Trump says he expects arrest Tuesday as DA considers charges

Former President Donald Trump said in a social media post that he expects to be arrested as a New York prosecutor on Tuesday. watch the fees in a case examining hidden money paid to women who alleged sex with the former president.

Trump said Saturday morning in a post on his Truth Social network that “illegal leaks” from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office indicate that “THE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE AND FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, WILL BE ARRESTED NEXT TUESDAY” . WEEK.”

Trump’s lawyer, Susan Necheles, explained in a text to CBS News on Saturday that this was speculation by the former president.

“As President Trump has stated, his message is based on media reports. As this is a political prosecution, the District Attorney’s Office has engaged in a practice of leaking everything to the press, rather than communicating with President Trump’s lawyers as would be done in a normal case.”

Trump did not provide any details on social media about how he knew about the planned arrest. In his posts, he repeated allegations that the 2020 presidential election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden was stolen and he urged his supporters to “PROTEST, TAKE BACK OUR NATION!”

Early Saturday afternoon, Trump posted another missive on his Truth Social network, saying, “WE ARE A NATION IN DECLINE, DRAGGED INTO WORLD WAR III BY A CRUCKY POLITICIAN WHO DON’T EVEN KNOW THAT HE IS ALIVE, BUT WHO IS SURROUNDED BY EVIL AND SINISTER PEOPLE WHO, BASED ON THEIR ACTIONS TO DEFINE THE POLICE, DESTROY OUR ARMY, OPEN BORDERS, NO VOTER ID, INFLATION, RISING TAXES AND MUCH MORE, CAN ONLY HATE OUR NOW FAILED UNITED STATES.”

A Trump spokesperson said Trump had planned a rally next week.

“There has been no notification, other than illegal leaks from the Justice Department and the district attorney’s office, to NBC and other bogus news outlets, that the radical left-wing Democratic prosecutor funded by George Soros in Manhattan has decided to take his witch hunt to the next level,” Trump’s spokesperson said Saturday. “President Trump rightly points out his innocence and the weaponization of our system of injustice. He will be in Texas next weekend for a giant rally. Make America Great Again!”

There has been no public announcement of a timeline for the secret grand jury work in the case, including any potential vote on indicting the ex-president.

Still, the Trump campaign is preparing for a “robust” and aggressive public relations operation to fend off possible looming indictments, according to a senior Trump adviser. They are coordinating surrogates and a courier offensive, they say, to engage head-on with the district attorney’s office.

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

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg addressed the safety issue in an email to employees on Saturday, telling them that “your safety is our top priority.” The contents of the email, which was first reported by Politico, has been confirmed to CBS News.

“We do not tolerate attempts to intimidate our office or threaten the rule of law in New York City,” Bragg wrote. “Our law enforcement partners will ensure that any specific or credible threats against the office are fully investigated and that the appropriate safeguards are in place so that the 1,600 of us have a safe working environment.”

Meanwhile, former Vice President Mike Pence, speaking to reporters in Des Moines, Iowa on Saturday, was asked about Trump’s claims.

“Well here we go again,” Pence replied. “Another politically charged lawsuit against the former president of the United States…I think many Americans are surprised by the unprecedented indictment of a former president, but also by the fact that the Manhattan prosecutor in amid a crime wave in New York City, then says indicting the former president is his highest priority.That tells you everything you need to know about the liberal left in this country.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy also weighedcalling the hypothetical move “an outrageous abuse of power by a radical DA”, and saying Congress would investigate.

“Here we go again – an outrageous abuse of power by a radical prosecutor letting violent criminals through as he pursues political revenge against President Trump,” the California Republican tweeted. “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.”

Manhattan prosecutors investigate Trump’s alleged $130,000 payment to adult movie star stormy daniels in 2016 recently invited the former president to testify in the investigation, a step that usually precedes an indictment in New York.

Trump says he did nothing wrong and called the investigation a “witch hunt” by a Democratic prosecutor determined to sabotage the 2024 Republican presidential campaign.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office apparently looked into whether any state laws were broken in relation to the payments or how Trump’s company compensated former attorney Michael Cohen for his work to to keep women’s allegations silent.

— Fin Gomez contributed to this report