Donald Trump on Sunday condemned the “animals and thugs” he said were ready to arrest him and said they were “deliberately destroying our country.”
With a grand jury in Manhattan believed to be about to make a decision on whether to indict Trump over his payment of hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels — payments that may violate campaign finance rules have – the 76-year-old hit him on the opponents.
“Remember that the same animals and thugs who would do this to maybe 200 million people are actually all Americans who are communists, marxists, rinos and losers who are intentionally destroying our country!” he wrote on his social media platform Truth Media.
Trump said Saturday he believes he “WILL BE ARRESTED TUESDAY NEXT WEEK.”
Earlier, Trump predicted that the testimony of his former attorney, Michael Cohen, who turned against him, would be shredded by a witness his attorneys persuaded to speak before the grand jury.
Donald Trump is seen at the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Saturday
Trump didn’t name the person who would attack Cohen, but the New York Times reported that it was Robert Costello who once provided legal counsel to Cohen but then turned against him. Costello was asked by Trump’s attorneys to testify, the newspaper reported.
Trump said Costello was “the most important witness” before the grand jury.
He called Cohen a “convicted felon, prison guard, and fake storyteller and liar.”
“JUST REPORTED THAT THE KEY WITNESS FOLLOWING THE NEW YORK CITY GRAND JURY, A HIGHLY RESPECTED ATTORNEY WHO ONCE REPRESENTED CONVICTED FELON, PRISON BIRD AND SERIAL FOLDER STORYTELLER AND LIAR, MICHAEL COHEN, WILL DO SO BY MORNING AFTERNOON” , Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.
“THE INFORMATION HE WILL PRESENT WILL SUPPOSEDLY BE CLOSE AND IRRESSABLE! WITCH HUNT!!!’
Costello is only called by Trump’s lawyers to undermine Cohen’s credibility.
Costello served as Cohen’s legal counsel when Trump was in the White House, and Cohen was questioned about the payments to the porn star.
Michael Cohen (left) has testified before a grand jury, and now his former legal counsel, Robert Costello (right), will seek to undermine Cohen’s story
Writing to Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s White House counsel, Costello said Cohen felt “let down” by the then-president.
Cohen eventually turned against Trump and Costello.
In December 2018, Cohen was sentenced to three years in federal prison and a $50,000 fine after pleading guilty to counts of tax evasion and campaign finance violations.
In all, he spent about 13 1/2 months behind prison walls and a year and a half in house arrest. His time was further shortened by good behavior.
Cohen has since spoken at length with prosecutors about a $130,000 payment to Daniels that was recovered from Trump’s business empire during the heat of the 2016 campaign.
Cohen was spotted with Trump and Mike Pence in September 2016, around the time he was arranging the hush money payments
Cohen is seen leaving court on March 15 after testifying before a grand jury
Prosecutors said these secret payouts were not reported as campaign contributions and violated the ban on corporate contributions and the $2,700 limit on donations from individuals.
Cohen testified before the grand jury examining the legality of the payments last week – becoming at least the eighth person to speak before the panel.
Cohen is believed to be one of the last the grand jury will hear from.
Manhattan Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office told Trump’s attorneys that the former president could appear before the grand jury this week if he chooses to.
Such offers almost always indicate an indictment.
Under New York law, a person to be charged may request that a witness appear on their behalf.
Trump’s attorneys have asked Costello to testify.