Bill Maher warns charging Trump over hush money probe would be a 'colossal mistake': 'Rocket fuel' for 2024

"Real Time" host Bill Maher kicked off his panel discussion Friday night by arguing against bringing criminal charges against former President Donald Trump, specifically for the alleged crimes from the Manhattan probe.

"I really don't want to give Donald Trump the satisfaction of talking about him," Maher chuckled as he began the conversation. "I thought when he was gone, he'd be gone a little bit. But, you know, there is an ex-president out there now who's going to be arrested — possibly. And he is talking about violence in the streets of his supporters if he does."

He continued: "I just would like to go on record in saying I think this is a colossal mistake if they bring these charges. Not this one, you know. I mean, yes, he's done a lot of bad things, and I'm sure he did this — everything they accused him of [doing], he did. But first of all, it's not gonna work. It's gonna be rocket fuel for his 2024 campaign. And it's just gonna look to MAGA nation like, 'Oh, you know, you tried with Mueller, you tried with Ukraine, you tried with January 6. Now we go to the porn star? Really? You're down to that?!"

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The Atlantic staff writer Annie Lowrey agreed, saying Trump's popularity has only gone up in recent weeks, particularly in GOP primary polls where he has had a substantial gain over his likely rival Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. 

"I think that we've seen in, you know, the past however many years at this point that the more attention is on heavy regardless of what that attention is about, the more the circus has him in the center of its rings, the better he tends to do," Lowrey said.

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NYU professor Scott Galloway said if an indictment comes, "it's going to be a perp parade, not a perp walk."

"If they do this, this increases the likelihood he's the nominee, they need to put wood behind the arrow that sticks. That's Georgia. This is just not sufficient," Galloway said. 

Lowrey cited a poll that shows "75%" of Republican voters "know" what Trump has been accused of doing was bad but also don't think "any of these charges really matter."

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Last week, Trump claimed that he was going to be arrested over Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg's probe into alleged financial crimes that were committed in 2016 when his then-lawyer Michael Cohen paid porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000 to buy her silence over an alleged affair she had with the then-Republican nominee, which he had always denied. 

Trump's arrest did not occur. 

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However, critics on both sides of the aisle have rejected the seriousness of this case since it stems from a misdemeanor charge that Bragg elevated to a felony.