Kocew News 
A Republican official in Georgia, Gabriel Sterling, expressed his concern over former President Donald Trump’s ability to portray himself as a “martyr” to his supporters amidst his ongoing legal troubles. Sterling, the chief operating officer to Georgia’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, witnessed Raffensperger survive a primary challenge endorsed by Trump in 2022 after refusing to support Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. Sterling has consistently criticized Trump’s actions following the election, including a controversial phone call in January 2021 during which Trump asked Raffensperger to “find” him 11,000 votes.
The phone call and Trump’s attempt to alter the election results in Georgia are anticipated to result in a criminal indictment filed by Fulton County prosecutors within the coming week. Fani Willis, the prosecutor, and her team are currently presenting evidence to a grand jury. Although a “special purpose” grand jury was previously convened, it did not have the ultimate authority to approve or reject criminal indictments.
During an interview on ABC’s This Week, Sterling expressed his concern that Republicans were rallying behind Trump as the consequences for his alleged criminal behavior intensified. He noted that Trump’s campaign was raising significant amounts of money, which were being used to pay for his legal defense. Sterling stated that Trump was positioning himself as a martyr, and some Americans were sympathizing with him, believing that the charges against him were exaggerated.
The situation regarding Trump’s criminal indictments is further complicated by the initial charges filed against him by Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg’s office in relation to the Stormy Daniels affair. Trump is facing more than 30 charges for allegedly falsifying business documents to conceal hush payments to Daniels. Some argue that these charges are being pursued too late and are distracting from the credibility of the separate investigations into Trump’s attempts to influence the 2020 election and the discovery of classified defense materials at his properties.
Despite his legal issues, Trump remains the frontrunner in the 2024 GOP primary race and has actively campaigned on his criminal charges, framing them as a weaponization of the justice system by Democrats. He continues to deny any wrongdoing in all matters, including his promotion of conspiracy theories that instigated the attack on the US Capitol by his supporters on January 6, 2021.
