Trump didn't make up arrest prediction, his lawyer says
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Former President Trump's prediction last weekend that he would be arrested on Tuesday wasn't made up, his lawyer, Joseph Tacopina, told NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday.
Driving the news: Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has been investigating a hush money payment allegedly made to adult film star Stormy Daniels, and reports continue to circulate that an indictment in the case could be imminent.
- "No, he didn't make it up, he was reacting toward a lot of leaks coming out of the district attorney's office," Tacopina said, adding that Trump "just assumed based on those leaks that that's what was going to happen."
- If indicted, Trump would be the first sitting or former president in U.S. history to face criminal charges.
Catch up quick: Michael Cohen, Trump's ex-personal lawyer, has alleged that Trump directed him to make the hush money payment shortly before the 2016 presidential election.
- He said Trump later reimbursed him for the payments through the Trump Organization as legal expenses.
- Tacopina argued repeatedly throughout the program that Trump had used "personal funds" for the hush money payment.
The big picture: House Republicans have demanded Bragg's testimony in a newly launched investigation of his office's probe.
- Several of Trump's social media posts over the past week attacked Bragg, including calling him an "animal" backed by billionaire Democratic investor George Soros and saying Bragg was "doing the work of Anarchists and the Devil."
- "I'm not his social media consultant," Tacopina replied when asked by host Chuck Todd whether he would advise a client to attack a prosecutor.
- "I think that was an ill-advised post that one of his social media people put up, and he quickly took down when he realized the rhetoric in the photo that was attached to it," Tacopina added.
