After former President Donald Trump's announcement that he would be arrested on Tuesday, some of his associates and supporters jumped to his side. His former Vice President Mike Pence described the criminal investigation against Trump as "politically motivated", former secretary in Trump's administration Ben Carson wrote on Twitter of a "political witch hunt", and the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, described the proceedings as an "egregious abuse of power".

Oliver Kuehn

Editor in politics.

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Donald Trump, who is in the election campaign for the presidential candidacy of the Republicans, had written on Saturday in a post on his social media platform Truth Social of his impending arrest. "The leading Republican candidate and former president of the United States of America will be arrested on Tuesday next week. Protest, take back our nation!" he wrote early Saturday morning. He did not provide any evidence for his claim.

Former American Vice President Mike Pence commented on the president's contribution in an interview with ABC. The possible indictment of "a former American president at a time when New York is suffering from a crime wave" leaves him stunned. The fact that the Manhattan prosecutor's office is now taking action against Trump "tells you everything you need to know about the radical left in this country," said Pence, who is believed to be running for the Republican presidential nomination. "It feels like a politically motivated law enforcement, and I think it's not what American people want." He also told the conservative online media outlet Breitbart: "This stinks of the kind of political persecution we had to endure during the Russia hoax."

Pence had distanced himself from Trump after the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021, when some protesters shouted "Hang Mike Pence," and also openly criticized the former president. Just last week, he said the story would hold Trump accountable. However, he did not want to demand that Trump withdraw from the presidential campaign: "Look, this is a free country. Everyone can make their own decisions," Pence said.

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The background to Trump's announcement is the investigation of the Manhattan prosecutor regarding the payments to the porn actress Stormy Daniels. She had claimed to have had sex with Trump in 2006. Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen had testified in 2018 that he had paid Daniels $130,000 on behalf of Trump for her silence and was later compensated by his company. These expenses had been declared as campaign expenses, Cohen said. In addition, he had initiated payments to the former Playboy model Karen McDougal. This had also reported an affair with Trump. The rights to her story were then bought by the tabloid "National Enquirer", with the intention of never publishing it.

Trump's announcement was likely prompted by media reports about an impending indictment – not arrest – of Trump by the Manhattan prosecutor's office. As a Trump spokesman said, his team has no knowledge of when that should be. There was no comment from the public prosecutor's office on the matter. Trump has repeatedly insisted on his innocence since the beginning of the investigation.