Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford speaks to the Las Vegas Sun editorial board Thursday, Oct. 6, 2022.
Friday, March 31, 2023 | 2 a.m.
Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford is urging supporters of former President Donald Trump to remain calm after his indictment Thursday in New York.
Trump, in the days leading up to the imminent announcement, warned of “potential death & destruction” when describing the possibility of an indictment by a grand jury in Manhattan.
Ford stressed that the legal process must take its course, saying the former president’s comments mirror those made ahead of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
That’s when hundreds of loyalists to Trump tried to disrupt the certification of President Joe Biden’s general election win. The insurrectionists pushed past police officers and made their way into the Capitol, parading and hollering through the halls, and entering the Senate chamber and lawmakers’ offices. Five people, including a Capitol Police officer, died as a result of the violence unleashed after Trump, who was later impeached for inciting an insurrection, urged supporters at a rally to march on the Capitol.
“We have seen Trump attempt to stoke a backlash against this indictment in a manner that alarmingly resembles the public statements he made in the lead-up to the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021,” Ford said.
But, Ford stressed, Americans have learned their lesson in regards to following Trump’s misguided instructions to revolt.
“I do believe the American people see past the former president’s statements, but I want to urge calm in the aftermath of today’s events. The legal process must take its course. I, like many Americans, will be watching closely,” he said shortly after news of the indictment was made public.
A grand jury in Manhattan voted earlier Thursday to indict Trump, marking the first time a former U.S. president has faced criminal charges.
Trump, who has denied any wrongdoing and has repeatedly assailed the investigation, accused Democrats and law enforcement officials of “weaponizing our justice system to punish a political opponent.”
“This is Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history,” Trump said in a statement Thursday. “From the time I came down the golden escalator at Trump Tower, and even before I was sworn in as your President of the United States, the Radical Left Democrats — the enemy of the hard-working men and women of this Country — have been engaged in a Witch-Hunt to destroy the Make America Great Again movement.”
But Ford said “today’s indictment of former President Trump is a necessary step toward ensuring nobody — former presidents included — is above the law.”
For a man whose presidency was defined by one obliterated norm after another, the indictment sets up yet another never-before-seen spectacle — a former president having his fingerprints and mug shot taken, and then facing arraignment.
“It’s big because it is something we’ve never seen before,” said Sondra Cosgrove, a professor of history at the College of Southern Nevada. “I mean, sometimes you will think that it happened to Richard Nixon, but that’s not true. He was pardoned, and he wasn’t actually charged with any crimes after the fact. I also think it’s interesting historically speaking, that (Trump’s) seeking the nomination to run again. So, he’s going to be going through a trial the same time he’s going to be campaigning; that’s also very new and kind of weird.”
Cosgrove expects Trump to use a potential trial as a tool to strengthen support on the campaign trail.
“His followers do see him as a victim sometimes and that he’s fighting against this big machine that’s coming after him,” she said. “So if he’s in a trial, he’s going to be able to say, ‘Well see, I told you, they were coming after me,’ and they’re going to support him more.”
— The Associated Press contributed to this report.
