Former President Donald Trump said on social media that he expects to be arrested on Tuesday, according to a New York prosecutor looking at the charges in the case of an investigation into money paid to women who allegedly had sexual contact with the former president.
Early Saturday, Trump said on his Truth Social network that “illegal leaks” from the Manhattan District Attorney’s office indicate that “THE LEADING REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE AND FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES WILL BE ARRESTED ON TUESDAY OF NEXT WEEK.”
Trump’s lawyer, Susan Nekeles, explained in a text to CBS News on Saturday that these are assumptions of the former president.
“As President Trump states, his message is based on media reports. Because this is a political prosecution, the district attorney’s office has engaged in the practice of leaking everything to the press, rather than communicating with President Trump’s attorneys as would be done in a normal case.”
Trump did not provide any details on social media about how he learned about the pending arrest. In his posts, he repeated claims that the 2020 presidential election, which he lost to Democrat Joe Biden, was stolen, and he urged his followers to “PROTEST, TAKE BACK OUR NATION!”
On Saturday afternoon, Trump posted another message on his Truth Social network, which read: “WE ARE A NATION IN RAPID DECLINE, DRAGGED INTO WORLD WAR III BY A POLITICIAN CRAP WHO DOESN’T EVEN KNOW HE’S ALIVE, BUT SURROUNDED BY EVIL AND EVIL PEOPLE WHO, BASED ON THEIR ACTIONS OF DEFUNDING THE POLICE, DESTROYING OUR TROOPS, OPEN BORDERS, LACK OF VOTER INFORMATION, INFLATION, TAX INCREASE, AND MUCH MORE, CAN ONLY SEE OUR USA RIGHT NOW.”
Trump’s spokesman said Trump has a rally scheduled for next week.
“There have been no reports, other than illegal leaks from the DOJ and the DA to NBC and other fake news outlets, that the radical left wing Manhattan DA funded by George Soros has decided to take his ‘Witch Hunt’ to the next level.” – a Trump spokesman said Saturday. “President Trump is rightly emphasizing his innocence and the weaponization of our system of injustice. He will be in Texas next weekend for a giant rally. Let’s make America great again!”
There has been no public announcement of any timeline for the secret grand jury’s work on the case, including a potential vote on whether to indict the former president.
Still, according to a senior Trump adviser, the Trump campaign is preparing for a “robust” and aggressive public relations operation to push back against the potential charges. They are said to be coordinating surrogates and offensive messaging to engage the District Attorney’s Office.
Representatives of law enforcement agencies in New York are preparing for the fact that Trump may be charged.
“Well, here we go again,” former Vice President Mike Pence said Saturday, speaking to reporters in Des Moines, Iowa, when asked about Trump’s claims. “Another politically charged criminal prosecution against a former President of the United States… I think many Americans were surprised by the unprecedented indictment of a former President, but also by the fact that the Manhattan District Attorney’s office in the midst of a crime wave in New York City. Then York City says that impeaching the former president is his highest priority. That tells you all you need to know about left-wing liberals in this country.”
Neither does House Speaker Kevin McCarthy weighed to Trump’s announcement that he would soon be indicted, calling the hypothetical move “a flagrant abuse of power by a radical prosecutor” and saying Congress would investigate.
“Here we go again – a flagrant abuse of power by a radical prosecutor allowing violent criminals to walk while he seeks political revenge against President Trump,” the California Republican tweeted. “I direct the appropriate committees to immediately investigate whether federal funds are being used to undermine our democracy through election interference with politically motivated harassment.”
Manhattan prosecutors are investigating Trump’s $130,000 payment to an adult film star. Stormy Daniels in 2016 recently invited of the former president to testify in the investigation, which usually happens before an indictment in New York.
Trump says he has done nothing wrong and has called the investigation a “witch hunt” by Democratic prosecutors bent on sabotaging the Republican’s 2024 presidential campaign.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office was apparently looking into whether state law was violated in connection with the payments or the way the Trump campaign compensated former lawyer Michael Cohen for his work to silence the women’s allegations.
— Finn Gomez contributed to this report