Trump says he expects to be arrested on Tuesday, calls for protests

Former U.S. President Donald Trump said he expects to be arrested on Tuesday in a case brought by the Manhattan district attorney’s office, and called on his supporters to protest, according to a post on Truth Social on Saturday.

A spokesperson for the district attorney’s office declined to comment.

Trump said, without providing evidence, that “illegal leaks” from the Manhattan district attorney’s office indicated that he would be arrested. He did not say what the charges would be.

“Illegal leaks from a corrupt & highly political Manhattan district attorney’s office … indicate that, with no crime being able to be proven … the far & away leading Republican candidate & former president of the United States of America, will be arrested on Tuesday of next week,” Trump wrote.

“Protest, take our nation back!” Trump said.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office earlier this year began presenting evidence to a grand jury investigating a $130,000 payment that Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal lawyer and fixer, made to porn star Stormy Daniels in the waning days of Trump’s 2016 campaign.

Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, says she had an affair with Trump a decade earlier. Trump has denied the affair happened.

Trump was Republican president from 2017 to 2021 and has said he will make a bid to return to the White House in the 2024 U.S. presidential election.

Bragg’s office earlier this month invited Trump to testify before the grand jury probing the hush money payments, according to Trump’s lawyer, Susan Necheles. Legal experts said that was a sign that an indictment was close.

Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to federal campaign finance violations tied to his arranging payments to Daniels and another woman, among other crimes. He has said Trump directed him to make the payments. The U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan did not charge Trump with a crime.

Cohen testified before the grand jury on Monday and again on Wednesday, according to his lawyer, Lanny Davis. Grand jury proceedings are not public.

Daniels’ lawyer said she spoke with prosecutors last week.