In the latest development after the indictment of Donald Trump, Fox News reported that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced that his state “will not assist” in any extradition request by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. amid what he called “questionable circumstances.” He slammed the charges against former President Donald Trump as “un-American” and as a “weaponization of the legal system to advance a political agenda.”
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.
DeSantis left no room for doubt as he stated, “The weaponization of the legal system to advance a political agenda turns the rule of law on its head.”
He also repeated the frequently expressed allegation against the DA, “The Soros-backed Manhattan District Attorney has consistently bent the law to downgrade felonies and to excuse criminal misconduct…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’s primary residence is his property at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida and therefore extradition would come under the jurisdiction of that state.
Trump was indicted as part of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office’s years-long investigation, possibly for hush money payments. 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.
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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