(The Daily Signal) — Former President Donald Trump predicted Saturday morning that on Tuesday, authorities will arrest him in connection to the Manhattan District Attorney’s investigation.
“NOW ILLEGAL LEAKS FROM A CORRUPT & HIGHLY POLITICAL MANHATTAN DISTRICT ATTORNEYS OFFICE, WHICH HAS ALLOWED NEW RECORDS TO BE SET IN VIOLENT CRIME & WHOSE LEADER IS FUNDED BY GEORGE SOROS, INDICATE THAT, WITH NO CRIME BEING ABLE TO BE PROVEN, & BASED ON AN OLD & FULLY DEBUNKED (BY NUMEROUS OTHER PROSECUTORS!) FAIRYTALE, THE FAR & AWAY LEADING REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE & FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, WILL BE ARRESTED ON TUESDAY OF NEXT WEEK,” Trump posted on TruthSocial around 7:30 a.m. on Saturday.
“PROTEST,” he added. “TAKE OUR NATION BACK!”
The post refers to charges from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office reportedly related to adult film star Stormy Daniels, who has claimed that she had an affair with Trump in 2016 and that she received $130,000 in hush money payments from the former president.
Trump has denied that he had an affair with Daniels, who was formerly represented by disgraced attorney Michael Avenatti. The former president sued Daniels for defamation and a judge ultimately ordered that she pay him almost $300,000.
Trump’s former attorney, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations regarding a $130,000 payment to Daniels, which Trump reimbursed, toward the end of the 2016 campaign. Attorney Craig Engle wrote for The Daily Signal that Cohen actually did not violate campaign finance laws.
About a half an hour before Trump predicted his arrest, the former president had posted concerns that “our nation is now third world and dying,” adding that “the American Dream is dead.”
He continued:
“THE RADICAL LEFT ANARCHISTS HAVE STOLLEN OUR PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, AND WITH IT, THE HEART OF OUR OUR COUNTRY. AMERICAN PATRIOTS ARE BEING ARRESTED & HELD IN CAPTIVITY LIKE ANIMALS, WHILE CRIMINALS & LEFTIST THUGS ARE ALLOWED TO ROAM THE STREETS, KILLING & BURNING WITH NO RETRIBUTION. MILLIONS ARE FLOODING THROUGH OUR OPEN BORDERS, MANY FROM PRISONS & MENTAL INSTITUTIONS. CRIME & INFLATION ARE DESTROYING OUR VERY WAY OF LIFE …”
Prosecutors had signaled that charges against Trump were likely, The New York Times reported earlier this month. Bragg had empaneled a grand jury on the case in January. Cohen testified before the grand jury this week.
“Even if Mr. Trump is indicted, convicting him or sending him to prison will be challenging,” the Times reported. “The case against the former president hinges on an untested and therefore risky legal theory involving a complex interplay of laws, all amounting to a low-level felony. If Mr. Trump were ultimately convicted, he would face a maximum sentence of four years, though prison time would not be mandatory.”
A court source told Fox News Digital that Manhattan District Attorney Bragg’s office will meet with law enforcement to “discuss logistics for some time next week, which would mean that they are anticipating an indictment next week.”
In a lengthy statement to Fox News Digital, Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung blasted the investigation as a “witch hunt” and accused Bragg of being in the pocket of President Biden and “radical Democrats.”
“President Donald J. Trump is completely innocent, he did nothing wrong, and even the biggest, most Radical Left Democrats are making that clear,” Cheung said.
In his speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Oxon Hill, Maryland, earlier this month, Trump insisted that there had been “no attraction, no affair, I call it no affair, where there’s no crime anyway.”
He added that “charges have never been brought in such a case before, and this case has been looked at by every prosecutor — they’re all looking, they’ve looked at it for years now … and all they do is they cause anger and problems for our country, because our people aren’t going to take this stuff.”
This is a developing story.
Mary Margaret Olohan
Mary Margaret Olohan is a reporter for The Daily Signal.
Tyler O'Neil
Tyler O'Neil is managing editor of The Daily Signal and the author of "Making Hate Pay: The Corruption of the Southern Poverty Law Center."
