Trump says he “will be arrested” on Tuesday in a criminal case in New York | donald trump

Donald Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that he expects to be arrested on Tuesday in the New York criminal case involving silent money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels.

Earlier this year, the former US president called for protests from his supporters if he were charged in one of several criminal investigations in New York, Georgia and by federal authorities into various allegations involving illegal campaign payments, election interference, efforts to nullify his 2020 presidential term, electoral loss and keeping top secret documents at home after leaving office. On Saturday, he posted: “Protest, take back our nation!”

In New York, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s team is investigating the silent money case amid rising expectations that Trump could be indicted as soon as next week.

But without any official confirmation, Trump, who is running for Republican, posted a message, referring to himself in the third person, saying: “The far-leading Republican nominee and former President of the United States of America will be shut down on Tuesday of next week.

Law enforcement officials in New York have made security preparations for the possibility that Trump could be indicted.

There has been no public announcement of a schedule or indictment.

A spokesperson and lawyer for Trump said later Saturday that his message was based on news reports rather than an actual update or communication with prosecutors. Trump’s message cited “unlawful leaks from a corrupt and highly political Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.”

The district attorney’s office declined to comment.

In his posts, he repeated his lies that the 2020 presidential election he lost to Joe Biden was “stolen” because of voter fraud, and he urged his supporters to protest.

This evoked the then-president’s message that preceded the insurgency by extremist supporters on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, which ultimately failed to thwart certification of Biden’s victory.

Also on Saturday, Trump sent out a fundraising email saying “Manhattan DA may be about to indict Trump” and then re-posted a fresh critique of the current US government and urged protests. .

It emerged in January that Bragg had taken the surprise decision to appoint a grand jury to hear evidence in the Daniels case, which had previously faded from the spotlight amid unrest among prosecutors over a wider investigation. about Trump’s business practices.

Daniels met with investigators in Manhattan earlier this week to discuss Trump’s role in a $130,000 payment she received in 2016 aimed at deterring her from going public during the election on allegations that she had a sexual affair with the married Trump in 2006 – an infidelity that Trump denies.

This while Cohen testified before the New York grand jury in the case. In 2016, during the election Trump won, Cohen made the payment and arranged another payment to another woman, as Trump faced allegations of prior sexual assault and harassment by multiple women — with money flowing under Trump’s direction, Cohen claimed. .

Any charges in this case would most likely involve state crimes of falsifying business documents, usually a misdemeanor but a felony if part of a cover-up or broader criminal act, and here could revolve around the illegality of campaign financing.

Kevin O’Brien, a former federal prosecutor and now a partner at Ford O’Brien in New York who specializes in white-collar criminal defense, told the Guardian that for a felony charge, prosecutors would have to prove that Trump showed a ” intent to defraud”. when his company “falsely counted” the payments to Stormy Daniels as legal fees and argued that the payments amounted to illegal donations to Trump’s 2016 campaign, which would violate New York election law.

No former or current US president has been charged. Richard Nixon, the only president to resign following the Watergate scandal, was pardoned by his successor Gerald Ford before he could be charged.

O’Brien said any criminal charges against Trump would be messy and confusing for potential voters and jurors.

“How could this guy run for president on conviction for an indictable act of dishonesty?” He asked.

In 2018, federal prosecutors charged Cohen with campaign finance crimes related to payments to Daniels and a Playboy model, Karen McDougal, arguing that the payments amounted to ineligible gifts to Trump’s campaign effort.

McDougal, who was paid $150,000, alleged that she had an affair with groom Trump in 2006-2007. He denied it.

Cohen pleaded guilty, served time in prison, and was disbarred. Federal prosecutors have never charged Trump with any crime.

Separately, last year, United States Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the appointment of Jack Smith, a veteran prosecutor and former senior Justice Department official, as a special adviser to oversee the investigations. on Trump’s role in keeping classified documents at Mar-a-Lago and his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

And Fulton County Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis is investigating whether Trump interfered in the 2020 election there.

Meanwhile, New York Attorney General Letitia James is suing Trump and the family-owned Trump Organization, claiming it misled banks and tax authorities about asset values.

In January, the Trump Organization was fined for tax evasion. Trump himself was not tried and denied any knowledge of the criminal scheme. Bragg said at the time that he had closed a chapter but “we are now moving on to the next chapter” as the Stormy Daniels case continues.

And in April, the civil trial is due to take place in a case where former E magazine columnist Jean Carroll accuses Trump of raping her in a department store dressing room in the 1990s.

Earlier this month, the judge said he would allow the use at trial of an infamous tape of Trump bragging about sexual assault on women.

Carroll also sued Trump for defamation after he denied the rape happened or that he knew of her, after he first described the alleged attack in a 2019 book.