Trump says he is expected to be arrested next Tuesday and calls for protests by supporters

The former US President is being investigated for possible bribes paid to a porn actress in the 2016 campaign.

Former US President Donald Trump announced on Saturday (18), via a message posted on the Truth Social platform, that he is expected to be arrested next Tuesday due to a possible bribery charge paid to a porn actress before the 2016 election.

The former head of state also called for protests. He claimed there had been a “leak” of information from the office of New York State Prosecutor General Alvin Bragg, whom he accused of being “corrupt.”

“The leading Republican candidate and former President of the United States States of America will be arrested on Tuesday of next week. Protest, take back our nation!”

The post recalls the warning he issued in August last year about the FBI raid on his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida to recover secret White House files taken by him late in the office.

At the time, he also called for protests and was met by supporters.

Trump, on Friday (17), made his first post on Facebook since the end of his account suspension in early February.

In addition, after two years of being unable to post videos on YouTube, the former U.S. president’s profile on the network was also reactivated.

Trump’s first post on the network is a video from the night of his victory over Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in 2016. In the end, an announcement of his campaign for the presidency in 2024 appears.

INVESTIGATION

Prosecutors in Manhattan are hearing witnesses, including Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen, who says he made payments in 2016 to two women to silence them about sexual encounters they allege they had with Trump over a decade ago.

The former president denies the encounters ever took place, says he did nothing wrong, and calls the investigation a “witch hunt” to sabotage his campaign next year.

Bragg’s office examines whether state laws were violated in connection with the payments or how Trump’s company compensated Michael Cohen for keeping the women’s allegations quiet.

Trump’s former lawyer testified to prosecutors that, at the tycoon’s direction, payments of $280,000 were made to porn actress Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal for them to keep silent about relationships with Trump, who was in the midst of his first presidential campaign.

Cohen and prosecutors claim a US$420,000 reward to him as reimbursement for the US$130,000 payment made to Stormy Daniels and other expenses. The company classified these payments internally as legal expenses.

In Karen McDougal’s case, prosecutors say there was a payment of US$150,000 by the then-publisher of the National Enquirer tabloid, which prevented the story from coming to light.