Former US President Donald Trump (pictured on November 8, 2022).
Washington – Former US President Donald Trump claimed today that he could be arrested on Tuesday. According to him, this is indicated by information leaked from the prosecutor's office in Manhattan, which is investigating the ex-president on suspicion of financial crime. The prosecutor's office declined to comment on the matter, and Trump's team later told the media that the former president had not received any notification from the authorities. Nevertheless, on his social network Truth Social, he called his followers to take to the streets.
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Trump's claim came after media reports that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is consulting with New York authorities about possible security aspects of a scenario in which Trump is impeached. The New York Times (NYT) previously reported, that the former president could soon face indictment in the case of alleged payments for the confidentiality of two women during the height of the campaign before the 2016 presidential election.
Trump did not specify today in what context he expects his arrest. It was also unclear why he gave Tuesday as the date of the arrest. “We have no notification (from the prosecutor's office),” the ex-president's spokesman told the media. Trump previously referred to the “illegal leaks” of information from the Manhattan prosecutor's office, which he again described as corrupt.
“Protest, take back our country!” he added at the end of his post, in which American journalists see echoes of the rhetoric that preceded the violence in the building of Congress on January 6, 2021.
Official information about the plans of the Manhattan prosecutor's office and the grand jury overseeing the investigation of Trump is not available available. According to the AP, it is not clear when the jury could vote on indicting the former president. The NYT, citing its sources, reports that at least one more witness is expected to come forward.
If Trump were to be indicted, it would be the first criminal prosecution of any former US president. At the same time, it might not be the last for Trump, as the president from 2017 to 2021 faces investigations in other cases as well, mainly because of his campaign after the lost 2020 elections and because of his reluctance to hand over sensitive government documents after leaving the White House. All this against the background of the starting campaign in which the 76-year-old Trump is again running for election to the White House.
In the above-mentioned case from 2016, it concerns payments totaling $280,000 (CZK 6.3 million), which former Trump personal lawyer Michael Cohen described as bribes to two women for secrecy about their romances with Trump. He denies the intimate relationship with porn actress Stormy Daniels and model Karen McDougal. Bragg's investigation is not directly concerned with this aspect, but with the question of whether the then-presidential candidate committed a crime when the transaction was not reported as a campaign expenditure. Lawyer Cohen was later convicted of campaign finance violations and other crimes.
The grand jury evaluating evidence and potential indictments in the case has heard numerous witnesses in recent months, including Cohen, who says he brokered the payments to the two women at Trump's behest. According to AP, two of Trump's former advisers, Hope Hicks and Kellyane Conway, also appeared, while the former president himself refused to testify.
The very fact that prosecutors offered the suspect the opportunity to appear before a grand jury is considered a signal that the case is ready to be brought charges. “It would be unusual for District Attorney Alvin Bragg to warn a potential defendant and not prosecute him,” the NYT wrote this month. to hear that even as a criminal defendant he would seek re-election. According to experts, the president of the United States can be an indicted and even a convicted person, reported ABC News on its website.
