Donald Trump’s lawyer admitted that a threatening image the former president posted on social media last week aimed at Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg was “ill-advised.”
On Thursday, Trump posted a photo of himself with a baseball bat next to a photo of Bragg with his hands up. The post was later deleted. Other menacing posts were not removed, including one that suggested a potential charge against him by Bragg would result in “death & destruction.”
Bragg is reportedly pursuing a case against Trump over his role in a 2016 cash payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels in exchange for keeping quiet about an affair he claims to have had a decade earlier. Trump said last weekend he expected to be arrested on Tuesday in the investigation, but no charges have been announced.
“Do you advise clients to attack prosecutors like this?” MSNBC’s Chuck Todd asked Trump’s attorney in the case, Joe Tacopina, on “Meet the Press” Sunday.
Tacopina admitted it was wrong, but tried to pass the money from Trump.
“I’m not a social media consultant,” Tacopina said. “I think it was an ill-advised post by one of the people on social media, and they quickly took it down when they realized the rhetoric and the photos attached.”
Todd notes that the baseball photo is not the only problem, and that other problematic posts have not been removed.
As for what happened on January 6, 2021, Todd added, “It’s not like Trump’s rhetoric has created violence. It happened once.”
“I don’t accept the proposition that the rhetoric creates violence,” Tacopina said. “I think violence was on the way that day.”
It looks like violence will be on the way that day, after Trump and his allies spent weeks indoctrinating supporters with the lie that the 2020 election was rigged.
“I’m not going to defend or, or condemn anything about social media,” Tacopina said. “I’m not Trump’s PR guy.”
As many legal expert pointed out over the weekend, threatening prosecutors is a crime in New York.
The potential charges in Bragg’s case could be linked to the filing of fraudulent business records and campaign finance violations related to a $130,000 payment to Daniels in the final days of the 2016 election.