Former President Donald Trump says he will be arrested Tuesday over claims he paid porn star Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about his alleged affair.
It comes more than six years after Trump’s lawyers paid Daniels a total of $130,000 to keep quiet on the matter, and New York prosecutors are considering whether he should face charges. Trump denies the affair and knowledge of the payments.
Trump claimed on his Truth Social account that the Manhattan district attorney’s office will arrest him in a few days, calling the investigation “corrupt and highly political,” calling the alleged hush money payment an “old and old fairy tale.” completely discredited.”
If Trump’s claims of impending arrest are true, it would make him the first former president to face criminal charges. His post came hours after it was claimed that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg planned to indict Trump next week.
Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, responded to the development on Saturday by saying that if impeached, Trump would be “re-elected with a landslide” in the 2024 presidential election.
Trump’s lawyer said the former president continues to deny the substance of the allegations of a sexual relationship with Daniels (pictured with Trump), calling the $130,000 a “nuisance payment” that rich or famous people sometimes pay to make disappear a distracting situation.
He called them “corrupt and highly political”, calling the alleged secret money payment an “old and thoroughly discredited fairy tale”.
It comes more than six years after Trump’s lawyers allegedly paid Daniels to keep quiet about the matter, and New York prosecutors are considering whether he should face charges.
A Trump spokesman said he is “rightfully highlighting his innocence and the use of weapons of our system of injustice.”
Kevin McCarthy, the Speaker of the House, said: “Here we go again: an outrageous abuse of power by a radical district attorney who lets violent criminals walk while seeking political revenge against President Trump.”
“I am directing the relevant committees to immediately investigate whether federal funds are being used to subvert our democracy by interfering in elections with politically motivated prosecutions.”
Last week, the former president and 2024 hopeful was invited to testify before a Manhattan grand jury, and his mediator and former attorney Michael Cohen testified Monday.
Cohen served jail time after pleading guilty in two criminal cases, one of which involved the use of campaign funds in connection with Daniels and another woman who allegedly had an affair with Trump.
He said he had been acting on his orders and that the bribes were supposed to keep love stories out of the public eye ahead of the 2016 election. Trump has admitted reimbursing Cohen
Daniels met with prosecutors Wednesday to answer more questions about the case, and his attorney, Clark Brewster, said he would also be available as a witness in the future, if necessary.
Cohen has also indicated that he has given the grand jury damning testimony implicating Trump. He testified for three hours on Monday.
Trump claims he will be arrested by the Manhattan prosecutor’s office, and Musk says it would spell a “landslide victory” for the former presidents’ re-election campaign.
Elon Musk, pictured at the 2022 Met Gala, believes the criminal charges against Trump will help him win re-election in the 2024 presidential race
Speaking beforehand, he said: ‘This is all about accountability. He has to be held accountable for his dirty deeds.
Speculation that charges were imminent also rose when Bragg told Trump’s team that the former president could testify before the grand jury if he wanted, a notification usually late in a process that could mean impeachment is near.
Legal experts have said that Trump could face one of two charges over the payments, but also concede that both would be difficult to prove.
He could be charged with falsifying business records if it is alleged that Trump knew his retainer agreement with Cohen was a sham to facilitate payments. That would be a misdemeanor under New York law unless prosecutors prove the records were falsified to hide another crime, which would make it a felony.
That other offense could be that the payments violated state election law because the alleged payment was intended to benefit his campaign.
Trump could face up to four years in prison on those charges.
Daniels met with prosecutors Wednesday to answer further questions about the case and tweeted his thanks to his attorney for “supporting me in our continued fight for truth and justice.”
Trump’s lawyer, Joseph Tacopina, also said this week that an indictment was “more likely” because of recent events.
“But the only thing I still cling to is the hope that justice will prevail,” he said.
Tacopina also said he hopes Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office “won’t stoop to the level of Mark Pomerantz, who was looking for a crime that fit the person.”
Tacopina was referring to a memoir by former Manhattan Special Assistant District Attorney Mark Pomerantz, who led the office’s investigation into Trump for a year beginning in February 2021.
In a letter sent last Friday to the commissioner of the New York City Department of Investigation, Trump’s lawyer accused Bragg and his predecessor, Cyrus Vance, Jr., of conducting a “politically motivated investigation.”
Prosecutors “armed” their office, Tacopina wrote, “reviewing every aspect of President Trump’s personal life and business affairs, going back decades, hoping to find some legal basis, however implausible, novel or complicated, to prosecute him.” ‘. ‘
Vance has said that “it is difficult to argue that the previous investigations were politically motivated.”
A Trump spokesman said: “There has been no notification, other than illegal leaks by the Department of Justice and the prosecutor’s office, to NBC and other fake news outlets, that the George Soros-funded radical left Democrat prosecutor in Manhattan has decided to take their witch hunt to the next level. President Trump is rightly highlighting his innocence and the use of weapons of our system of injustice. He will be in Texas next weekend for a giant rally. Make America! be great again!’ – Trump spokesman.
