Even though former President Donald Trump is calling for supporters to "Protest, take our nation back" in response to his possible arrest, several in the GOP are warning people that violence is not acceptable.
Trump posted on Truth Social Saturday to say he thinks he'll be arrested on Tuesday as part of a New York probe into an alleged hush-money payment to adult-film star Stormy Daniels.
While the former president made several posts to rile up his supporters and encourage them to take action on his behalf during this "witch hunt" -- saying things like "We must save America! Protest, protest protest" -- House Speaker Kevin McCarthy urged people to remain calm and peaceful.
"I don't think people should protest this, no. And I think President Trump, if you talk to him, he doesn't believe that, either," McCarthy said Sunday during an annual House GOP retreat, per NBC News.
McCarthy suggested that Trump was calling his supporters to "educate people about what's going on."
"He's not talking in a harmful way. Nobody should harm one another," he said, per The Hill. "If this was to happen, we want calmness out there."
Meanwhile, one of Trump's most outspoken supporters in Congress doesn't think Republicans need to protest the former president's looming arrest. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said protests won't be needed because Democrats will be "sealing their own fate in 2024" if Trump is arrested.
"We don't need to protest about the Communists Democrat's planning to arrest Pres Trump and the political weaponization of our government and election interference. These idiots are sealing their own fate in 2024 because the silent majority has two feelings right now about the current regime. Fear and anger," Greene tweeted. "That is the most powerful combination when election time comes. And the Democrats are driving that force with their own corrupt actions."
Former Vice President Mike Pence is also downplaying concerns of potential protests over a possible Trump indictment.
"People have a constitutional right to peaceably assemble," Pence told ABC News. "I believe that people understand that if they give voice to this, if this occurs on Tuesday, that they need to do so peacefully and in a lawful manner."
"The violence that occurred on Jan. 6, the violence that occurred in cities throughout this country in the summer of 2020, was a disgrace," he added. "The American people won't tolerate it and those that engage in that kind of violence should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."
Pence also dismissed the integrity of any charges filed against Trump, calling it a "politically charged prosecution."
"I'm taken aback at the idea of indicting a former President of the United States, at a time when there's a crime wave in New York City, that -- the fact that the Manhattan DA thinks that indicting President Trump is his top priority, I think is, just tells you everything you need to know about the radical left in this country," Pence said.
Meantime, Trump is apparently feeling anxious about possibly being indicted, especially during the midst of a bid for the White House.
"He's very anxious about the prospect of being indicted for a couple of reasons," New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman told CNN. "He is aware that there are reasons to believe this could help him politically... but he does not want to face getting arrested, which is what happens when you get indicted. You get fingerprinted. You get brought in. You have to ask for bail. None of that is something that he is excited about," she said.
The Manhattan District Attorney's office has been investigating the former president related to an alleged $130,000 hush-money payment made to Daniels, who allegedly had sex with Trump when she was 27 and he was 60, while he was married to his current wife, Melania Trump. Prosecutors have been looking into whether Trump falsified Trump Organization business records – particularly in regards to payment of former attorney Michael Cohen, who said he advanced Daniels money, per CBS News.
If Trump is indicted, it would be the first time in American history a former president was charged with a serious crime.
Law enforcement officials in New York tell the Associated Press that security preparations are being made in the event Trump is arrested and will have to appear in court.
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