Warner: Trump call for protest over possible arrest ‘outrageous’

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) on Sunday added to a chorus of concern over former President Trump’s call for his supporters to protest a possible arrest as a prosecutor in Manhattan probes the former president’s alleged role in a hush money payment.

“We all recall the horrors that took place on January 6, spurred on by … then-President Trump. I think the fact that he’s calling for protests again — I’ve been briefed by the FBI. They say they’re fully prepared. But this kind of outrageous behavior. This man obviously has very little moral compass,” Warner said on CNN’s “State of the Union,” referring to rioting at the Capitol in early 2021 by Trump’s supporters.

“And if he spurs on additional violence, it would be one further stain on his already checkered reputation,” Warner added.

Trump has indicated he expects to be arrested as the prosecutor investigates a hush-money payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels during Trump’s 2016 campaign.

“Protest, take our nation back!” the former president wrote last week after announcing he anticipated being arrested last Tuesday, though that date has since passed without an indictment.

Many on both sides of the aisle have likened Trump’s call for protest to his calls to supporters after the 2020 election that ultimately culminated in the violent attack on the Capitol.

Trump has appeared to ramp up his rhetoric in recent days, taking shots at Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and warning that filing charges against him could result in “potential death & destruction.”

Warner on Sunday said the FBI has seen no specific threats of violence, but that “the level of rhetoric on some of these right-wing sites has increased again.”

“I would hope that some of your Republican guests on your show this morning would also say you’ve got a right to have a First Amendment protest, but that right should not pass into violence. And the horrific activities that took place on January 6, God willing, we will not see them repeated this week, should any of these cases move forward on Trump,” Warner told CNN’s Jake Tapper.