Former President Donald Trump doesn’t want to be indicted, but he believes Republicans will rally around him if a grand jury in Manhattan charges him in the case involving an alleged hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels, according to four people familiar with the sentiments of Trump and his team.
A “war room” mentality now permeates Mar-a-Lago, the Palm Beach, Fla., nerve center of Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, said two people who recently spent time there. Aides have been “slammed,” these sources said, as they respond to — and work to turn — the possible indictment into a political boon.
One of the sources, who spoke with Trump in the last week, told NBC News that any suggestion Trump wants to be indicted is false. A second source who is close to Trump explained that the former president understands all that an arrest would entail in terms of his public image and the distraction that an arraignment and trial would create for his campaign.
