Former President Donald Trump said he expects to be arrested Tuesday in Manhattan — and urged his followers to protest his looming indictment.
The former president cited “ILLEGAL LEAKS FROM A CORRUPT & HIGHLY POLITICAL MANHATTAN DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE” in his Saturday morning post on Truth Social.
.”THE FAR & AWAY LEADING REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE & FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, WILL BE ARRESTED ON TUESDAY OF NEXT WEEK. PROTEST, TAKE OUR NATION BACK!” he thundered in an all caps missive to his followers on Truth Social Saturday morning.
“THEY’RE KILLING OUR NATION AS WE SIT BACK & WATCH. WE MUST SAVE AMERICA!PROTEST, PROTEST, PROTEST!!!.” he roared in a follow-up message.
Trump is facing possible indictment over a $130,000 hush money payment he allegedly made to porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016. Daniels claims she had an affair with Trump in 2006, which Trump has denied.
Trump on Saturday again insisted he had committed no crime, and reminded his followers that Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s campaign had been heavily financed by liberal billionaire George Soros.
Should Trump be indicted he will become the first president in US history to ever face criminal charges after leaving office.
“There has been no notification, other than illegal leaks from the Justice Department and the DA’s office, to NBC and other fake news carriers, that the George Soros-funded Radical Left Democrat prosecutor in Manhattan has decided to take his witch hunt to the next level. President Trump is rightfully highlighting his innocence and the weaponization of our injustice system,” a Trump spokesperson told The Post Saturday.
“No one tells us anything, which is very frustrating,” Trump’s attorney Joe Tacopina added.
“President Trump is basing his response on press reports, and the fact that this is a political prosecution and the DA leaks things to the press instead of communicating to the lawyers as they should.”
Daniels allegedly received the cash through Michael Cohen, Trump’s former attorney and fixer. In 2018 Cohen pleaded guilty to violating federal campaign finance laws in connection to the payments and was sentenced to three years in prison.
“Donald would have no reason to put out the statement unless he has been contacted by the DANY and advised accordingly,” Cohen, now free, told The Post Saturday.
“Donald’s post is eerily similar to his battle cry prior to the January 6th insurrection; including calling for protest. By doing so, Donald is hoping to rile his base, witness another violent clash on his behalf and profit from it by soliciting contributions.”
Several Republicans — including one of Trump’s 2024 presidential rivals — leaped to his defense.
“I’m just, I’m taken aback,” Mike Pence, Trump’s former veep, told Breitbart News Saturday. “It reeks of the kind of political prosecution that we endured back in the days of the Russia hoax and the whole impeachment over a phone call.”
“And one thing I know is — I know that former President Trump can take care of himself,” Pence added.
“A Trump indictment would be a national disaster,” declared biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy in a lengthy tweet. “It is un-American for the ruling party to use police power to arrest its political rivals … we cannot afford to politicize the justice system or else we will reach our breaking point.”
Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy called for an “immediate” congressional investigation into a “politically motivated prosecution.”
“Here we go again — an outrageous abuse of power by a radical DA who lets violent criminals walk as he pursues political vengeance against President Trump,” McCarthy posted.
“This is what they do in communist countries to destroy their political opponents!” tweeted Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. “It’s ALL FOR POLITICS!”
Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance tweeted a response to the “multiple reporters” who he said have asked him if an indictment would make him reconsider his endorsement of Trump’s presidential bid: “hell no.”
“A politically motivated prosecution makes the argument for Trump stronger,” Vance explained. “We simply don’t have a real country if justice depends on politics.”
New York Rep. Elise Stefanik called the report of Trump’s impending arrest “unAmerican.”
“The radical Left has reached a dangerous new low,” she said. “This is just a continuation of the disgraceful and unconstitutional pattern going back to the illegal Russian collusion hoax to attempt to silence and suppress the will of the voters.”
Staten Island’s Rep. Nicole Malliotakis condemned “rogue DA Alvin Bragg” for “targeting a former President for political reasons.”
“Politicizing and weaponizing our justice system is both dangerous & disgraceful,” Malliotakis tweeted.
Meanwhile, Elon Musk predicted, “If this happens, Trump will be re-elected in a landslide victory” — a view broadly aligned with what Trump’s inner circle has publicly proclaimed.
But other GOP presidential hopefuls — including Nikki Haley, Mike Pompeo, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — stayed quiet.
Law enforcement has been negotiating with the Secret Service over the terms and “logistics” of a possible arrest next week, Fox News reported. The event could potentially result in Trump being handcuffed, fingerprinted and escorted into court.
But some of Trump’s legal advisers have been pushing to request a remote appearance instead, CNN reported, citing unnamed sources – who also unsuccessfully urged him to refrain from calling for public protests, fearing a repeat of the Jan. 6 riots at the US Capitol.
A rep for the Manhattan D.A. declined to comment Saturday.
“If I were him, I would be worried,” said Harvard law professor and one-time Trump attorney Alan Dershowitz told Fox News Friday, warning that any Trump effort to dismiss the case would likely be unsuccessful.
“I don’t think there’ll be a motion to dismiss that succeeds. This is New York justice. In New York, of course you can indict a ham sandwich. But in New York, you can also convict a ham sandwich because the jury pool will be very much against Trump and the judges will be very much against Trump.”
But law professor Jonathan Turley of George Washington University dismissed Bragg’s case as “legally pathetic.”
“Bragg is struggling to twist state laws to effectively prosecute a federal case long ago rejected by the Justice Department,” Turley wrote Saturday.
Additional reporting by Elizabeth Rosner.
