ISABELLE TEARE, HOST: Today is the last day of this week that the Grand jury on the case against Donald Trump could come out with an indictment. The former President has been accused of using campaign funds as hush money.
And Trump himself teased that he would be arrested…and called for his supporters to protest the move.
But at the courthouse where the Grand Jury is deliberating in lower Manhattan today… Columbia radio news reporter Vi Tran reports she saw mostly media and police… and no protesters.
VI TRAN, BYLINE: Even though Trump himself alluded to a big protest at the courthouse this week, I had to search for a while to find a Trump supporter and ended up talking to Matthew Hughes at the park across the street from the courthouse. Hughes thinks that more protesters will come out to support Trump if the Grand Jury indicts him.
HUGHES: I think it's just so too early with the grand jury, you making the indictment or decision. So I really think that more people come out later on down the road.
TRAN: I also asked Hughes if he thinks an indictment would impact Trump’s bid for the presidency in 2024.
HUGHES: I don't think it's going to affect him. I think it's going to be more helpful to his campaign.
TRAN: Eric Ham, a White House correspondent for The Associated Press and a political analyst for BBC and Canadian television agrees that the indictment might benefit Trump politically.
HAM: He is still the front-runner of the Republican Party for its nomination. And he is going to use this as the baseline for how the left how Democrats and how institutions are attempting to try to thwart his efforts to get back to the White House.
TRAN: And in the meantime, before the Grand Jury makes its decision, Trump is capitalizing on the situation to get more media coverage. Ham says the media is being played by Donald Trump.
HAM: What we're seeing now is how Donald Trump, through his media savvy, has now taken control of this entire process.
TRAN: Since the grand jury proceedings aren’t open to the public, Ham thinks it makes the media more susceptible to Trump’s unreliable account of the situation.
HUGHES: We're talking about someone who has always played fast and loose with the truth. And but yet we're hanging on to his every word as if like we're waiting for the next Marvel movie to come out.
TRAN: The Grand jury will reconvene next Monday and will continue to meet until a decision is made. Vi Tran, Columbia Radio News.