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For the G.O.P., a Looming Trump Indictment Takes Center Stage


Republicans on Monday braced for the impact of the impending indictment of former President Donald J. Trump, with his allies on Capitol Hill flexing their investigative powers to target the prosecutor pursuing Mr. Trump while the leading rival for the 2024 G.O.P. presidential nomination, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, took his first swipe at Mr. Trump’s personal conduct.

Mr. Trump’s call over the weekend for his supporters to take to the streets in protest of what he described as his looming arrest left even some of his allies on the right fearful about what would come next. Memories are still fresh from Jan. 6, 2021, when Mr. Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol in a violent riot that has since resulted in more than 1,000 arrests.

With police barricades going up outside the Criminal Courts Building in Manhattan on Monday, prominent Republicans, including Mr. Trump’s allies, were divided over whether to encourage mass protests. Some influential voices on the right urged caution and for his supporters to stay away, particularly from New York, where any potential unrest would invite prosecution from the same official who is expected to charge Mr. Trump. Others said not protesting the indictment of a former president was tantamount to ceding their constitutional rights.

“I get that there are some fears and concerns based on what happened on Jan. 6,” said Gavin Wax, the president of the New York Young Republican Club, which organized a demonstration in Manhattan on Monday evening that was sparsely attended, with the news media vastly outnumbering protesters. “But it’s ridiculous and pathetic and nihilistic to say that a conservative can’t peacefully protest.”

The day’s events represented an uneasy calm before an expected political and legal firestorm. A Manhattan grand jury is expected to soon indict Mr. Trump in connection with hush money payments that kept a pornographic actress, Stormy Daniels, from speaking out in 2016 about an affair she said she had with Mr. Trump years earlier.

Representative Elise Stefanik of New York, the highest-ranking member of the House so far to endorse Mr. Trump, predicted in an interview that the expected indictment “only strengthens President Trump moving forward.” And Mr. Trump did in fact score an endorsement from Mr. DeSantis’s home state on Monday — from Representative Anna Paulina Luna, who indicated that the expected indictment had pushed her to unequivocally choose sides.

“This is unheard-of, and Americans should see it for what it is: an abuse of power and fascist overreach of the justice system,” Ms. Luna said in a statement to The Times.

As House Republicans gathered this week in Orlando, Fla., ostensibly to plot their policy agenda and how to position themselves for the coming fiscal fights on Capitol Hill, the disruptive force that Mr. Trump remains for the party was on display, even as G.O.P. lawmakers lined up almost uniformly against his prosecution.

The Republican speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, who owes his post in part to Mr. Trump’s support, was among those urging Trump supporters to stay away from protests on Sunday, for instance. “I don’t think people should protest this, no,” he said.

Ms. Stefanik, one of Mr. Trump’s most fervent defenders, dissented. “I do believe people have a constitutional right of freedom of speech to speak up when they disagree,” she said.

A few hundred miles away, Mr. DeSantis was attempting his own high-wire balancing act when it comes to Mr. Trump. He criticized Mr. Bragg as “a Soros-funded prosecutor,” using the familiar language of the right to bash George Soros, the liberal billionaire philanthropist, for his indirect financial support. At the same time, Mr. DeSantis appeared to minimize the significance of a former president facing potential criminal charges.

“We’ve got so many things pending in front of the Legislature,” Mr. DeSantis said. “I’ve got to spend my time on issues that actually matter to people.”

Reporting was contributed by Alan Feuer, Luke Broadwater, Michael C. Bender and Chelsia Rose Marcius.



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