Conservatives see Trump's possible arrest as further emboldening his base heading into 2024

Conservative Republicans see former President Trump's possible arrest as further emboldening his base heading into the 2024 presidential election.

A grand jury in Manhattan has been soliciting testimony from witnesses, including disgraced former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, who alleges he arranged payments in 2016 to two women to silence them about sexual encounters they claimed to have had with Trump a decade earlier.

Trump wrote Saturday on Truth Social that he expects to be arrested on Tuesday.

"THE FAR & AWAY LEADING REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE & FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, WILL BE ARRESTED ON TUESDAY OF NEXT WEEK," he wrote.

Reacting to Trump's post, House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik said Trump's base has never been more energized.

"This is just a continuation of the disgraceful and unconstitutional pattern going back to the illegal Russian collusion hoax to attempt to silence and suppress the will of the voters who support President Trump and the America First Movement," she said in a statement.

"What these corrupt Leftist prosecutors like Alvin Bragg and their Socialist allies fail to understand is that America First Patriots have never been so energized to exercise their constitutional rights to peacefully organize and VOTE at the ballot box to save our great republic," she added.

Trump was impeached twice for actions during his term in office and acquitted both times. He was  investigated and exonerated by Special Counsel Robert Mueller in the Russia collusion probe. He was referred to the Department of Justice for prosecution last year by House Democrats' Jan. 6 panel. 

The FBI raided Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in connection with his handling of classified documents, and Attorney General Merrick Garland later appointed a special counsel to investigate the matter. A special grand jury has recommended perjury charges against unnamed witnesses in a Fulton County, Ga. probe centered around Trump's actions following the 2020 election in the state.

Stefanik called the potential arrest of Trump "unAmerican" and said that the "radical Left has reached a dangerous new low of Third World countries."

"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.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Trump's possible arrest is "an outrageous abuse of power by a radical DA who lets violent criminals walk as he pursues political vengeance against President Trump."

The speaker announced that he is "directing relevant committees to immediately investigate if federal funds are being used to subvert our democracy by interfering in elections with politically motivated prosecutions."

California Democratic Rep. Jimmy Gomez responded on Twitter to McCarthy's statements regarding Trump's possible arrest.

"Here we go again — @SpeakerMcCarthy standing idly by as Trump incites political violence," Gomez wrote. "He sits in the office that was ransacked by insurrectionists on #Jan6th. If McCarthy wants to talk about people who 'subvert our democracy,' he should start there." 

Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott applauded McCarthy's response to the situation. 

"@SpeakerMcCarthy is right, and I fully support his call for an investigation," Scott wrote Saturday on Twitter. "No federal dollars should be used to prop up this radical, Soros-backed activist attorney or his gross political attacks."

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan said, "Real America knows this is all a sham."

Twitter CEO Elon Musk predicted massive poilitical backlash to the anticipated arrest.

"If this happens, Trump will be re-elected in a landslide victory," he wrote on Twitter.

Georgia GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said Trump's supporters don’t need to protest the Democrats' plan to arrest Trump, the "political weaponization" of the government or election interference. In her Twitter post, Greene referred to the Democrats as communists.

"These idiots are sealing their own fate in 2024," Greene wrote on Twitter, "because the silent majority has two feelings right now about the current regime. Fear and anger. That is the most powerful combination when election time comes. And the Democrats are driving that force with their own corrupt actions."