Trump calls on followers to ‘protest’ while claiming he will be arrested

Anyone else having déjà vu?

Over the weekend, Donald Trump took to Truth Social to demand followers “protest” and “take our nation back” days before a Manhattan grand jury is possibly indicting the former president.

“WE MUST SAVE AMERICA! PROTEST, PROTEST, PRTOEST!!!,” Trump wrote on Saturday.

The claim was part of a series of long, ranty posts Trump, 76, made in which he criticised the Manhattan District Attorney, Alvin Bragg, as well as his office.

Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

For months, Bragg has been investigating Trump’s involvement in hush money paid to Stormy Daniels in 2016.

And although no official statement or indication of an indictment has been made, Trump told followers he was going to be “arrested on Tuesday of next week.”

“THE FAR & AWAY LEADING REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE & FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, WILL BE ARRESTED ON TUESDAY OF NEXT WEEK. PROTEST, TAKE OUR NATION BACK,” Trump wrote on Saturday.

A spokesperson for Trump told New York Times that the former president wrote the Truth Social post without any prior knowledge of his arrest or the timing.

However, Trump’s call on devoted followers to “protest” to show their support is reminiscent of the tweets Trump issued before the January 6th attack on the Capitol.

Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy responded to Trump’s protest calls on Sunday saying, “I don’t think people should protest this, no.”

“And I think President Trump, if you talk to him, he doesn’t believe that, either,” McCarthy added.

The former president could be arrested in the coming days or weeks if the grand jury chooses to charge him with crimes related to the hush money payment.

At the moment, the Manhattan DA is investigating whether or not Trump and his organisation broke state laws by paying Daniels or violated campaign finance rules.

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.