By Scott Wong and Ali Vitali -
NBC News
ORLANDO, Fla. — House Speaker Kevin McCarthy urged calm Sunday and said Americans should not demonstrate if former President Donald Trump is indicted and arrested in the investigation into his alleged responsibility for the payments to buy the silence of the porn actress Stormy Daniels during the electoral campaign of 2016.
In this way, one of the most important Republicans within the party stood out and contradicted the real estate magnate, who aspires to win the 2024 presidential elections and who on Saturday called on his followers to take to the streets if he is arrested: "Protest , take back our nation," he asked.
Former President Donald Trump with now Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy during an event with farmers in Bakersfield California on February 19, 2020. David McNew / Getty Images
The last time the former president called on his supporters to demonstrate en masse was on January 6, 2021, when dozens of them ended up invading the Capitol and starring in one of the darkest episodes of democracy in the United States.
“I don't think people should protest this, no.
And I think President Trump, if you talk to him, doesn't believe that either," McCarthy said after being asked by NBC News, Noticias Telemundo's sister network, during a meeting of Republican congressmen in Orlando, Florida.
"No one should be hurt. We want calm," he said.
But during the same press conference, McCarthy strongly defended Trump, claiming that the investigation being conducted by New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg is politically motivated and accusing him of not wanting to act against rising crime in New York City.
“Attorney after attorney will tell you that this is the weakest case there is, trying to turn a misdemeanor into a felony,” McCarthy said, flanked by members of his team.
[The Manhattan prosecutor replies to Trump and affirms in a statement that “attempts to intimidate” will not be tolerated]
"The last thing we want...is for someone to put their hand on the scales [of justice] simply because they disagree with someone else's political opinion," McCarthy added.
“That is what is wrong and what makes people angry.
And this will not hold up in court if it is what [the prosecutor] wants to do.”
Trump announced Saturday on his Truth Social account that he will be arrested Tuesday based on "illegal leaks" made by Bragg to the media.
The prosecutor is investigating allegations that Trump paid to silence porn star Stormy Daniels during his 2016 White House presidential campaign.
Multiple sources said last week that law enforcement in New York was preparing for a possible indictment of Trump, something that could happen as soon as this week.
Trump will not refuse to answer to the authorities if he is charged in the case of Stormy Daniels
March 17, 202301:50
McCarthy said on Twitter on Saturday that he had ordered GOP-led House committees to investigate whether federal funding was being used for the Bragg investigations and to “subvert our democracy by interfering in elections with politically motivated prosecutions.” ".
A day later, McCarthy reiterated in Orlando his promise to investigate the steps taken by the New York prosecutor's office, assuring that he had already spoken with the president of the Judiciary, Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who also heads the select subcommittee on Weaponization. of the Federal Government.
“This directly applies to that,” McCarthy told reporters.
"I think you'll see action from him."
Asked if Trump should run for president if he is ultimately convicted, McCarthy turned to the nation's founders.
"The Constitution allows it," he said, "he has a constitutional right to run."
[Steve Bannon, former Trump adviser, turns himself in to court in New York and will be charged with border wall fraud]
Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, one of Trump's main allies, argued that people have a constitutional right to protest peacefully, but joined McCarthy in urging Trump supporters not to demonstrate if impeached.
In her place, she added, his supporters must attend the rally that he will give on March 25 in Waco, Texas.
"I'm planning to go," he said, "I'm looking forward to going there. I'm not going to New York. I'm going to Waco, Texas, and I'm going to join a lot of people who support President Trump."
