OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Former President Donald Trump has responded to the rumors of his arrest, and he is furious.
He posted an all caps message on his TruthSocial platform calling for protests if he is arrested, which he believes will happen on Tuesday.
“NOW ILLEGAL LEAKS FROM A CORRUPT & HIGHLY POLITICAL MANHATTAN DISTRICT ATTORNEYS OFFICE, WHICH HAS ALLOWED NEW RECORDS TO BE SET IN VIOLENT CRIME & WHOSE LEADER IS FUNDED BY GEORGE SOROS, 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 said.
What could be an interesting situation in the entire episode is if former President Trump decided to fight extradition from Florida to New York.
In that case, ultimately the person who would have to sign the papers that allow him to be extradited would be Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has not announced his candidacy for President of the United States but who has been polling neck and neck with Trump.
But there is no legal way for Gov. DeSantis to stop to the extradition of the former president, Insider reported.
“The indictment and the charges are not going to go away,” Florida attorney Tamara Holder said to Insider. “This is an early stage of a criminal proceeding, and it’s very important that you present yourself to the court early on as somebody who’s going to fight the case and not fight the extradition.”
“The governor doesn’t have the power to stop an extradition,” she said. “The governor’s only involvement is to look at the papers and make sure that the papers are proper to issue the warrant.”
Former Palm Beach prosecutor Dave Aronberg said something similar in an interview with CNN in 2021.
“The governor’s power to stop an extradition is really nonexistent,” he said. “He can try to delay it, he can send it to a committee and do research about it, but his role is really ministerial, and ultimately the state of New York can go to court and get an order to extradite the former president.”
“If there’s a fully voted indictment, they’re not gonna start investigating the underlying facts of the indictment to determine whether it was sufficient or not,” New York attorney Michael Bachner said. “Once there’s an indictment voted, it would be shocking that a judge would not order extradition. Trump knows that.”
Several law enforcement agencies are reportedly preparing for a potential indictment of former President Donald Trump as early as next week, as the Manhattan district attorney’s office “asked for a meeting” with those agencies.
According to Fox News, a court source reported that a meeting was requested on Thursday but has yet to be scheduled. According to the source familiar with the planning, the purpose of the meeting is to “discuss logistics for some time next week, which would mean that they are anticipating an indictment next week.”
In response to the news, a spokesperson for Trump, Steven Cheung, issued a statement to Fox News Digital criticizing the District Attorney Alvin Bragg, calling his investigation a “witch hunt” and alleging that Bragg was under the influence of President Biden and “radical Democrats.”
“President Donald J. Trump is completely innocent, he did nothing wrong, and even the biggest, most Radical Left Democrats are making that clear,” Cheung said. “From Russia, Russia, Russia, to the Mueller Hoax, to Impeachment Hoaxes 1 and 2, and even the Unlawful Mar-a-Lago Raid, Democrats have investigated and attacked President Trump since before he was elected – and they’ve failed every time.
Tim Pool and crew react to reports Trump could be indicted next week:
"They're gonna perp-walk a former president over that? Wow…"
Read more: https://t.co/o61kMQEL9B pic.twitter.com/wIyRiUdALR
— Human Events (@HumanEvents) March 18, 2023
“Now Democrats are at it again, pushing the ‘Nuclear Button’ and attacking a President because of a disgraced extortionist,” he added. “This is happening because President Trump is leading in the polls by a large margin against both Democrats and Republicans, and there’s never been anything so blatant in American political history.”
