Trump campaign shifts strategy under indictment threat: ‘New normal’

As former President Donald Trump is facing the threat of indictment with several other criminal trials against him still underway, his campaign team seeks to shift its strategy towards what it calls “a new normal.”

Trump has not yet been indicted or faced charges. However, his campaign team is looking to take advantage of media coverage and pressure GOP leaders for their support. Since Saturday, his team has raised more than $1.5 million by fundraising off reports that Trump could soon be arrested, as reported by the Washington Post.

Steven Cheung, a Trump campaign spokesman, stated, “This is the new normal. The president has been battle-tested. This operation has been fine-tuned since 2016. Dealing with these types of news cycles, you learn to get good at it. We have a full-spectrum response operation on the campaign that can deal with anything that comes our way.”

Central to Trump’s plan is framing criminal investigations against him as the latest “witch hunts” that are being used to target him. This forces Republicans to either back him or face potential repercussions. Trump’s advisers are already prideful of the support they have received from party members, hoping to keep the former president as the dominant figure of the GOP, according to sources.

In doing so, Trump is attempting to put pressure on his primary challengers so that they are forced to answer questions about him rather than their own campaigns.

However, some of the former president’s advisors have admitted that there are disadvantages to the approach taken. For instance, it is still unclear how Trump’s team could run a presidential campaign while juggling one or more criminal trials.

If Trump is charged with a crime, this could hurt his campaign by preventing donors from contributing. Similarly, those sentiments could translate to other Republican candidates during the general election, possibly costing the Republican Party in other races.

Trump’s shift in strategy comes as he is facing a looming indictment in the hush money case. It is still not clear what charges the former president may face, but reports have emerged after former Trump attorney Michael Cohen testified before the Manhattan grand jury multiple times earlier this month.

At the time of Cohen’s trial, federal prosecutors did not press charges against Trump due to guidance from the Justice Department that a sitting president cannot be charged with a crime. However, prosecutors revived discussions about possible charges shortly before Trump left office in 2021.

The case has gained more attention since Trump posted on his Truth Social account last weekend that he expected to be arrested on Tuesday, urging his supporters to protest and “take our nation back.” The call for protests has resulted in heightened security measures outside the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, the U.S. Capitol building, and Trump’s home in Mar-a-Lago.

Shortly after, House Republicans announced they would investigate Bragg and his conduct concerning Trump’s indictment.