Breaking! Trump Calls For Protests Ahead Of ‘His Arrest On Tuesday’

Former President Donald Trump said he expects to be arrested Tuesday in connection with an investigation conducted by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office and is calling for protests ahead of his possible indictment.

“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 wrote in all caps on Truth Social Saturday morning.

Danielle Filson, a spokesperson for Manhattan’s District Attorney’s office, declined to comment on the former president’s statement.

Trump’s comments on Truth Social, the social media network he founded, come as he is under investigation for a $130,000 payment he made just before the 2016 election to silence adult film star Stormy Daniels about an earlier affair. The former president has denied wrongdoing, and federal investigators ended their own inquiry into the payments in 2019.

But testimony from former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, who arranged for the payment and already has been convicted and served prison time, could help bring the first charges in history against a former president.

A Trump spokesperson speaking on background told USA TODAY that there has been “no notification” of a possible Trump indictment “other than illegal leaks from the Justice Dept. and the DA’s office, to NBC and other fake news carriers.”

“President Trump is rightfully highlighting his innocence and the weaponization of our injustice system,” the spokesperson said..

The New York Attorney General’s office did not immediately respond to USA TODAY’s requests for comment.

Manhattan prosecutors on Wednesday met with Daniels. She thanked her attorney in a tweet for “helping me in our continuing fight for truth and justice.”

Experts say Trump arrest unlikely

Trump says he’ll still run for president again if he’s indicted in any of the current investigations into his conduct. His first rally of the 2024 presidential race is scheduled for March 25 in Waco, Texas.

An indictment is not the same as an arrest; it’s a formal charge of a crime, while an arrest is when a person is taken into custody. An arrest of Trump is not likely, said former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti.

“Typically defendants are not arrested in cases like this one when they’re represented by counsel,” he said.

Barbara McQuade, a former federal prosecutor and University of Michigan law professor, said a self-surrender is more likely in cases like Trump’s.

“Unless he is a risk of flight or danger to the community, self surrender seems typical in this kind of case,” she said. “He would be booked and have his fingerprints and mugshot taken, and then likely released on bond.”