Has Donald Trump been arrested? Social media has been abuzz after a claim started doing the round on Tuesday that the former President of the United States has been arrested. Photos of Trump trying to evade law enforcement, officers taking him into custody and his mugshot have flooded social media, with claims that he is already behind the bars.
However, although there are chances that Trump might be indicted anytime which might lead to his arrest, truth is that he hasn't been arrested and the photos that are being circulated on social media are fabricated and were AI-generated images.
No Yet Indicted
The wild theories and claims started doing the rounds following Trump's comments on Monday that he was preparing to be arrested. This came as a Manhattan grand jury was planning if criminal charges against the former president could be filed as early as on Wednesday.
The rumors were sparked by a March 18 Trump post on Truth Social, in which he made the unfounded assertion that he "would be arrested on Tuesday of next week" and urged supporters to protest his destiny. A snapshot of that post is shown below:
On Tuesday, social media was abuzz after claims were being made that Trump was already arrested for his alleged involvement in hush-money payments made on his behalf. Supporting the claims were several photographs of the former president trying to evade law enforcement, officers taking him into custody, or his mugshot.
The former president's intentions and reasons for making that statement are still not clear. A Trump official told Reuters that Trump has not been informed of any arrests. A day before that NBC News reported, citing anonymous senior officials, that law enforcement organizations were preparing for a potential indictment "as soon as next week."
No Justification
To put it in simple words, the claims are false. The posts in question were intended as satire, dispelling those rumors. Trump was "waiting it out in Florida," according to The Associated Press, as of this writing (Wednesday morning EDT on March 21), and it was unclear whether a Manhattan grand jury would indict him for his alleged involvement in making hush-money payments to porn actor Stormy Daniels in 2016.
Trump had not yet been arrested. Moreover, the photographs being circulated to establish the claims were actually AI-generated images and were released on Tuesday by a company as a satire on what could be the possible scenario if Trump is really arrested.
According to reports, the Manhattan district attorney is looking into possible crimes associated with a $130,000 payment made to Daniels during Trump's 2016 campaign to prevent her from disclosing details of an alleged sexual encounter with the former president. However, there I still no indication that Trump will be arrested. The claim thus is completely false and baseless.
