Donald Trump ‘expects’ to be arrested on Tuesday in ‘hush money’ case

Donald Trump has said in a social media post that he expects to be arrested on Tuesday in a case related to hush money paid to women who alleged sexual encounters with him.

The former US President did not provide any details on social media about how he knew about the expected arrest, but said in the post on the Truth Social site early on Saturday (March 18) that illegal leaks from the Manhattan district attorney’s office suggested the possibility of his arrest on Tuesday.

According to news agency AP, the district attorney’s office did not return messages and Trump’s representatives did not respond to calls for comment either.

Also read: Mike Pence: Trump will be “held accountable” by history for the Capitol attack

In his posts, the Republican candidate has repeated his claims that the 2020 presidential election — which he lost to Democrat Joe Biden — was “stolen” and urged his followers to “Protest, take our nation back!” These same claims had preceded the US Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.

Security beefed up

Law enforcement officials in New York have already been making security preparations for Trump’s possible indictment. There has been no public announcement of any time frame for the grand jury’s secret work in the case, including any potential vote on whether to indict the ex-president.

Trump’s post echoes the one he made last summer when he broke the news on Truth Social that the FBI was searching his home as part of an investigation into the possible mishandling of classified documents.

The grand jury in Manhattan has been hearing from 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.

Also read: Report: Trump invited to testify before NY grand jury

Trump denies the encounters occurred, says he did nothing wrong, and has cast the investigation as a witch hunt by a Democratic prosecutor bent on sabotaging the Republican’s 2024 presidential campaign.

Buying silence

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office has apparently been examining whether any state laws were broken in connection with the payments or the way Trump’s company compensated Cohen for his work to keep the women’s allegations quiet.

Daniels and at least two former Trump aides — onetime political adviser Kellyanne Conway and former spokesperson Hope Hicks — are among the witnesses who have met prosecutors in recent weeks.

Also read: Deposed Trump hurled insults at woman who said he raped her

Cohen has said that at Trump’s direction, he arranged payments totalling USD 280,000 to porn actor Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal. According to Cohen, the payouts were to buy their silence about Trump, who was then in the thick of his first presidential campaign.

(With agency inputs)