Former U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks on education as he hosts a campaign rally with supporters, in Davenport, Iowa, U.S. March 13, 2023.
Jonathan Ernest | Reuters
Former President Donald Trump said in a social media post on Saturday that he expects to be arrested on Tuesday as a New York grand jury investigates his connection to a silent payment to a porn star.
Trump said he learned of his supposedly imminent arrest through leaks from the “corrupt” Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. He urged his supporters to demonstrate on his behalf — a call reminiscent of when the former president encouraged thousands to flock to Washington, DC, during the Jan. 6, 2021, uprising.
“THE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE AND FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, FROM FAR AND FAR, WILL BE ARRESTED TUESDAY NEXT WEEK,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social social media site early Saturday morning. “PROTEST, TAKE BACK OUR NATION!”
In another emphatic article on Saturday afternoon, Trump tried to further galvanize his base.
“WE CANNOT ALLOW THIS ANY MORE,” he wrote. “THEY ARE KILLING OUR NATION WHILE WE SIT AND WATCH. WE MUST SAVE AMERICA! PROTEST, PROTEST, PROTEST!!!”
A grand jury heard testimony related to 2016 payment to Stormy Daniels to state criminal court in lower Manhattan, but no public announcement has been made on when or if Trump will be charged. New York law enforcement has been make security arrangements in the event that the former president is criminally charged.
Trump’s attorney, Joseph Tacopina, was not made aware of the possibility of Trump being arrested on Tuesday.
“Nobody is telling us anything, which is very frustrating,” Tacopina told CNBC. “President Trump is basing his response on press reports and the fact that this is a political prosecution and that the prosecutor is leaking information to the press instead of disclosing to attorneys as they should.”
If indicted, Trump, a 2024 Republican presidential candidatewould become the first former president to face criminal charges.
United States House Speaker Kevin McCarthy shared a tweet in support of Trump Saturday, calling the district attorney a “radical” seeking “political revenge” against the former president.
“I call on the appropriate committees to immediately investigate whether federal funds are being used to subvert our democracy by interfering in elections with politically motivated prosecutions,” he wrote in the tweet.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office declined to comment.
—CNBC’s Dan Mangan contributed to this report.