Former President Donald Trump said Saturday that “illegal leaks” indicated he would be arrested on Tuesday and urged his supporters to protest.
In posts on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump referred to reports that he could soon be confronted with possible criminal charges in New York in connection with a hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
Trump did not say whether he had been notified by law enforcement of an upcoming indictment. A spokesman for Trump later clarified in a statement that “there has been no notification to NBC and other news outlets other than illegal leaks from the Justice Department and the Attorney’s Office.”
The spokesman added, “President Trump is right to assert his innocence and arming our injustice system. He’ll be in Texas for a huge rally next weekend. Make America Great Again!”
NBC News reported Friday that law enforcement is preparing for one Possible Trump indictment already next week.
Trump, a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, has criticized “illegal leaks” that “suggest” he would be arrested on Tuesday.
“PROTEST, TAKE BACK OUR NATION!” Trump wrote.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing and has called the investigation by Manhattan Democratic District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office a continuation of the partisan “witch hunt” against him. He has also accused Bragg, who is black, of being a “racist.”
A spokesman for Bragg’s office declined to comment on Trump’s Truth Social posts.
The 76-year-old presidential candidate has said he has no intention of dropping out of the race even if impeached. “Absolutely not,” he told reporters at a political event in early March, adding that an indictment “would probably increase my number, but it’s a very bad thing for America.”
A key witness in the current case is Michael Cohen, Trump’s former attorney and fixer, who testified before the grand jury this week. Cohen pleaded guilty in federal court in 2018 to making the illegal payment to Daniels for the “primary purpose of interfering” with the 2016 presidential election, saying he did so at Trump’s direction. He was sentenced to three years in prison for these and other crimes.
Trump has admitted he paid Cohen back the $130,000 but claimed the payment was legal. Trump card tweeted in 2018 that the money “did not come from the campaign” and that the deal had been “a private contract between two parties known as a non-disclosure agreement or NDA.”
“The agreement was used to stop the false and blackmailing allegations being made of her having an affair…although she had already signed a lengthy letter admitting there was no affair,” Trump said Twitter.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Source : news.yahoo.com