House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., responded swiftly to former President Donald Trump's Truth Social post suggesting the former president would be arrested as soon as Tuesday by George Soros-backed Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
McCarthy will be instructing the House GOP-led committees to fully investigate potential federal funding of an alleged effort to "subvert our democracy" and meddle in elections.
"Here we go again — an outrageous abuse of power by a radical DA who lets violent criminals walk as he pursues political vengeance against President Trump," McCarthy tweeted Saturday morning. "I'm directing relevant committees to immediately investigate if federal funds are being used to subvert our democracy by interfering in elections with politically motivated prosecutions."
McCarthy has not endorsed Trump's 2024 White House campaign, but Trump helped McCarthy secure the speakership after multiple rounds of voting earlier this year.
The comments came hours after Trump claimed in a social media post he expects to be arrested this coming week as Bragg mulls charges in an investigation into hush-money payments to women who alleged sexual encounters with Trump. A Trump lawyer and spokesman said Saturday that Trump, who has long denied the charges, had been responding in that post to media reports and had no independent knowledge of any pending legal action.
Trump has said he would continue his presidential campaign even if indicted.
Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., the third-ranking House Republican and an early Trump endorser, said action by the district attorney would be "unAmerican."
"Knowing they cannot beat President Trump at the ballot box, the radical left will now follow the lead of socialist dictators and reportedly arrest President Trump, the leading Republican candidate for President of the United States," she said in a statement, echoing Trump's language.
Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, who won his race in 2022 with Trump's endorsement, said he had been asked by multiple reporters if an indictment would lead him to rescind support for Trump.
"The answer is: hell no," Vance tweeted. "A politically motivated prosecution makes the argument for Trump stronger. We simply don't have a real country if justice depends on politics."
Prosecutors have been investigating hush-money payments made to two women who alleged sexual encounters with Trump decades ago. A grand jury has been hearing from witnesses including former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, who says he orchestrated payments in 2016 to the women in exchange for their silence.
Trump denies the encounters and has cast the investigation as a "witch-hunt" by a Democratic prosecutor bent on sabotaging Trump's latest presidential campaign. Trump has said he believes an indictment would help him in the 2024 race.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a longtime ally, agreed.
"The prosecutor in New York has done more to help Donald Trump get elected," Graham said Saturday at the Vision '24 conference in North Charleston, South Carolina. "They're doing this because they're afraid of Donald Trump."
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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