ETA: this is a fake, sorry y'all.
This is the real one:
The DA is investigating a 2016 hush money payment made to the adult film star.
Former President Donald Trump said Saturday he expects to be arrested in connection with the investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney next week and called for protests as a result.
In a social media post on Saturday, Trump, referring to himself, said the “leading Republican candidate and former president of the United States will be arrested on Tuesday of next week.”
“Protest, take our nation back,” he wrote.
While Trump offered no details on why he expects to be indicted, his legal team has been anticipating that it will happen soon and has been preparing behind the scenes for the next steps. The former president is expected to present himself in Manhattan following the formal charges and has expressed interest in making a speech after, though whether he ultimately does remains to be seen.
Trump has complained privately that he believes he is only going to being indicted because he thinks Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg “hates him,” according to a source familiar with what Trump has said.
Some of Trump’s advisers had urged him privately not to call for protests, concerned about the optics of a mass protest in the streets of Manhattan growing out of control or resembling the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.
CNN previously reported that meetings have been going on throughout the week between city, state and federal law enforcement agencies in New York City about how to prepare for a possible indictment of Trump.
One of the funniest subplots in the Donald Trump Indictment Show—which centers on the hush money payment made to porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016—involves the multiple reports that, after predicting to his followers that he would be arrested on March 21, the ex-president and his allies came to believe he was in the clear.
Trump, The Washington Post reported late Thursday, “had grown cautiously optimistic” in recent days, after “advisers had counseled him that a possible indictment by a Manhattan grand jury…would not come for some time—if at all.” The former president, the outlet noted, was apparently so unconcerned about the prospect of being charged that he’d “even begun joking about ‘golden handcuffs,’” which is probably not something one does if one thinks there’s a legitimate possibility they might be indicted, convicted, and sentenced to time in prison. “It was a surprise to everybody,” David Urban, a longtime Trump adviser, told the Post, which noted that “some of his lawyers had been preparing to take a few days off.” Following the indictment, The New York Times similarly reported that “Trump and his aides were caught off guard by the timing, believing that any action by the grand jury was still weeks away and might not occur at all.” The paper of record noted that Trump had recently been “telling nearly anyone that he was in a good mood and that he believed the case against him by Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, had fallen apart.”
Of course, the biggest indication that Trump indeed believed he’d outrun Bragg? His taking to Truth Social on Wednesday to write: “I HAVE GAINED SUCH RESPECT FOR THIS GRAND JURY, & PERHAPS EVEN THE GRAND JURY SYSTEM AS A WHOLE…. THE GRAND JURY IS SAYING, HOLD ON, WE ARE NOT A RUBBER STAMP, WHICH MOST GRAND JURIES ARE BRANDED AS BEING, WE ARE NOT GOING TO VOTE AGAINST A PREPONDERANCE OF EVIDENCE OR AGAINST LARGE NUMBERS OF LEGAL SCHOLARS ALL SAYING THERE IS NO CASE HERE.” Sure, that could have been an unabashed attempt to sway the jurors through flattery—but, in retrospect, those very much sound like the words of a man who was extremely confident he was not going to be indicted. “Such respect”! “The grand jury system as a whole”! “The grand jury is saying, hold on”! Do you think he still stands by these statements? If there were ever a time for the internet-ism “ROTFLMAO,” it would be now.
In related news, according to the Times, Trump was less focused on “the legal consequences” of the indictment Thursday than “the political implications.” Trump previously said he would not drop out of the 2024 presidential race if charged, boldly claiming that being indicted might actually help his chances of making it back to the White House. One adviser told the Post that the ex-president and current presidential candidate is planning to “milk [the indictment] for all it’s worth politically.” And while Trump has reportedly raised millions since he first claimed he’d be arrested earlier this month, it does not appear that people are reacting exactly as he had hoped.
Per the Post:
"The causeway that leads to Mar-a-Lago has long been a rally spot for Trump supporters, especially during his presidency, when they would regularly gather to cheer on his motorcade. But as the sun set along the causeway Thursday, more people were fishing for sand perch and croaker than had shown up to support the former president. Shortly before 8 p.m., only a half dozen Trump supporters had amassed in their usual spot."
Meanwhile, according to the Times, on Thursday, “a large group of former Trump Organization employees was quietly cheering the latest developments via text messages.”
According to allegations by the New York State, Attorney General, Trump has been engaged in serial fraud for decades.
But neither the Feds nor any State agency had the beginnings of an understanding of what was criminally amiss.
Until Trump ripped open the curtain for them.
Domino #1 October 2016. Trump has Michael Cohen set up a corporation with the purposes of paying hush money to cover up his adult ties
Parenthetically in 2016 he could simply have “a gentleman doesn’t comment on such matters”. If he’d not made the Stormy Daniel payment.
Domino #2 October 2016.: Cohen makes an apparently aborted offer to pay hush money to Karen McDougal. The story of Trump with McDougal subsequently appears in the Wall Street Journal prior to the election of 2016.
Domino #3 October 2016: Stormy Daniels retains Karen McDougal’s attorney. Michael Cohen does make a hush money payment of $130,000 to Ms. Daniels.
Domino #4 January 2018: The Stormy Daniels story breaks in the Wall Street Journal.
Domino #5 April 2018: Paying hush money payment is apparently a violation of federal election laws regarding interference. Accordingly, the FBI executed a search warrant for Michael Collins records.
Domino #6 March 2019: Michael Cohen trial opens for charges of tax fraud for unreported income from the Trump organization, as well as election interference.
Domino #7 March 2019: federal prosecutors serve a subpoena on Trump CFO Alan Weisselberg who testifies under a grant of partial immunity from federal prosecution.
Domino #8 August 2019: Michael Cohen pleads guilty to tax fraud and election interference. CONVICTION #1 (Criminal Tax fraud resulting from payments by Trump Organization.
Domino #9 2019: based on testimony by Weisselberg, the state of New York, seeks the Trump organization financial records
Domino #10 July 2020: the Supreme Court ruled the trump organization tax records to be handed over to the Manhattan district attorney.
Domino #11 2020. NY State District of Manhattan opens criminal investigation into the Trump organization. Subpoenas bank records.
Domino #12 mid-2021: NY State Attorney General opens civil executive law case for fraudulent activities.
Domino # 13 August 2022: Alan Weisselberg pleads guilty to 15 counts of criminal tax fraud. As part of his plea agreement agree to testify against the trump organization. CONVICTION #2 (Criminal Tax Fraud)
Domino #14 December, 2022: Two Trump companies convicted of criminal fraud. CONVICTION #3 (Criminal Tax Fraud).
Domino #15 January 2023: Further criminal proceedings set in Manhattan District.
Domino #16. September 2023: Judge rules for the State in a Motion for Summary Judgment for the seizure and disgorgement of Trump business assets due to systemic fraud FOUND LIABLE #1. (Fraud).
Involvement by the Trump Organization in the three criminal fraud convictions noted above.
Being found Liable for Fraud in the civil Executive Law case.
PLUS the dissolution of the Trump Charity and the 19 Admissions of Wrongdoing as part of that resolution.
Innumerable appeals rebuffed I ncluding to the US Supreme Court.
are u seein it or am i just insane
2,121,566 people are not Amanda and counting!
We’ll find you Amanda.
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