BREAKING: Trump announces he 'will be arrested on Tuesday'

In a post on Truth Social, Donald Trump revealed that he expects to be arrested on Tuesday. The arrest would come as part of a trial in New York that alleges he paid hush money to a porn star ahead of the 2016 presidential election. 

Trump said "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!"

The charges from New York City DA Alvin Bragg amount to falsifying business records, in that Trump's company allegely "falsely accounted" for some $130,000 paid to Trump's 2016 attorney Michael Cohen, not specifying on their balance sheet that this was a pay off, as opposed to legal fees.

Trump has denied knowing that the money was used to pay Stormy Daniels, though his current attorney notes that Trump may have been legally prevented from publicly stating that money had gone to Daniels under the terms of the agreement.

Bragg, however, has taken the charge of falsifying records and raised it to the level of a felony, which is relatively unusual. For this misdemeanor to become a felony, Bragg must prove that Trump had an "intent to defraud," and the intent to committ a second crime.

"Our nation is now third world & dying," Trump writes. "The American Dream is dead! The radical left anarchists have stolen out presidential election, and with it, the heart of our country. American patriots are being arrested & held in captivity like animals, while criminasl & leftist thugs are allowed to roam the streets, killing & burning with no retribution. Millions are flooding through our open boarders, many from prisons and mental institutions. Crime & inflation are destroying our very way of life..." He wrote in the first post (errors corrected).

"Now illegal leaks from a corrupt & highly political manhattan district attorney's office, which has allowed new records to be set in violent crime & whose leader is funded by George Soror, 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!" He wrote.



The second crime that Bragg may attempt to prove Trump had the intent to commit, under Bragg's plan to raise the misdemeanor charge to a felony, could be a violation of New York State election law. Under this scenario, Bragg could say that the $130,000 paid to Daniels was an illegal donation to Trump's campaign. The theory here would be that Daniels' silence about whatever involvement the two may have had was a boon to the Trump campaign and therefore that buying her silence was an unnaccounted for donation, as opposed to a legal expense.

Even the New York Times notes that the whole thing is substantially spurious. "Combining the criminal charge with a violation of state election law would be a novel legal theory for any criminal case, let alone one against the former president, raising the possibility that a judge or appellate court could throw it out or reduce the felony charge to a misdemeanor," they wrote on March 9, when it became clear that an indictment was likely in the works.

Trump was invited to testify before a grand jury, which is an indication that an indictment is pending, and now, according to Fox News' unnamed sources, "The Manhattan DA's office has asked for a meeting with law enforcement ahead of a potential Trump indictment."

On Friday evening, Fox News reported that sources told the outlet that Donald Trump will be arrested as soon as next week.

"Some sources familiar with the planning said [officials] will go over security preparations in and around the courthouse and lower Manhattan. Secret Service will take the lead in what they will allow or will not allow. The source cautioned, mentioning for instance, that the decision to handcuff the president, or former President or not. They will set the tone and will escort him into the courtroom," Fox reported.

"'There will be coordination between all of us', the source said 'but we will defer to the Secret Service'. The battle will be between Secret Service and DA Alvin Bragg. They will decide how and when he'll get into the building and they are not going to leave him," Fox said.

"So this is a huge development if Alvin Bragg has decided to go ahead with a felony indictment of the former president. This was a charge that the federal officials refused to prosecute on, or even really pursue. This was a misdemeanor in New York that Alvin Bragg has decided to elevate to a felony while at the same time downgrading other felonies to misdemeanors," Fox said.

Joseph Tacopina, Trump's attorney, confirmed that the invitation to testify before a grand jury was sent to Trump a week prior from Manhattan District Attorney Alvain Bragg's office. He stated that he believed prosecutors had not yet made a decision on whether Trump will be charged. Daniels previously was ordered to pay Trump $300,000 in legal fees after a federal court rejected of a defamation case brought by her against Trump.

Tacopina called the investigation "much ado about nothing" and said that the legal basis on which prosecutors were building their case is weak. "It’s just another example of them weaponizing the justice system against him. And it’s sort of unfair," he said in a comment