By Michelle L. Price and Jill Colvin -
The Associated Press
Former President Donald Trump said on his social networks this Saturday that, according to "illegal leaks" indicate that he will be arrested next Tuesday while a New York prosecutor studies the possibility of filing charges in a case that examines the payment of hush money to women who alleged sexual encounters with him, including porn actress Stormy Daniels.
Trump said in a post on his Social Truth network early Saturday that "illegal leaks" from the Manhattan district attorney's office indicate that "THE FAR LEADER REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE AND FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA WILL BE ARRESTED ON TUESDAY IN THE NEXT WEEK".
[Law Enforcement Prepares Security Plan in Case Trump Faces Criminal Charges Over Payments to Stormy Daniels]
The district attorney's office did not immediately return messages from The Associated Press news agency;
nor did Trump's representatives return calls for comment.
NBC News reported Friday that law enforcement is preparing for a possible impeachment of Trump as soon as next week.
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Trump did not provide details on social media about how he found out about the expected arrest.
In his posts, he repeated his lies that the 2020 presidential election (which he lost to Democrat Joe Biden) was stolen and launched an incendiary message: “PROTEST, TAKE BACK OUR NATION!”
Language he used before the riot at the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
[Build 10 new cities and other Trump proposals in his campaign to return to the presidency]
Law enforcement officials in New York have been making security preparations in the face of the possibility that Trump could be indicted.
Law enforcement officials in New York have been making security preparations in the face of the possibility that Trump could be indicted.
No timeline for the secret grand jury's work on the case, including any potential vote on whether or not to indict the former president, has been publicly announced.
Trump's post echoes one he made last summer when he broke the story on Truth Socia that the FBI was searching his home as part of an investigation into possible mishandling of classified documents.
The Manhattan grand jury has been hearing witnesses, including former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, who says he orchestrated payments in 2016 to two women to silence them about sexual encounters they said they had with Trump a decade earlier.
Trump denies the encounters took place, says he did nothing wrong and has called the investigation a "witch hunt" by a Democratic prosecutor bent on sabotaging the Republican's 2024 presidential campaign.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office has reportedly been looking into whether there was a violation of any state law regarding the payments or the way Cohen was compensated by Trump's company for his work to keep the allegations quiet. Women's.
Daniels and at least two former Trump advisers — former political adviser Kellyanne Conway and former spokeswoman Hope Hicks — are among the witnesses who have met with prosecutors in recent weeks.
Cohen has said that, on Trump's orders, he arranged payments totaling $280,000 to porn actress Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal.
According to Cohen, the payments were to buy his silence about Trump, who was then in the middle of his presidential campaign.
