Trump says ‘illegal leaks’ indicate he will be arrested Tuesday in New York secret money probe

Former President Donald Trump said on Saturday that “illegal leaks” indicated he would be arrested on Tuesday and called on his supporters to protest.

Trump, in posts on his Truth Social social media platform, referenced reports that he could soon face possible criminal charges in New York over a silent payment to adult film star Stormy. Daniels.

Trump did not say whether he was told by law enforcement about an upcoming indictment.

NBC News reported Friday that law enforcement is preparing for a possible indictment of Trump as early as next week.

Trump, a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, denounced “illegal leaks” which “indicate” that he would be arrested on Tuesday.

“PROTEST, TAKE BACK OUR NATION!” Trump wrote.

Trump has denied any wrongdoing and called the investigation by Manhattan Democratic District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office a continuation of the partisan “witch hunt” against him. He also accused Bragg, who is black, of being a “racist”.

The 76-year-old presidential candidate said he has no plans to drop out of the race even if charged. “Absolutely not,” he told reporters at a political event in early March, adding that being indicted would “probably improve my numbers, but that’s a really bad thing for America.”

A key witness in the current case is Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and fixer who testified before the grand jury this week. Cohen pleaded guilty in federal court in 2018 to making the illegal payment to Daniels for the “primary purpose of influencing” the 2016 presidential election and said he did so at the direction of Trump. He was sentenced to three years in prison for this and other crimes.

Trump acknowledged that he repaid Cohen the $130,000, but maintained that the payment was legal. Asset tweeted in 2018 that the money came “not from the campaign” and that the agreement had been “a private contract between two parties, known as a non-disclosure agreement, or NDA”.

“The deal was used to end the false and extortionate accusations she made about an affair…although she had already signed a detailed letter admitting there was no affair,” said Trump on Twitter.

Olympia Sonnier And Gregorian Dareh contributed.