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Donald Trump Published March 22, 2023 7:47am EDT

Mexican president backs Trump, says

potential indictment is 'fabrication' to
keep him off 2024 ballot
'Why not allow the people to decide,' López Obrador asked when discussing the Trump legal battle

By Kyle Morris | Fox News

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Joe Tacopina, Trump attorney in the New York case discusses the former President Donald Trump's looming indictment on 'Hannity.'

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador appeared to side with for former
President Donald Trump amid his ongoing legal battle with the Manhattan district
attorney's office, slamming the potential indictment as a way to prevent Trump from
seeking the White House in 2024.

"Right now, former President Trump is declaring that they are going to arrest him," López
Obrador said Tuesday during a press conference, according to transcribed remarks from
Newsweek. "If that were the case… it would be so that his name doesn't appear on the
ballot."

The comments from López Obrador, who often disagrees with Trump and has served as
president of Mexico since 2018, come as Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg weighs
whether to bring charges against Trump amid the leading Republican's third run for
president.

An indictment, if handed down from a grand jury, could come as early as Wednesday, a
source told Fox News. The earliest Trump could appear in court if charged would be next
week. If indicted, the U.S. Secret Service and the New York Police Department would
discuss how the former president would surrender.

TRUMP HAS NOT BEEN NOTIFIED WHETHER MANHATTAN DA PLANS TO BRING

CHARGES: SOURCES

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, left, says an indictment fo former President Donald Trump "would be so
that his name doesn't appear on the ballot." (Rodrigo Arangua/AFP, Anna Moneymaker via Getty Images)

Insisting that the supposed charges against Trump are a "fabrication," López Obrador said
that he has also been at the center of attempts to prevent him from obtaining political
office.

"Isay this because I too have suffered from the fabrication of a crime, when they didn't
want me to run," López Obrador said from the press conference. "And this is completely
anti-democratic.... Why not allow the people to decide?"

Trump said Tuesday evening that he had not been formally notified about plans to bring
charges against him, sources familiar told Fox News Digital, amid speculation of a
possible imminent indictment.

Sources told Fox News, however, that there remains a real chance that Bragg may choose
not to indict the former president.

Ifan indictment is brought, Trump’s attorneys would immediately be notified. If indicted

and notified, Trump's attorneys would be able to begin negotiating the terms of a court
appearance with the Manhattan district attorney’s office.

TRUMP FORCEFULLY DISPUTES ‘FAKE’ ABC NEWS REPORT HE 'MISLED' HIS

ATTORNEYS CONCERNING CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is reportedly planning to bring charges against Trump amid the leading
Republican's third run for president. (David Dee Delgado/Getty Images)

Multiple sources told Fox News that at least one more witness is expected to appear
before the grand jury when it convenes Wednesday at 2 p.m. in Manhattan. It is unclear at
this point who the witness or witnesses are.

The possible charges stem from the $130,000 hush-money payment that then-Trump
lawyer Michael Cohen made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, whose legal name is
Stephanie Clifford, in the weeks leading up to the 2016 presidential election in exchange
for her silence about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump in 2006. Trump denies that
he had sex with Daniels.

Federal prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York
opted out of charging Trump related to the Daniels payment in 2019, even as Cohen
implicated him in his plea deal. The Federal Election Commission also tossed its
investigation into the matter in 2021.

Cohen has said Trump directed the payments. Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 through his
own company and was later reimbursed by Trump's company, which logged the payments
as "legal expenses." Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model who allegedly had a
relationship with Trump, received a $150,000 payment through the publisher of the
supermarket tabloid National Enquirer.

Trump has repeatedly denied wrongdoing with regard to the payments made to Stormy Daniels, and he has repeatedly said
the payments were "not a campaign violation" but rather a "simple private transaction." (Getty Images)

The Trump Organization "grossed up" Cohen’s reimbursement for Daniels' payment for "tax
purposes," according to federal prosecutors who filed the 2018 criminal charges against
Cohen for the payments.

Trump has repeatedly denied wrongdoing with regard to the payments made to Daniels,
and he has repeatedly said the payments were "not a campaign violation" but rather a
"simple private transaction."

Fox News' Brooke Singman and Marta Dhanis contributed to this article.

Kyle Morris covers politics for Fox News. Story tips can be sent to kyle.morris@fox.com and on
Twitter: @RealKyleMorris .

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