Armed supporters are urged to protect Trump from arrest

The calls for armed Trump supporters to rally over his potential arrest raise fears of a confrontation at Mar-a-Lago if police try to take him into custody.

Former US President Donald Trump revealed on his Truth Social platform that he expects to be arrested over hush money payments to women who alleged sexual affairs with him before the 2016 presidential election. Picture: AFP

Supporters of Donald Trump have called for thousands to join them outside the former president’s estate at Mar-a-Lago after he announced that he expects to be arrested tomorrow (Tuesday) and urged his followers to protest.

Calls for Trump supporters to form a “patriot moat” around the club in Palm Beach, Florida, have appeared on social media since he revealed on his Truth Social platform on Saturday that he expects to be arrested over hush money payments to women who alleged sexual affairs with him before the 2016 presidential election.

The calls for armed Trump supporters to rally to his defence have raised fears of a confrontation at the gates of Mar-a-Lago if the police try to take him into custody. He would become the first former US president to face criminal charges.

New York prosecutors, led by Alvin Bragg, the Democratic district attorney in Manhattan, have been investigating alleged hush money payments to the porn star Stormy Daniels and the former Playboy model Karen McDougal. Michael Cohen, a former Trump lawyer, has alleged that he arranged payments totalling $410,525 to cover up affairs with the women before Trump’s victory in the 2016 election.

New York prosecutors have been investigating alleged hush money payments to the porn star Stormy Daniels, pictured. Picture: AFP

Trump, 76, has denied the affairs and any knowledge of the payments, denouncing the investigation as a “witch-hunt” intended to derail his campaign to take back the White House next year.

“The far & away leading Republican candidate & former president of the United States will be arrested on Tuesday of next week,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Protest, take our nation back.”

His supporters took to social media to discuss launching violent protests or forming a protective barrier around the Mar-a-Lago estate in his defence, The Daily Beast reported. When one user on The Donald internet forum asked how they should respond if the police used helicopters to enter Trump’s club, others suggested the best type of rifle ammunition to take down low-flying aircraft.

Bragg had not commented on Trump’s claim and a spokesman for Trump later clarified that the former president had received no formal notification that an indictment was imminent. In an email to his staff on Saturday, however, the Manhattan district attorney said: “We do not tolerate attempts to intimidate our office or threaten the rule of law in New York.”

In the memo, obtained by Politico, Bragg pledged that “any specific or credible threats against the office will be fully investigated”.

Bragg’s office is understood to be in negotiations with the US Secret Service over how to handle the unprecedented arrest of a former president.

The calls online to defend Trump from arrest have raised fears of a repeat of the riot on January 6, 2021, when his supporters stormed the US Capitol in Washington in an attempt to halt the certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.

Donald Trump supporters near his Mar-a-Lago home. Picture: AFP

Wyoming bans abortion pills

Wyoming has become the first US state to ban the use of abortion pills, as the medication becomes the new front line for anti-abortion groups after the Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v Wade last year.

The new law in Wyoming was passed as the US awaits a ruling by a judge in Texas that could block federal approval for the drug mifepristone, one of the two-pill regimen used for more than half of abortions in America. The ruling is expected within days after a hearing brought by anti-abortion groups last week. A judgment ordering the US Food and Drug Administration to withdraw its approval for mifepristone would throw abortion services across the country into turmoil, including in states where the procedure remains legal.

In Florida, Republicans are pushing legislation that would ban lessons about menstruation and sexually transmitted diseases to pupils under the age of 11. The bill would also require schools to teach that a person’s sexual identity is biologically determined at birth.

The Times