George Conway ripped Republicans for defending lifelong “criminal” Donald Trump against a looming indictment in New York.

The ex-president apparently expects to be charged in the Stormy Daniels hush money payoff, and the conservative attorney told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that he richly deserves it.

“The Republicans are behaving like complete disgraces,” Conway said. “They’re basically saying that, by saying that Trump is being persecuted, they’re essentially saying, you can’t touch Trump and Trump is above the law. Whatever slack you might have wanted to cut a former president, that was gone after Jan. 6. This man is a recidivist criminal, he’s committed fraud all his life, he’s lied all of his life.”

“This Stormy Daniels thing was something he cooked up,” Conway added. “The notion that [Michael] Cohen is going to be discredited on it is ridiculous given the paper trail. We see the checks signed by Donald Trump. It’s hard to say he is being picked on for paying $130,000 in hush money to a porn star and concealing that and using a straw donor, which was Cohen, to do that, and saying he’s being persecuted somehow when no one has ever done that it is completely ridiculous.”

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Fox Corp. anchor John Roberts told viewers Friday afternoon that if Donald Trump is indicted he might be handcuffed.

Discussing reports that the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has requested a “meeting with law enforcement ahead of a potential Trump indictment,” Roberts said, “to discuss logistics for some time next week, which would mean that they are anticipating an indictment next week.”

Roberts appears to report the decision to handcuff the former president or not would be up to the Secret Service.

“Same sources familiar with the planning said they will go over security preparations in and around the courthouse in lower Manhattan. Secret Service will take the lead in what they will allow or will not allow, the source cautioned, mentioning for instance, that the decision to handcuff the president, the former president, or not, they will set the tone and will escort him into the courtroom.”

Bragg’s Office has been investigating Trump’s $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels, which could fall under a number of legal categories, including falsification of business records and unlawful campaign contributions, among others.

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Without even knowing what charges Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg might bring to indict Trump, if he even decides to charge the ex-president, Roberts claimed: “This was a misdemeanor in New York that Alvin Bragg has decided to elevate to a felony while at the same time downgrading other felonies to misdemeanors. So we’ll be watching this to see how it all unfold to get more information as it comes in.”

The New York Times last week reported, “In New York, falsifying business records can amount to a crime, albeit a misdemeanor. To elevate the crime to a felony charge, Mr. Bragg’s prosecutors must show that Mr. Trump’s ‘intent to defraud’ included an intent to commit or conceal a second crime.”

“In this case,” The Times explained, “that second crime could be a violation of New York State election law. While hush money is not inherently illegal, the prosecutors could argue that the $130,000 payout effectively became an improper donation to Mr. Trump’s campaign, under the theory that it benefited his candidacy because it silenced Ms. Daniels.”

Earlier Friday NBC News reported that five local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies were meeting to coordinate plans if Trump is indicted.

Watch below or at this link.

“We are learning that the Manhattan DA office has asked for a meeting with law enforcement ahead of a potential Trump indictment. The meeting is to discuss logistics for some time next week which would mean they are anticipating an indictment next week” pic.twitter.com/IkbM46Naoe

— Acyn (@Acyn) March 17, 2023

Mike Pence is doubling down on his homophobic and misogynistic attack against Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, his husband, and their infant children, just hours after Chasten Buttigieg accused the former Trump vice president of hypocrisy for not practicing what he preaches.

Last weekend Pence, who frequently calls himself “a Christian, a conservative, and a Republican – in that order,” gave a speech at the closed-door annual Gridiron Club Dinner, mockingly saying to attendees that Secretary Buttigieg took “maternity leave” after the couple adopted twins, but it was the country, he claimed, that suffered “postpartum depression.” Buttigieg is the nation’s first out gay Cabinet member. The White House has requested an apology from Pence.

Asked about his remarks on Thursday, Pence, weighing a White House run, defended them.

READ MORE: Local, State, Federal Law Enforcement Preparing for Possible Trump Indictment ‘As Early as Next Week’: Report

“Well, the Gridiron Dinner is a roast,” he told WMUR (video below), “and I had a lot of jokes directed to me.”

“I directed a lot of jokes to Republicans and Democrats. The only thing I can figure, Pete Buttigieg not only can’t do his job but he can’t take a joke.”

On Thursday, Chasten Buttigieg visited the co-hosts of ABC’s “The View,” and was asked about the attack. He said he was not expecting an apology from Pence.

“The thing about what he said is, it flies in the face of what he says he is. He says he’s a family values Republican,” Buttigieg said.

“So I don’t think he’s practicing what he preaches,” he continued. “But it’s part of a much bigger trend: attacking families. And it wasn’t just about attacking the LGBTQ community, because someone wrote this [joke] and he checked it and purposely said, ‘maternity leave’ rather than ‘paternity leave,’ but also, it’s a bigger conversation about the work that women do in families, right? Taking a swipe at all women in all families, and expecting that women would stay at home and raise children I think is a pretty misogynistic view, especially from a man who just last year said that we should be supporting more people who adopt.”

Buttigieg had criticized Pence earlier about the attack, and explained to “The View,” that “it doesn’t make you a snowflake to tell someone that they’ve made a mistake.”

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“And you know, I spoke up for two reasons. One, I’m always going to stick up for my family, especially my kid,” he said, noting that their son was in the ICU when Secretary Buttigieg was on paternity leave.

“The other reason I spoke up is because, like I mentioned, we all have an obligation to hold people accountable for when they say something wrong, especially when it’s misogynistic, especially when it’s homophobic. And I just don’t take that when it when it’s directed at my family, and I don’t think anybody else would, especially when you bring a very small medically fragile child into it.”

Watch the former vice president below or at this link.

Former VP @Mike_Pence pushes back on criticism following his remarks at the Gridiron dinner, in which he joked that Transportation Secretary @PeteButtigieg went on “maternity leave.”

“Pete Buttigieg not only can’t do his job, but he can’t take a joke,” Pence told @WMUR9. pic.twitter.com/PP14DWxwOh

— Arielle Mitropoulos WMUR (@AMitropsWMUR) March 17, 2023