sentencing hearing of the Trump Organization at the New York Supreme Court in New York City on Jan. 13, 2023. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
Bragg has been investigating Trump for hush money payments made leading up to the 2016 presidential election.
These include the $130,000 payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and the $150,000 payment made to former Playboy model Karen McDougal, Fox News Digital has learned.
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Hush money payments made to both McDougal and Daniels were revealed and reported by Fox News in 2018. Those payments had been investigated by the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York and by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York opted out of charging Trump related to the Daniels payment in 2019, even as former Trump attorney Michael Cohen implicated him as part of his plea deal. The FEC also tossed its investigation into the matter in 2021.
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