Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is pushing back against criticism from Donald Trump over a potential grand jury indictment of the former president.
Mr. Bragg, a Democrat, told his staff in an internal memo over the weekend that he will “not tolerate attempts to intimidate our office or threaten the rule of law in New York.”
The email from Mr. Bragg, first reported by Politico, came after social media posts by Mr. Trump calling for protests because he expects to be arrested this week in connection to a hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election over an extramarital affair.
“The far & away leading Republican candidate & former president of the United States of America will be arrested on Tuesday of next week,” Mr. Trump posted on his social media site, Truth Social. “Protest, take our nation back!”
New York City is now on high alert, with Mr. Bragg telling staff that his office is coordinating with the city’s police department and the court to “ensure that any specific or credible threats against the office will be fully investigated and that the proper safeguards are in place so all 1,600 of us have a secure work environment.”
Mr. Bragg went on to say that he “will continue to apply the law evenly and fairly, and speak publicly only when appropriate.”
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The potential indictment has also caught the White House’s attention, prompting National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby to say Sunday that they’re keeping tabs on the situation.
“We’re always monitoring the situation here as best we can,” Mr. Kirby said on “Fox News Sunday.” “And we obviously don’t want to see any activity grow violent, certainly nothing to the extent that we saw on January 6, but we’re watching this. We’ll watch it, of course, closely.”
• Ramsey Touchberry can be reached at rtouchberry@washingtontimes.com.
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