A second Trump insider pointed to Title 18, U.S.C., Section 241, a federal statute known as the “Conspiracy Against Rights” which declares it is “unlawful for two or more persons to conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person of any state, territory or district in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him/her by the Constitution or the laws of the United States.” Bragg’s charges on a hush money payment, the source indicated, would qualify.

Bragg and James, the state attorney general who successfully prosecuted Trump in a civil real estate trial, are not the only ones in the crosshairs of a second Trump administration. Last year the former president wrote on Truth Social that he could charge President Joe Biden with similar crimes. “APPOINT A REAL SPECIAL ‘PROSECUTOR’ TO GO AFTER THE MOST CORRUPT PRESIDENT IN THE HISTORY OF THE USA, JOE BIDEN,” he wrote at the time.

Allies of Trump expect he will carefully vet candidates for the top position of U.S. Attorney General before making a decision. “If you get the right person, it’s like magic,” Trump told “Fox & Friends” last year as he described the breadth of power unlocked by a willing attorney general to specifically direct the Justice Department to follow the president’s command. On Tuesday, House Republicans grilled Attorney General, accusing him in a hearing of sending a subordinate to Bragg’s office in order to direct Trump’s prosecution at the direction of the White House. “It’s like in real estate: You know, you put a good super in a building, the building runs well. You put a bad one in, it doesn’t. It’s the same thing [on] a little bit — slightly larger scale,” Trump explained.

In the meantime, House allies including  have filed legislation intended to “defund the lawfare activities” of state and federal prosecutors accused of leading “politically sensitive investigations.” Other prosecutors at risk of losing access to federal funding include the DOJ’s special counsel Jack Smith, who is prosecuting Trump in two cases, and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis who continues to pursue charges against Trump related to the 2020 election.