Former U.S. President Donald Trump indicated he would testify on Wednesday in a New York investigation by the state's attorney general into his family's business practices, with the possible testimony coming amid a flurry of legal woes for him.
New York State Attorney General Letitia James is conducting a civil investigation examining whether the Trump Organization inflated real estate values. Trump and two of his adult children, Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump, have agreed to testify.
Trump has denied wrongdoing and called the New York investigation politically motivated. James is a Democrat.
"In New York City tonight. Seeing racist N.Y.S. Attorney General tomorrow, for a continuation of the greatest Witch Hunt in U.S. history! My great company, and myself, are being attacked from all sides. Banana Republic!" Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform late on Tuesday.
James has said her investigation had uncovered significant evidence that the Trump Organization, which manages hotels, golf courses and other real estate, overstated asset values to obtain favorable loans and understated the values to get tax breaks.
For much of the year, small cracks in Trump's political support have been growing.
Dissatisfied Republican primary voters began to consider new presidential prospects. GOP donors grappled with damaging revelations uncovered by the Jan. 6 committee. Several party leaders pondered challenging Trump for the party's 2024 nomination.
But after the FBI executed a search warrant at his Florida estate, the Republican Party unified swiftly behind the former president.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who likely represents Trump's strongest potential primary challenger, described the Biden administration as a "regime” and called Monday's Mar-a-Lago search for improperly taken classified documents "another escalation in the weaponization of federal agencies against the Regime’s political opponents.”
The GOP push to portray Trump as the victim of a politicized Justice Department ignored the potential criminal misconduct that justified the search in the eyes of a federal judge. It overlooked Trump's role in hiring now-vilified FBI Director Chris Wray, who also served as a high-ranking official in a Republican-led Justice Department. The Biden White House, meanwhile, said it had no prior knowledge of the search.
But the robust defense serves as a fresh reminder of the former president's enduring grip on the GOP, driven by an ability to use a sense of grievance among many Republican voters toward government and other institutions. Trump tapped into that animosity to overcome two impeachments and the fallout from an insurrection. His allies said Tuesday that the FBI search would only strengthen his position again.
Banks was among about a dozen Republican lawmakers who spent several hours Tuesday evening with Trump at his summer home in Bedminster, New Jersey. During a meal that included steak, scallops, mashed potatoes, salad and a Trump cookie, the group talked about the upcoming midterm elections and the 2024 presidential race, Banks said.
The former president told the lawmakers "his mind is made up” about a 2024 campaign and "we'll all be happy with his decision."
The FBI search seemed to trigger a shift among Trump's advisers, who had been privately urging him to wait until after the midterm elections to announce his intention to seek the presidency again. Suddenly, some of those same advisers were urging him to launch his campaign before the November elections.
Trump stoked such speculation in the hours after the search by posting a campaign-style video on social media. "The best is yet to come,” he said.
He followed up with a fundraising appeal, making it personal by declaring "it’s important that you know that it wasn’t just my home that was violated – it was the home of every patriotic American who I have been fighting for.”
In Columbia, South Carolina, Sen. Lindsey Graham said he spoke with Trump and felt sure another campaign was coming.
As Republicans rallied behind Trump, Democrats pushed back against GOP claims of political interference, without evidence. Some accused the GOP of a departure from its longstanding commitment to "law and order."
"The FBI director was appointed by Donald Trump,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Asked if the raid might hurt Democrats in the November elections, she said: "You’re talking about if the Justice Department decides to have a warrant to go in because they suspect something is justified, it’s going to have an impact on the election? No, no, no, no, no.”
Some of Trump's most vocal Republican critics still shied away from embracing the former president. And it was unclear how rank-and-file Republican voters and independents frustrated by Trump's divisive leadership might be moved by the new developments.
And some other Republican officials seemed to express continued concerns about Trump by refusing to weigh in at all.
The relatively short list of those GOP leaders who remained silent Tuesday afternoon was led by Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who has privately encouraged his party to move past Trump. But the Kentucky Republican eventually weighed in, saying: "The country deserves a thorough and immediate explanation of what led to the events of Monday. Attorney General Garland and the Department of Justice should already have provided answers to the American people and must do so immediately.”
The overwhelming majority – from House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy to DeSantis, accused the Biden administration of "weaponizing” the Justice Department and ignored any potential wrongdoing by Trump.
Former Vice President Mike Pence, who is gearing up for a presidential run of his own, said he shared "the deep concerns of millions of Americans” over the search of Trump's private residence.
The search intensified the monthslong probe into how classified documents ended up in boxes of White House records located at Mar-a-Lago earlier this year. A separate grand jury is investigating efforts by Trump and allies to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
In late June, long before the latest development, 48% of U.S. adults said that Trump should be charged with a crime for his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, according to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
One of Trump's most vocal supporters in Congress, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, almost seemed to thank the Justice Department for bringing her party together.
"I’ve talked a lot about the civil war in the GOP and I lean into it because America needs fearless & effective Republicans to finally put America First,” she tweeted. "Last night’s tyrannical FBI raid at MAR is unifying us in ways I haven’t seen.”
