Former US President Donald Trump points to the media while speaking at the North Carolina GOP convention dinner in Greenville, North Carolina, U.S. June 5, 2021. Photo: REUTERS/Jonathan Drake

i24 News – Former US President Donald Trump said he expects to be “arrested” on Tuesday over hush money allegedly paid to a porn star before the 2016 election, calling on his supporters to protest.

Citing a “leak” from the Manhattan district attorney’s office, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Saturday morning: “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 potentially incendiary statement comes a day after the conservative firebrand’s accounts on Facebook and YouTube were reinstated after a lengthy ban in the aftermath of the January 6, 2021 Capitol riots. 

The investigation centers on $130,000 paid weeks before the 2016 polls to stop Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, from going public about an affair she says she had with Trump years earlier.

Prosecutors are weighing whether to charge Trump in the case.

If the Manhattan district attorney were to indict Trump, the 76-year-old would become the first former president to be charged with a crime. Trump’s lawyer said Friday evening that his client would surrender to face criminal charges if he was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury.

Trump was Republican president from 2017 to 2021 and has launched a campaign to return to the White House in the 2024 U.S. presidential election.