by Sharon Rondeau
(Mar. 18, 2023) — At approximately 12:30 p.m. EST, 45th President and 2024 presidential contender Donald J. Trump commented further on reports that District Attorney Alvin Bragg plans to have him arrested Tuesday as a result of an apparent grand-jury indictment issued in connection with Trump’s alleged past relationship with an adult-film star.
“It’s time!” he wrote on TruthSocial. “We are a nation in steep decline, being led into World War III by a crooked politician who doesn’t even know he’s alive, but who is surrounded by evil & sinister people who, based on their actions on defunding the police, destroying our military , open borders, no voter I.D., inflation, raising taxes, & much more, can only hate our now failing USA. We just can’t allow this anymore. They’re killing our nation as we sit back & watch. We must save America!Protest, protest, protest!!!”
Earlier on Saturday, Trump reacted to what he said were “leaks” from Bragg’s office to the effect that plans are being laid for his arrest on Tuesday, writing, “NOW ILLEGAL LEAKS FROM A CORRUPT & HIGHLY POLITICAL MANHATTAN DISTRICT ATTORNEYS OFFICE, WHICH HAS ALLOWED NEW RECORDS TO BE SET IN VIOLENT CRIME & WHOSE LEADER IS FUNDED BY GEORGE SOROS, INDICATE THAT, WITH NO CRIME BEING ABLE TO BE PROVEN, & BASED ON AN OLD & FULLY DEBUNKED (BY NUMEROUS OTHER PROSECUTORS!) FAIRYTALE, 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!”
According to former NYPD officer John Cardillo on Twitter and TruthSocial Saturday, insiders at Bragg’s office have informed him that “the Manhattan DA’s office is ‘in chaos.'”
“They’re telling me about 60% of the office wants no part of this and wishes Bragg and Reiss would just stop the nonsense. They all know there is no crime…” Cardillo wrote and Trump “retruthed” on his TruthSocial account.
Just over a year ago, according to CNN, two prosecutors in Bragg’s office resigned in protest when Bragg concluded he did not have sufficient evidence to proceed with a criminal charge in a separate investigation of Trump and the Trump Organization. Last month, one of the resignees, Mark Pomerantz, published a book titled, “People vs. Donald Trump: An Inside Account.”
On Twitter Saturday, Trump spokeswoman Liz Harrington asked if The New York Times‘s characterization of Trump’s calls for “protest” as an “echo” of the events of January 6, 2021 at the U.S. Capitol signifies that “feds are planning to infiltrate any peaceful protests to stoke violence and then blame patriots so they can arrest and imprison more of their political opponents”.
On January 6 while speaking to a crowd of approximately one million, Trump called for supporters who were so inclined to go “over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”
Meanwhile, a special counsel for the U.S. Justice Department, Jack Smith, continues his probe into Trump’s actions that day and whether he improperly stored “classified documents” at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, FL.
Responding to Bragg’s apparent plans Saturday morning, Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy pledged to investigate “if federal funds are being used to subvert our democracy by interfering in elections with politically motivated prosecutions.”
