Donald Trump told his supporters: ‘We must save America! Protest, protest, protest!!!’ Photo / AP
Donald Trump wants to whip up Jan 6-style violence over his possible arrest this week, his former attorney warned, as an investigation over hush money threatened to spiral out of control.
Michael Cohen, the man who paid hush money to a porn star, which triggered an investigation into the former president, said he believes Trump had issued a “battle cry” to his supporters at the weekend.
In an explosive announcement at the weekend, the former president said he expected to be “arrested” on Tuesday (US time) in connection with a grand jury inquiry into a 2016 payment to a porn star, allegedly to keep her from revealing a past affair with Trump.
Trump told his supporters: “We must save America! Protest, protest, protest!!!”
Cohen, who testified to a New York grand jury last week, said the remarks were “eerily similar to the battle cry that he put out just prior to the Jan 6 insurrection”.
He told US media: “It would have been smart for Donald to write ‘peaceful protest’, but he doesn’t want a peaceful protest.”
His warnings came as Alvin Bragg, Manhattan district attorney, who is leading the investigation into Trump, was forced to reassure his staff that they will be safe from threats.
“We do not tolerate attempts to intimidate our office or threaten the rule of law in New York,” he wrote in a memo seen by the Politico website.
“Our law enforcement partners will ensure that any specific or credible threats against the office will be fully investigated and that the proper safeguards are in place so all 1600 of us have a secure work environment.”
Senior Republicans echoed Trump’s claim that a looming indictment would amount to political “persecution”, while Democrats warned his call for protests could trigger a repeat of chaos his supporters unleashed at the US Capitol.
Republican senator Lindsey Graham, a vocal supporter of the former president, called a possible indictment “an effort that’s ongoing, never-ending to destroy Donald Trump, everything around Donald Trump”.
Even Chris Sununu, governor of New Hampshire, an outspoken Trump critic and a potential rival for the 2024 nomination, suggested an indictment could generate a powerful backlash.
“I think it’s building a lot of sympathy for the former president,” he told State of the Union, a CNN Sunday talk-show.
“It does drastically change the paradigm, as we go into the ‘24 election,” he said, adding, in relation to a possible indictment: “It’s going to be a circus.”
Mike Pence, former vice-president, described the potential indictment of Trump as “deeply troubling” but nevertheless distanced himself from the call for protests saying violence would not be tolerated.
And one-time Trump ally turned critic, Chris Christie, described the whole affair as a “circus”.
He told ABC: “I mean, look, he only profits and does well in chaos and turmoil. And so he wants to create chaos and turmoil on his terms. He doesn’t want anybody else’s terms.”
Cohen, the ex-president’s one-time fixer, was jailed for campaign finance violations involving hush-money payments to pornographic film star Stormy Daniels, as well as former Playboy model Karen McDougal.
Having once said he would “take a bullet” for Trump, Cohen has since turned against his former boss.
The former president, who has denied having had sex with either woman, upped the ante with an inflammatory post on his Truth Social platform.
“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.
“We just can’t allow this any more they’re killing our nation as we sit back & watch. We must save America! Protest, protest, protest!!!”
Cohen said that the call for protests was a cynical part of Trump’s 2024 presidential election campaign.
“These fools that are representing him, this clown show of lawyers, what they believe is that this will propel him into the White House by having another violent insurrection.”
Trump’s remarks have fuelled fears of a re-run of the January 6 protests in which a mob stormed the Capitol in an attempt to overturn the presidential election.
Five people died during the violence or in its immediate aftermath.
The Bragg investigation is not the only legal threat faced by Trump.
A grand jury is investigating a call to Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s secretary of state, in which he was urged to “find” the 11,779 votes that would overturn Joe Biden’s victory.
It is expected to recommend a raft of indictments – possibly including Trump himself.