Trump blasts Manhattan district attorney's probe at Texas rally

Former President Donald Trump used his first rally of his 2024 presidential campaign Saturday in Texas to slam Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg for his investigation.

"The district attorney of New York under the auspices and direction of the department of injustice in Washington, DC, is investigating me for something that is not a crime, not a misdemeanor, not an affair," Trump told supporters at Waco Regional Airport.

"This is really prosecutorial misconduct,” he said. “The innocence of people makes no difference to these radical left maniacs.”

Trump accused President Joe Biden's administration of using the justice system as a weapon.

"For seven years, you and I have been taking on the corrupt, rotten, sinister forces trying to destroy America," said Trump. "The Biden regime’s weaponization of our system of justice is straight out of the Stalinist Russia horror show."

Bragg, who is investigating Trump concerning a $130,000 hush-money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels in 2016, has presented evidence to a grand jury that is considering whether to indict Trump, though no action has yet been taken.

The hush-money scandal involving Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, came in the weeks leading up to the 2016 presidential election.

The payment was made by then-Trump attorney Michael Cohen in exchange for her silence about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump in 2006.