Donald Trump says he will be arrested in Manhattan investigation on Tuesday

Former President Donald Trump said he expected to be arrested on Tuesday as part of an investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and is calling for protests ahead of his possible indictment.

“The by far leading Republican candidate and former President of the United States of America will be arrested on Tuesday of next week. Protest, take back our nation!” he wrote in all caps on Truth Social on Saturday morning.

Danielle Filson, a spokeswoman for the Manhattan 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 over an earlier affair. The former president denied any wrongdoing, and federal investigators ended their own probe into the payments in 2019.

But the testimony of former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, who arranged the payment and was previously convicted and served time in prison, could help bring the first charges in history against a former president.

A Trump spokesperson speaking in the background told USA TODAY that there had been “no notification” of Trump’s possible indictment “other than unlawful leaks from the Justice Department and the DA’s office, NBC and other bogus news channels”.

“President Trump rightly points out his innocence and the weaponization of our system of injustice,” 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 Daniels. She thanked his lawyer in a tweet for “helping me in our ongoing fight for truth and justice.”

Experts say Trump’s arrest unlikely

Trump says he will run for president again if indicted in any of the ongoing 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 is a formal charge of a crime, whereas an arrest is when a person is taken into custody. An arrest of Trump is unlikely, former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti said.

“Defendants are generally not arrested in cases like this when represented by counsel,” he said.

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

“Unless he represents a flight risk or a danger to the community, self-surrender seems typical in such cases,” she said. “He would be booked and have his fingerprints and photo ID taken and then probably be released on bail.”

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Contributors: Kevin Johnson, David Jackson