The FBI briefed U.S. Senator Mark Warner on Donald Trump’s rhetoric on Sunday, after the former president verbally attacked a New York prosecutor overseeing a grand jury investigation into alleged hush-money payments.
“The FBI has briefed me on the situation. They claim to be fully prepared “Warner, a Democrat, and the Senate Intelligence Committee’s chairman, told CNN on Sunday. “They have not seen any specific threats, but the level of rhetoric on some of these right-wing websites has risen.”
Trump, who is running for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, has stepped up his rhetoric against New York prosecutors investigating his hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. Prosecutors have stated that they will not back down.
Since March 18, when the former president incorrectly predicted he would be arrested three days later, Trump has specifically condemned Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg in multiple posts on his Truth Social media site. Trump has threatened “death and destruction” if he is charged with a crime.
Trump falsely claims that his defeat in 2020 was the result of fraud, which inspired his supporters to launch a deadly Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the United States Capitol in a failed attempt to prevent Congress from certifying the election of Democratic President Joe Biden, who defeated Republican Trump by more than seven million votes.
On Sunday, Trump’s lawyer, Joseph Tacopina, said that some of Trump’s online attacks on Bragg were unwise.
“I’m not his social media strategist. I believe that was an ill-advised post made by one of his social media staffers, which he quickly removed “Tacopina spoke to NBC News in response to Trump’s post of himself holding a baseball bat next to Bragg.
On Sunday, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said the city was prepared for any fallout from a potential Trump indictment.
“We’re just going to be ready no matter what,” Adams said on Sunday to PIX11.
Daniels, real name Stephanie Clifford, is an adult film actress and director who claims she was paid to remain silent about a sexual encounter she had with Trump in 2006.
Trump has denied having an affair with Daniels and has referred to the payment as a “simple private transaction.” He has stated that he did not commit a crime and that the investigation, which is one of many legal hurdles he is facing, is politically motivated.
The Manhattan grand jury investigating Trump is expected to reconvene next week.
