Former US President Donald Trump claims he will be arrested soon and has asked his supporters to protest his arrest this week. A grand jury in New York is investigating him for allegedly paying “hush money” to adult film star Stormy Daniels, who claimed he had an affair with her after his wife Melania gave birth to his son.
Despite his lawyers’ claims that they had not received any official communication from prosecutors, Trump announced on his social media platform Truth Social that his arrest was imminent.
On Saturday, March 18, Trump said that people should “protest and take our country back.”
The post was clearly written to elicit strong feelings of outrage from his devoted followers and to galvanize them into action. Within hours, his campaign began soliciting donations from his supporters, and some Republicans in Congress issued statements defending Trump on social media.
In his post, Trump referred to several articles that claimed he could face criminal charges in New York City for payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in 2016 right before the election. Trump insisted he had done nothing wrong and called the investigation a “witch hunt.” The former president also referred to the investigation’s lead prosecutor, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, as a “racist.”
Bragg recently offered the former president the opportunity to testify in front of a grand jury.
Trump’s attorney, Joseph Tacopina, confirmed that Trump had been invited to testify but that the case against him had no legal foundation.
The Associated Press reports that Daniels and Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, met with prosecutors last week. The grand jury will vote on whether or not to indict but first, at least one more witness is expected to testify. Michael Cohen has already served time in prison for making a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels in 2016.
If Trump is indicted, his secret service detail will take him for fingerprinting and a mugshot before he is arraigned in front of a judge, according to his lawyers. Only if he refused to surrender would the former president be arrested.
Trump’s indictment would make him the first former or sitting American president to face criminal charges in the country’s history. It would also be an extraordinary development after several years of investigations into his various dealings.
It is unclear whether his supporters will protest and whether he retains the same persuasive power he possessed during his presidency but reportedly people are reacting.