NEW YORK (Reuters), March 18 – Former President Donald Trump said Saturday that he expected to be arrested Tuesday as New York prosecutors review charges related to a hush fund payment to a pornstar. He also called on his supporters for protest.
Trump posted on Truth Social that illegal leaks from a corrupt and highly political Manhattan district attorney’s offices… indicate that, with nothing being able to prove… the far and away leading Republican candidate & former President of the United States of America will be arrested on Tuesday of the next week.”
Trump’s spokesperson said that he had not been informed of any arrest. Trump did not provide any evidence of leaks from his district attorney’s office, and he did not discuss the possible charges in the post.
“Protest, take back our nation!” said Trump, whose supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021, to try to overturn his 2020 presidential election defeat.
The probe comes as Trump seeks the Republican nomination for the presidency in 2024.
No U.S. president – while in office or afterward – has faced criminal charges. Trump has said he will continue campaigning even if he is charged with a crime.
A spokesperson for Alvin Bragg, Manhattan District Attorney, declined to comment on the $130,000 hush money Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen made to Stormy Daniels.
Sources have said Bragg’s office has been presenting evidence to a grand jury about the payment, which came in the waning days of Trump’s 2016 campaign in exchange for Daniels’ silence about an affair she said she had with Trump a decade earlier.
Trump denied that the affair took place and called the investigation by Bragg (a Democrat) a witch hunt.
An additional witness is expected to appear before the grand jury on Monday, at the request of Trump’s lawyers, a person familiar with the matter said on Saturday.
Trump’s statement that Trump expects to be arrested Tuesday is based upon news reports that Bragg’s Office is going to meet with law enforcement to prepare to face an indictment, according to the person who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Kevin McCarthy, the Republican speaker of U.S. House of Representatives decried the investigation on Saturday.
“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 said on Twitter.
‘RECKLESS’
McCarthy’s predecessor as speaker, Democratic Representative Nancy Pelosi, who like McCarthy was present at the Capitol when hundreds of Trump supporters stormed the building, battling with police, denounced Trump’s call.
“The former president’s announcement this morning is reckless: doing so to keep himself in the news and to foment unrest among his supporters,” Pelosi said in a statement. “He cannot hide his violations of law, disrespect for elections and incitements towards violence.”
[1/6] Former U.S. President Donald Trump greets fans as he arrives before the finals during the sixth session of the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships at BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S. March 18, 2023. Joseph Cress/USA TODAY Sports via REUTERS
Trump’s former vice-president Mike Pence said that Trump’s possible indictment felt like a politically charged criminal prosecution here. When asked about Trump’s call to protest if he was indicted, Pence stated that he believes protesters will understand that they need to demonstrate peacefully and lawfully.
Bragg’s office earlier this month invited Trump to testify before the grand jury probing the payment, which legal experts said was a sign that an indictment was close. Trump declined the offer, the person familiar with the matter said.
Bragg addressed in an email to staff on Saturday reported by Politico and confirmed by Reuters that “we do not tolerate attempts to intimidate our office or threaten the rule of law in New York … We will continue to apply the law evenly and fairly and speak publicly only when appropriate.”
Bragg’s email did not mention Trump by name but cited “ongoing press attention and public comments surrounding an ongoing investigation.
Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to federal campaign finance violations tied to his arranging payments to Daniels and another woman in exchange for their silence about affairs they said they’d had with Trump, among other crimes. He claims that Trump ordered him to make the payments. The U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan did not charge Trump with a crime.
The probe is one of several legal woes Trump faces as he seeks the Republican nomination for the presidency.
Trump is also confronting a state-level criminal probe in Georgia over efforts to overturn the 2020 results in that state.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Galrland has appointed a special counsel to investigate Trump’s handling and manipulation of classified documents after he left office. He also is investigating his attempts to reverse the results of the 2020 elections, which he lost against President Joe Biden, a Democrat.
Bragg’s office was convicted of tax fraud charges by the Trump Organization last year. But Bragg declined to charge Trump himself with financial crimes related to his business practices, prompting two prosecutors who worked on the probe to resign.
Trump, who was in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Saturday and attended the NCAA wrestling championships, leads his early rivals for his party’s nomination. In a February Reuters/Ipsos survey, he received 43% support, compared to 31% for his closest rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. DeSantis has not yet announced his candidacy.
In 2018, Trump initially denied knowing anything about the Daniels payment. Later, he acknowledged that Cohen was reimbursing him for the payment. He called it a “simple private deal.”
After pleading guilty to Cohen’s charges, was sentenced to time in prison. has previously testified .
This week’s grand jury. Grand jury proceedings are not public. He told reporters outside the courthouse in Lower Manhattan that he didn’t testify because he wanted to retaliate against Trump.
He said, “This is all about accountability.” “He needs to be held accountable for his dirty deeds.”
According to her lawyer, Daniels, whose real identity is Stephanie Clifford spoke with prosecutors last Wednesday.
After being banned from Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, Trump created his Truth Social media platform. He has since regained his accounts on those services, though he limited his Saturday statement to Truth.
“His messages on Truth Social, which he is declaring corrupt, are very concerning,” Jennifer Stromer-Falley (a senior associate dean at Syracuse University) said. She is an expert on social media use during elections.
Reporting by Luc Cohen and Karen Freifeld in New York, Additional reporting by Gram Slattery and David Shepardson; Editing by Scott Malone, Daniel Wallis, Noeleen Walder, Alistair Bell and Lincoln Feast
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