Former FBI Official Issues Dire Assessment About Possible Trump Indictment
Former FBI official Frank Figliuzzi gave a dire assessment about how Donald Trump supporters might react if the former president is indicted in federal probes as well as the New York investigation into alleged hush money paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
Figliuzzi pointed out on Saturday during an appearance on MSNBC's American Voices With Alicia Menendez that Trump hasn't been indicted yet and is already stirring up his supporters through social media and most recently during his rally in Waco, Texas, against the country's justice system and federal agencies.
The former president is being investigated by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office after it was discovered that $130,000 was paid to Daniels by Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen ahead of the 2016 presidential election to keep secret an affair that Daniels claims she had with Trump in 2006.
Trump denied the affair and repeatedly asserted his innocence as he criticized the investigation and slammed Bragg. He even predicted that he would be arrested last Tuesday, which never happened.
Trump would be the first president in American history to be indicted if charges were issued against him. Still, Trump said if he's indicted, he will still run in next year's presidential election, even though potential criminal charges might weaken his winning chances. Some Republicans also want to support other favorable candidates such as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who hasn't announced his own presidential bid yet.
"We have Trump driving the narrative a week ago today announcing he was gonna be indicted, never happened," said Figliuzzi, the former assistant director for counterintelligence at the FBI. "He is running the show right now and what that is doing is its giving all kinds of time for his followers and violent followers amongst them to decide to plan, organize, and make threats. The indictment has even come down yet, if it's going to, and [then] that means this is just a sneak preview."
On Truth Social, Trump recently called for his supporters to protest against a possible indictment and warned of "potential death & destruction" if he was charged.
"Tonight, even as we speak, Trump continues to attack not only the DA, but the charges that might be coming themselves. He is actually, again, very inaccurately claiming that the federal government is directing Bragg to do this, that is just not how the system works, but his followers seem to be eating that up," said Figliuzzi.
Trump told the crowd at his Waco rally on Saturday that Bragg "under the auspices and direction of the department of injustice in Washington D.C., was investigating me for something that is not a crime, not a misdemeanor, not an affair."
The former FBI official also predicted that the law enforcement community would be in for a test if other potential state and federal indictments were issued against Trump.
The former president is being investigated for mishandling hundreds of classified documents seized by the FBI in August at his Mar-a-Lago residence. He is also involved in another probe, along with some of his allies, for allegedly trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who is handling the Georgia probe, urged Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney in January to keep secret the findings of a special grand jury that spent months looking into the case. Meanwhile, Trump has maintained his innocence in the investigations.
"You are going to see a national coalition come together to gather intel about plans for domestic terrorists, plans to violently protest what is happening in New York. But again, wait for the Fulton County charges if they come. Wait for federal charges if they come, and then, I think we are really in an unprecedented security mode," Figliuzzi added Saturday.
Newsweek reached out to former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner for comment.
