Trump expected to be arrested Tuesday as prosecutor files charges – Boston News, Weather, Sports

NEW YORK (AP) — donald trump said in a social media post that he expects to be arrested on Tuesday as The New York Attorney’s Office is reviewing charges in a case test hush money paid to women who allegedly had sexual encounters with the former president. Trump presented no evidence to suggest he was directly notified of an imminent arrest and did not say how he knew about such plans.

But in a Saturday morning news story on his network Truth Social, Trump noted “illegal leaks” from the Manhattan Attorney’s Office which he says indicate that “THE FAR AND AWAY LEADING REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE & FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES WILL BE ARRESTED TUESDAY.” NEXT WEEK.”

Prosecutors’ Danielle Filson said prosecutors “will decline to confirm or comment on questions regarding Trump’s post, as well as possible charges.” A Trump spokesman did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The indictment of 76-year-old Trump would be an extraordinary development after years of investigations into his business, political and personal machinations. It will likely rouse critics who say Trump, a 2024 presidential nominee, lied and cheated his way to the top, and embolden supporters who think the Republican is being unfairly targeted by a Democratic prosecutor.

In his social media post, Trump reiterated his lies that the 2020 presidential election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden was stolen and urged his supporters to “PROTEST, TAKE BACK OUR NATION!” This language was reminiscent to the then-President’s message that preceded the U.S. Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, when his supporters smashed through doors and windows of that building, leaving officials beaten and bloodied as they attempted to stop the U.S. Capitol’s certification election .

Law enforcement officials in New York have taken precautions against the possibility that Trump could be charged.

There has been no public announcement of a timeline for the grand jury’s secret work in the case, including a possible vote on whether to indict the ex-president.

Trump’s post recalls last summer when he broke the news on Truth Social that the FBI was raiding his home as part of an investigation into possible misuse of classified documents.

The Manhattan grand jury has heard witnesses, including former Trump attorney Michael Cohen, who says he orchestrated payments to two women in 2016 to silence them about sexual encounters they had with Trump a decade earlier.

Trump denies the encounters, says he did nothing wrong and has called the investigation a “witch hunt” by a Democratic prosecutor intent on sabotaging the Republican’s 2024 presidential campaign.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office appears to have been investigating whether the payments violated state laws or how Trump’s company compensated Cohen for his work to keep the women’s allegations private.

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

Cohen said he arranged payments totaling $280,000 to pornographic actor Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal on Trump’s instructions. According to Cohen, the payouts were intended to buy their silence on Trump, who was then in the midst of his first presidential campaign.

Cohen and federal prosecutors said the company paid him $420,000 to reimburse him for paying Daniels $130,000 and to cover bonuses and other alleged expenses. The company classified these payments internally as legal expenses. The $150,000 payment to McDougal was made by the then-publisher of the supermarket tabloid National Enquirer, which prevented her story from coming to light.

Federal prosecutors agreed not to prosecute the Enquirer’s parent company in exchange for its cooperation in a campaign finance investigation that led to indictments against Cohen in 2018. Prosecutors said the payments to Daniels and McDougal were improper, unregistered gifts for Trump’s campaign.

Cohen pleaded guilty, served a prison sentence, and was disfellowshipped. Federal prosecutors have never charged Trump with a crime. ___

Associated Press writer Meg Kinnard of Columbia, South Carolina contributed to this report.

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