By Marisa Laudadio
7:30am PDT, Mar 28, 2023
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On March 18, 2023, former President Donald Trump whipped his supporters into a frenzy when he took to his Truth Social social media platform to allege that he, the "leading Republican candidate and former president of the United States will be arrested on Tuesday of next week" — March 21. That date came and went amid reports an indictment was simply delayed. The alleged looming arrest is related to a lengthy investigation by the Manhattan district attorney into a hush-money payments scheme involving Donald and adult film actress Stormy Daniels that went down before the 2016 presidential election. The former reality TV star-turned-politician called on his supporters to, in all-caps, "PROTEST, TAKE OUR NATION BACK!"
As the country waits to see what happens this week, join us as we take a look at what Hollywood stars, notable politicians and more big names have had to say about the growing drama…
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When asked about the alleged impending arrest of Donald Trump in New York during a press conference, Florida's Governor Ron DeSantis — widely considered to be preparing to run for president in 2024 — responded in part to an audience of journalists, "Look, I don't know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some type of alleged affair. I can't speak to that. But what I can speak to is that if you have a prosecutor who is ignoring crimes happening every single day in his jurisdiction and he chooses to go back many, many years ago to try to use something about porn star hush-money payments, that's an example of pursuing a political agenda and weaponizing the office and I think that's fundamentally wrong."
The Republican governor also said he wouldn't have anything to do with a potential extradition (Donald lives in Florida) and that he won't get involved in a "manufactured circus" related to a potential indictment, adding, "I've got real issues to deal with."
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"'Are you guys really going to arrest Trump?'" comedian Chris Rock asked the crowd, which included politicians and lawmakers, at an event honoring pal Adam Sandler with the Mark Twain Prize on March 19. "Do you know this is only going to make him more popular? It's like arresting Tupac Shakur. He's just gonna sell more records. Are you stupid?" he continued as the crowd laughed. Chris also joked that Donald "f***** a porn star and paid off someone so his wife couldn't find out. That's romantic. We've all been cheated on. Don't you wish that the person that cheated on you paid off somebody so you wouldn't find out?"
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"It's not just Trump who's their target. It's Trump's voters. The Biden administration is in the process of preparing yet another law enforcement dragnet of more than 1,000 nonviolent January 6th protestors." –Tucker Carlson
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"I spent over an hour yesterday interviewing @GovRonDeSantis at his Governor mansion in Florida. We talked Trump, Biden, Ukraine, love, grief, chocolate cake & his likely run for President. He's never given a more personal or revealing interview. Stay tuned!" Piers Morgan tweeted on March 21, adding, "I have a feeling President Trump will be caps-locking his phone keyboard when he watches my DeSantis interview."
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"So DeSantis thinks that Dems weaponizing the law to indict President Trump is a 'manufactured circus' & isn't a 'real issue.' Pure weakness. Now we know why he was silent all weekend. He's totally owned by Karl Rove, Paul Ryan & his billionaire donors. 100% Controlled Opposition." –Donald Trump Jr.
Before that, Donald Trump Jr. tweeted, "It won't end with Trump. These radical Dems will keep weaponizing the law to target their political opponents until there's no one left who can actually stand up to their tyranny. They want to fundamentally transform America and we can not let them win!!!"
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"Until that day where they do the exact same thing to him, his friends and his family… at which time he will neither have the backbone, nor the resources, to fight off the corrupt system. He's not the guy I thought he was…" –Eric Trump, tweeting about Ron DeSantis and comments the Florida governor made about Eric's father, former President Donald Trump
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"Ron DeSantis kisses Trump's ring while stabbing him in the back. Now that's what I call a contortionist!" Bette Midler tweeted in response to Florida's Governor Ron DeSantis's comment about a looming Donald Trump indictment coming out of New York in which Ron told an audience of journalists, "Look, I don't know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some type of alleged affair. I can't speak to that. But what I can speak to is that if you have a prosecutor who is ignoring crimes happening every single day in his jurisdiction and he chooses to go back many, many years ago to try to use something about porn star hush-money payments, that's an example of pursuing a political agenda and weaponizing the office and I think that's fundamentally wrong."
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"If [Manhattan DA] Bragg really wanted to screw over Trump, he wouldn't indict him for the porn star payment." –Ann Coulter, who linked to a report suggesting that an arrest in the Stormy Daniels hush-money case could threaten every other investigation against the former president
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"I love the 'how dare you prosecute Trump' from the same people who brought us 'lock her up'" –Josh Gad
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"With charges looming, Donald Trump is calling for protests, will his followers listen?" –Katie Couric
