Latest Update - Former US President Donald Trump has posted a social media warning on Friday threatening "death and destruction" if he is criminally charged in New York. Trump also shared an image of himself holding a baseball bat next to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's head. The ex-president raged against Bragg, whom he called "HUMAN SCUM," in a post, asking why he "refuses to do the right thing and 'call it a day?'" Trump has previously used heated language ahead of actual violence, most notoriously on Jan. 6, 2021, when he told thousands of supporters to march on the Capitol and "fight like hell" to prevent certification of President Biden's Electoral College win, which led to a violent insurrection.

Trump shared the bat image on his Truth Social platform, which quickly sparked criticism online. CNN legal analyst Norm Eisen tweeted that "threatening a prosecutor is a crime in NY. In fact MULTIPLE crimes." Meanwhile, George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley, who testified for Trump's defense during his first impeachment for pressuring Ukraine to investigate the Biden family, repeatedly sought to warn the former president off threatening postings.

Despite this, Trump continued posting until the early hours of Friday, using incendiary name-calling and accusing Bragg of "PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT!" The former president also asked, "What kind of person can charge another person, in this case a former President of the United States, who got more votes than any sitting President in history, and leading candidate (by far!) for the Republican Party nomination, with a Crime, when it is known by all that NO Crime has been committed, & also known that potential death & destruction in such a false charge could be catastrophic for our Country?"

Manhattan prosecutors have been presenting evidence to the grand jury since late January in connection with the $130,000 hush money payment made to porn star Stormy Daniels shortly before Trump's shocking victory over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election. Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, alleges she had an affair with Trump in 2006, which Trump has denied. Former Trump lawyer and ex-con Michael Cohen alleges he made the payment at Trump's direction. Bragg reportedly plans to charge the ex-president with falsifying business records for allegedly writing off the payment as "legal fees."

The alleged offense would be a misdemeanor under state law, but Bragg wants to elevate it to a felony through an untested legal theory that would tie it to a violation of federal campaign finance rules, according to the Times. Trump first said last week that he expected to be arrested on Tuesday, which came and went without any word of charges. Instead, the grand jury was postponed on both Wednesday and Thursday.

In response to the recent events, former MSNBC host Keith Olberman tagged the Justice Department as he raged: "ARREST TRUMP NOW." He accused Trump of having "issued repeated stochastic terrorist calls for his cult to 'remove' the 'animal' Alvin Bragg - and use a baseball bat. He's trying to get this man killed. Period. Enough," he told his 1 million followers, comparing Trump's bat image to "a movie murder scene" and part of a plot "as disgusting as Charles Manson." He called the former president "an active, mortal threat" to those investigating him "and all witnesses involved," saying he must be immediately busted with "no perp walk, no bail."