Trump Warns 'Death & Destruction' Possible If Hush-Money Charges Drop

NEW YORK CITY — Former President Donald Trump darkly warned social media followers early Friday morning to expect "potential death & destruction" should Manhattan's District Attorney opt to charge him in an ongoing hush-money probe.

But the former president's previous prediction that he would face arrest Tuesday failed to pass, and it remains unclear how much power over this situation Trump actually has.

Trump took aim at Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg — who has convened a grand jury to weigh criminal charges over a 2016 hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels — in a Truth Social message posted about 1:10 a.m.

"What kind of person can charge another person, in this case a former President of the United States, who got more votes than any sitting President in history, and leading candidate (by far!) for the Republican Party nomination, with a Crime, when it is known by all that NO Crime has been committed, & also known that potential death & destruction in such a false charge could be catastrophic for our Country?" Trump wrote.

"Why & who would do such a thing? Only a degenerate psychopath that truely (sic) hates the USA!"

The post echoed and escalated upon a spate of posts that began nearly a week ago, when Trump erroneously asserted he would be arrested Tuesday in the hush-money case and called for "PROTEST, PROTEST, PROTEST!!!"

Trump's rhetoric raised fears of mass protests or, worse, Jan. 6-style unrest in New York City by his supporters. Mayor Eric Adams and city officials have said they've taken steps to prepare for unrest.

Those fears didn't come to pass as the grand jury was called off on the Trump case Wednesday and Thursday. And Trump supporters outside Manhattan Criminal Court reportedly were outnumbered by demonstrators who wanted an indictment against the former president.

Amid the waiting game, Trump continued to post messages on Truth Social that appeared to flout calls for peaceful protest.

"OUR COUNTRY IS BEING DESTROYED, AS THEY TELL US TO BE PEACEFUL!" he posted Thursday.

Trump also called Bragg, the borough's first Black district attorney, an "animal" backed by George Soros, a philanthropist who is often the subject of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.

New York City civil rights leaders including the Rev. Al Sharpton and NAACP New York State president Hazel Dukes condemned Trump's attack against Bragg, according to a statement published by Politico.

“This disgraceful attack is not a dog-whistle but a bullhorn of incendiary racist and anti-semitic bile, spewed out for the sole purpose of intimidating and sabotaging a lawful, legitimate, fact-based investigation,” the statement read.

“These ugly, hateful and anti-American attacks on our judicial system must be universally condemned without equivocation or hesitation. It is clear that Trump would burn down the greatest values of our democracy, and destroy honest, ethical officials performing their constitutional duties, to escape accountability.”

In another attack against Bragg, Trump reposted an image from an article that appeared to show him wielding a baseball bat against the prosecutor.

Beyond social media, Trump's choice of Waco, Texas, as the location for a Saturday rally raised eyebrows and brought condemnation because of its proximity to the Branch Davidian siege, an incident nearing its 30th anniversary that stoked far-right outrage.

A Houston Chronicle editorial Thursday accused Trump of explicitly "stoking the fires of Waco."

"Trump doesn’t do subtle; dog-whistle messages are not his style," it states. "The more apt metaphor is the blaring air horn of a Mack 18-wheeler barreling down I-10."

The Manhattan grand jury is expected to reconvene Monday at the earliest.