National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the White House is “not aware” of any instances of violent protests sparked by former President Donald Trump’s announcement that he expects to be arrested on Tuesday.
“We’re always monitoring the situation here as best we can,” Kirby said in an interview on “Fox News Sunday.” “And we obviously don’t want to see any activity grow violent, certainly nothing to the extent that we saw on January 6, but we’re watching this. We’ll watch it of course, closely.”
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“We want to see if there are protests of any kind about any issue or quite frankly, let alone this, that they’re peaceful,” he added.
Kirby said that there are security measures in place in the event that protests do occur, stemming from a statement Trump posted to his Truth Social account on Saturday morning.
“Illegal leaks from a corrupt and highly political Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, which has allowed new records to be set in violent crime and whose leader is funded by George Soros, indicate that, with no crime being able to be proven, and based on an old and fully debunked (by numerous other prosecutors!) fairytale, the far and away leading Republican candidate and former president of the United States of America, will be arrested on Tuesday of next week,” Trump wrote on his social media platform this weekend. “Protest, take our nation back.”
Trump has repeatedly condemned the Manhattan district attorney’s office’s investigation into hush-money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016. Several reports indicate that Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg is preparing to indict Trump on criminal charges. If true, it would be the first time an indictment is brought against a former United States president.
Bragg’s case hinges largely on whether Trump falsified business records to list the reimbursement payments as legal expenses.
Kirby said there are no indications as of now that there will be potential violence related to the former president’s calls for people to “protest.”
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“I’m not aware of any indications that we’re preparing for that kind of activity, specifically, with respect to those comments,” Kirby said. “But obviously, we work hand in glove with local and state authorities all around the country, and we’ll continue to watch this as best we can.”
Bragg sent an email to employees on Saturday evening stating they “do not tolerate attempts to intimidate our office or threaten the rule of law in New York.”
