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Agence France-Presse

Donald Trump has put his supporters on notice he expects to be arrested Tuesday in a hush-money case, issuing a call for protests that has security services bracing for a political circus at best – and violence at worst.
It would see a former US president indicted for the first time ever – even as the rebellious 76-year-old Republican campaigns for a second term in the White House.
Although the Manhattan district attorney’s office has not confirmed any plans for an indictment, Trump’s Saturday announcement was a major tell.
There are other signs too.
The porn star known as Stormy Daniels, who claims she was paid to not reveal her affair with Trump before the 2016 election, has cooperated with the grand jury.
Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen, who has acknowledged making the payment to Daniels and said he was later reimbursed, has also testified before the panel.
Donald Trump returns to Facebook and YouTube after ban lifted
Another clear sign is that Trump himself was invited to testify, although he refused.
“Prosecutors almost never invite the target of the investigation to testify in the grand jury unless they’re planning on indicting that individual,” according to Pace University law professor and former prosecutor Bennett Gershman.
A Trump indictment would begin a lengthy process that could last several months, as the case would face a mountain of legal issues and move toward jury selection.
In the immediate term, however, it would trigger several steps, including preparing for exactly how an arrest – or more likely a surrender to authorities, given the non-violent nature of the charges and Trump’s status as a former president – would play out.
“This is really unprecedented, and there is no playbook for this,” former long-time US Secret Service agent Robert McDonald, now a criminal justice professor at the University of New Haven, said on Sunday.
He expects a “choreographed” scenario in which the Secret Service would make special arrangements with the district attorney’s office for Trump to arrive at the courthouse in a secure fashion that does not make a “spectacle” out of the process.

In other words, no handcuffs and no perp walk through the court’s front door, McDonald predicted.
Former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti tweeted Saturday that he expects Trump “would appear voluntarily in court, be fingerprinted and booked, and would be released on bond”.
Given Trump’s prominence and his ongoing 2024 presidential bid, the judge likely would not deem the former president a flight risk and Trump would be free to go after processing, including any bond paid if required.
“My guess is he will not be held overnight,” McDonald said.
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Shan Wu, a former federal prosecutor now in private practice, agrees, adding that aside from the heavy security, a Trump “self-surrender” could likely look like any other white-collar case.
But Trump has a flair for the dramatic and some have openly wondered whether the combative ex-president might refuse to turn himself in, essentially challenging Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office to arrest him.
“One could imagine Trump wanting to do that for the politics and the optics, to make himself look more sympathetic,” Wu said. “That’s something Bragg’s office would be dreading.”
Law enforcement agencies are coordinating a major operation in the event Trump is indicted, including a ratcheting up of security measures, experts said.

But Trump urging supporters to “PROTEST, TAKE OUR NATION BACK!” presents a new wrinkle for authorities, given the violence that erupted on January 6, 2021, when his backers stormed the US Capitol seeking to halt certification of Trump’s election defeat.
Pro-Trump groups are already mobilising. The New York Young Republican Club promoted a Monday event in lower Manhattan it bills as a “peaceful protest of Alvin Bragg’s heinous attack” on Trump.
While authorities have given no indication they expect violence near the courthouse, CNN cited unnamed sources saying law enforcement agencies were addressing the potential for demonstrations by Trump supporters and opponents, with the risk of clashes.
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Meanwhile, the police department in Washington, scene of the US Capitol riot two years ago, said Sunday it was “not aware of any” protests in the district related to Trump’s possible indictment.
Thousands of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol that day, busting through windows and violently clashing with officers in an ultimately failed effort to stop the congressional certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s victory.
Since then, about 1,000 participants in the melee have been arrested, many racking up steep legal bills and expressing regret and contrition in court for their actions. Some have complained of feeling abandoned by Trump.
Additional reporting by Associated Press


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Donald Trump

‘Unprecedented’: what to expect if Donald Trump is indicted

Donald Trump said he expected to be arrested Tuesday in connection with a grand jury inquiry into a 2016 payment to a porn star. Photo: AP

Adult film star Stormy Daniels. File photo: AFP

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Photo: AP

Donald Trump says he expects to be arrested, calls for supporters to protest

Former US president Donald Trump speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland on March 4. Photo: AP

Workers remove scaffolding at the New York Courthouse where Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg continues his investigation into Donald Trump in Manhattan, New York on Saturday. Photo: Reuters

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Photo: New York Daily News / TNS

A sign near Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida on Saturday after he posted a message on social media platform Truth Social saying he expects to be arrested. Photo: Reuters 

Porn actor Stormy Daniels. Photo: Getty Images / TNS

Donald Trump returns to Facebook and YouTube after social media ban lifted

Former US president Donald Trump. Photo: Abaca Press / TNS

Former US president Donald Trump’s YouTube account is seen on a smartphone and laptop after being restored by Google and its parent company Alphabet on March 17, 2023. Photo: Reuters

Former US president Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event in South Carolina in January. Photo: AP

Former US president Donald Trump after announcing he is running for president for the third time, at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida in November. Photo: AP

On Trump Force One, KFC is on the menu and 45 is still president

Donald Trump waves from his plane in 2022. File photo: AFP  

Donald Trump at a campaign event this week in Davenport, Iowa. Photo: AP

Donald Trump’s private plane. File photo: Instagram / @realdonaldtrump

Donald Trump greets supporters in Davenport, Iowa. Photo: AFP

Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis. Photo: AP

Donald Trump rape accuser can use Access Hollywood tape in trial, judge says

Former US president Donald Trump speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Florida in February 2021. Photo: AP

Columnist E. Jean Carroll leaves federal court in New York in February 2022. Photo: AP

Donald Trump election probe grand jury says witnesses lied, urges perjury charges

Former US president Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event in Columbia, South Carolina, in January. Photo: AP

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney. Photo: AP

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World

United States & Canada

Donald Trump has put his supporters on notice he expects to be arrested Tuesday in a hush-money case
Political observers weigh in on how an arrest – or more likely a surrender to authorities – might play out


Donald Trump has put his supporters on notice he expects to be arrested Tuesday in a hush-money case, issuing a call for protests that has security services bracing for a political circus at best – and violence at worst.
