Former US President Donald Trump claims that he will soon be in police custody and asked his supporters to protest his upcoming arrest this week. A New York grand jury has investigated him for alleged “hush money” he paid to a woman, Stormy Daniels, who said he had an affair with her.
Even though his lawyers said they had not received any official communication from prosecutors, Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social that his arrest was imminent and that he would be taken into custody on Tuesday, March 21.
Trump wrote in his post on Saturday, March 18, that people should “protest and take our nation back.”
The post was obviously written to elicit a strong sense of outrage from his loyal supporters and to prod them into action. Within hours, his campaign started sending his supporters fundraising solicitations, and some Republicans in Congress issued statements defending him on social media.
Trump referenced various articles in his post that reported he could soon face criminal charges in New York for payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. Trump maintained that he had done no wrong and labeled the investigation a “witch hunt.” The former president also called Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who is leading the investigation, a “racist.”
Bragg recently offered the former president a chance to testify before a grand jury.
Trump’s attorney, Joseph Tacopina, confirmed that Trump had been invited to testify but that there was no legal basis for the case against him.
According to the Associated Press, Daniels and Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, met with prosecutors last week. The grand jury has not yet taken a vote to indict as at least one more witness is expected to testify. Michael Cohen has already spent time in prison for making the payment of $130,000 to Stormy Daniels in 2016.
Should Trump be indicted, according to his lawyers, his secret service detail would take him for fingerprinting and his mugshot before he is arraigned in front of a judge. The former president would only get arrested if he refused to surrender.
Trump’s indictment would make him the first former or sitting American president in the country’s history to face any criminal charges. After several years of investigations into his dealings, it would also be an extraordinary development.
It is still unclear whether his supporters will protest and if he still has the same persuasive power he held during his presidency.
