Donald Trump Calls on Americans to Protest After Claiming He Will Be Arrested Tuesday

Donald Trump has posted a provocative call for Americans to “protest, protest, protest” as he raged online about the possibility of his imminent arrest by New York prosecutors.

The former president risked riots with a post on his TruthSocial platform that read “it’s time” and called on his supporters to organize rallies and “save America.”

The post, written in all caps, came hours after Trump said he would be arrested Tuesday for claiming he broke the law by paying porn star Stormy Daniels to shut up money over an alleged affair.

Trump wrote: ‘WE CANNOT ALLOW THIS ANYMORE. THEY ARE KILLING OUR NATION WHILE WE SIT AND WATCH. WE MUST SAVE AMERICA! PROTEST, PROTEST, PROTEST!!!’

The post echoed similar calls to protest his election loss in the hours and days before the riot at the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

The post, written in all capital letters, was made hours after Trump said he would be arrested Tuesday.

Trump denies having a sexual relationship with Daniels (pictured with Trump) and his lawyer has called the $130,000 he was paid to keep quiet an “annoying payment” that rich or famous people sometimes pay to make a situation go away that distracts

The publication began: ‘IT’S TIME!!! WE ARE A NATION IN SEVERE DECLINE, BEING DRIVEN INTO WORLD WAR III BY A TWISTED POLITICIAN WHO DOESN’T EVEN KNOW HE IS ALIVE, BUT IS SURROUNDED BY EVIL AND SINISTER PEOPLE WHO, BASED ON THEIR ACTIONS OF DEFINING THE POLICE, DESTROYING OUR MILITARY, OPEN BORDERS, NO VOTER ID, INFLATION, INCREASED TAXES AND SO MUCH MORE, THEY CAN ONLY HATE OUR FAILING UNITED STATE.’

Trump’s claim that he will be arrested soon comes more than six years after his lawyers paid Daniels a total of $130,000 during the 2016 election campaign to keep quiet about an alleged affair.

Trump said the Manhattan district attorney’s office will arrest him in a few days and called the investigation “corrupt and highly political,” calling the alleged hush money payment an “old and thoroughly discredited fairy tale.”

The call to protest is likely to draw heavy criticism following Trump’s remarks in the days leading up to the deadly riots on Capitol Hill.

On the morning of January 6, he delivered a moving speech to supporters in Washington, saying, “I know that everyone here will soon be marching on the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make their voices heard.”

He concluded the speech: ‘We fight. We fight like hell and if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore. So let’s walk down Pennsylvania Avenue.

Protests over the election result later turned violent as thousands of people descended on the Capitol. Large sections of the group stormed the building and hundreds were later charged for the riot.

A former federal prosecutor even warned on Saturday that Trump’s social media post sharing details of his expected arrest could get him denied bail if arrested.

Glenn Kirschner, a legal analyst for MSNBC, compared the all-caps rant to his posts leading up to the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, saying it could affect the terms of his release.

Referring to the initial post that claimed Trump’s arrest was imminent, Kirschner said, “I would stick a government exhibits sticker on this post and file it as his criminal trial.”

“He has just given the judge who will preside over his arraignment hearing some food for thought about what kind of conditions should be put in place for the release of this dangerous man pending trial.”

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. And legal experts say Trump could still be elected president even if charged or convicted.

The post echoes Trump’s calls to protest on January 6, 2021, before a large group of his supporters stormed the Capitol.

Riot police push back a crowd of supporters of US President Donald Trump after they stormed the Capitol building January 6, 2021 in Washington, DC

Before his call for the protests, Trump called the case against him “corrupt and highly political,” calling the alleged hush money payment an “old and thoroughly discredited fairy tale.”

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 cheating 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.