Former President Donald Trump is feeling "emboldened" as charges are brought against his business and its CFO, according to one adviser.
A Manhattan grand jury on Wednesday filed criminal indictments against the Trump Organization and its chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, who on Thursday surrendered to face charges. The indictments are still sealed. The former president, Politico reports, was on a conference call with advisers Monday when he received word of the impending indictments, learning that he wouldn't personally be charged, and he was reportedly "thrilled by what he saw as light charges." His attention reportedly then turned to the 2024 presidential race.
"Just wait until 2024, you'll see," Trump reportedly said, suggesting the charges would be seen as a witch hunt against him.
One adviser on the call "had the impression" that Trump "was emboldened by the news," Politico writes, with the adviser saying, "Now he's definitely going to run for president." Trump told Fox News Wednesday that he's already made up his mind about whether to run in 2024.
The New York Times' Maggie Haberman told CNN, though, that she's "not convinced" by this idea that the charges will motivate Trump to run again, nor does she think Trump actually has decided whether to do so yet.
"If he is dealing with the reality of a trial in say 18 months … it's hard to see somebody running for president with a trial playing out about how their company did business with potentially damaging testimony," she said.