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Trump says he will be ‘arrested on Tuesday’ in Truth Social post

Former President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social Saturday morning, saying he will be "arrested on Tuesday" as the Manhattan District Attorney’s office is reportedly preparing to issue an indictment for alleged hush money payments Trump made as a presidential candidate in 2016.

Donald Trump claimed on Saturday that his arrest was imminent and issued an extraordinary call for his supporters to protest as a New York grand jury investigates hush money payments to women who alleged sexual encounters with the former president.

Despite no evidence that Manhattan prosecutors have given any official notice to him or his lawyers, Trump declared in a post on his social media platform that he expected to be taken into custody on Tuesday. The message seemed designed to preempt a formal announcement from prosecutors and to galvanize outrage from his base of supporters in advance of widely anticipated charges. Within hours, he sent a fundraising email to supporters while influential Republicans in Congress issued statements in his defense.

In its direct encouragement of protest, and his capital letter demand to "TAKE OUR NATION BACK!" the post evoked in foreboding ways the rhetoric he used shortly before the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. After hearing from the then-president at a Washington rally that morning, his supporters marched to the Capitol and tried to stop the congressional certification of Democrat Joe Biden's White House victory, breaking through doors and windows of the building and leaving officers beaten and bloodied.

District Attorney Alvin Bragg is thought to be eyeing charges in the hush money investigation, and recently offered Trump a chance to testify before the grand jury. Local law enforcement officials are bracing for the public safety ramifications of an unprecedented prosecution of a former American president.

But there has been no public announcement of any time frame for the grand jury’s secret work in the case. At least one additional witness is expected to testify, further indicating that no vote to indict has yet been taken, according to a person familiar with the investigation who was not authorized to publicly discuss the case and spoke on condition of anonymity.

That did not stop Trump from taking to his social media platform to say "illegal leaks" from Bragg's office indicate that "THE FAR & AWAY LEADING REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE & FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, WILL BE ARRESTED ON TUESDAY OF NEXT WEEK."

A spokesperson and a lawyer for Trump said his Truth Social post was based on media reports rather than any actual update from, or communication with, prosecutors. The district attorney’s office declined to comment Saturday.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks about education policy at the Adler Theatre in Davenport, Iowa on March 13, 2023. (Photo by Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images)

Should Trump be indicted, he would be arrested only if he refused to surrender. Trump's lawyers have previously said he would follow normal procedure, meaning he would likely agree to surrender at a New York Police Department precinct or directly to Bragg's office.

It is unclear whether Trump’s supporters would heed his protest call. Trump’s posts on Truth Social generally receive far less attention than he used to get on Twitter, but he maintains a deeply loyal base. The aftermath of the Jan. 6 riot, in which hundreds of Trump loyalists were arrested and prosecuted in federal court, may also have dampened the passion among supporters for violent action.

RELATED: Manhattan DA's office 'asked for a meeting' with law enforcement ahead of possible Trump indictment

The indictment of Trump, 76, would be an extraordinary development after years of investigations into his business, political and personal dealings.

Even as Trump pursues his 2024 bid for the White House — his first rally is set for Waco, Texas, later this month and he was scheduled to make a public appearance Saturday evening at the NCAA Division I wrestling championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma — there is no question an indictment would be a distraction and give fodder to opponents and critics tired of the legal scandals that have long enveloped him.

In addition to the hush money probe in New York, Trump faces separate criminal investigations in Atlanta and Washington over his efforts to undo the results of the 2020 election.

A Justice Department special counsel has also been presenting evidence before a grand jury investigating Trump’s possession of hundreds of classified documents at his Florida estate. It is not clear when those investigations will end or whether they might result in criminal charges, but they will continue regardless of what happens in New York, underscoring the ongoing gravity – and broad geographic scope – of the legal challenges confronting the former president.

Trump's post Saturday echoes one made last summer when he broke the news on Truth Social that the FBI was searching his home as part of an investigation into the possible mishandling of classified documents.

News of that search sparked a flood of contributions to Trump’s political operation, and on Saturday, Trump sent out a fundraising email to his supporters that said the "MANHATTAN D.A. COULD BE CLOSE TO CHARGING TRUMP."

After his post, Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy decried any plans to prosecute Trump as an "outrageous abuse of power by a radical DA" whom he claimed was pursuing "political vengeance." Rep. Elise Stefanik, the third-ranking House Republican, issued a statement with a similar sentiment. Trump arrest Tuesday: Speaker McCarthy call investigation "outrageous abuse of power"

Former President Donald Trump said leaks indicate that he will be arrested on Tuesday next week after reports said the Manhattan District Attorney’s office is preparing to issue an indictment for alleged hush money payments Trump made as a presidential candidate in 2016. On Saturday morning, Trump posted about the possible indictment on Truth Social, indicating that he will be "ARRESTED ON TUESDAY."

The grand jury in Manhattan has been hearing from witnesses, including former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, who says he orchestrated payments in 2016 to two women to silence them about sexual encounters they said they had with Trump a decade earlier.

Trump denies the encounters occurred, says he did nothing wrong and has cast the investigation as a "witch hunt" by a Democratic prosecutor bent on sabotaging the Republican’s 2024 campaign. Trump also has labeled Bragg, who is Black, a "racist" and has accused the prosecutor of letting crime in the city run amok while he has focused on Trump. New York remains one of the safest cities in the country.

RELATED: Stormy Daniels meets with prosecutors investigating Donald Trump

Bragg’s office has apparently been examining whether any state laws were broken in connection with the payments or the way Trump’s company compensated Cohen for his work to keep the women’s allegations quiet.

Porn actor Stormy Daniels and at least two former Trump aides — onetime political adviser Kellyanne Conway and former spokesperson Hope Hicks — are among witnesses who have met with prosecutors in recent weeks.

Cohen has said that at Trump’s direction, he arranged payments totaling $280,000 to porn actor Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal. According to Cohen, the payouts were to buy their silence about Trump, who was then in the thick of his first presidential campaign. 

Cohen and federal prosecutors said Trump's company paid him $420,000 as reimbursement for the $130,000 payment to Daniels and to cover bonuses and other supposed expenses. The company classified those payments internally as legal expenses. The $150,000 payment to McDougal was made by the then-publisher of the supermarket tabloid National Enquirer, which kept her story from coming to light.

Federal prosecutors agreed not to prosecute the Enquirer’s corporate parent in exchange for its cooperation in a campaign finance investigation that led to charges against Cohen in 2018. Prosecutors said the payments to Daniels and McDougal amounted to impermissible, unrecorded gifts to Trump’s election effort.

Cohen pleaded guilty, served prison time and was disbarred. Federal prosecutors never charged Trump with any crime.

News that law enforcement agencies were preparing for a possible indictment was first reported by NBC News.

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Associated Press writer Meg Kinnard in Columbia, South Carolina, contributed to this report.

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Webull's Strategic Pivot From Crypto Clears Path For $7.3 Billion US Listing

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Digital investment brokerage Webull Corporation faced significant obstacles in its quest to go public, largely attributed to its cryptocurrency offerings, as disclosed by the companys U.S. CEO on Wednesday.

The online brokerage, aiming for a U.S. listing through a merger with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) SK Growth Opportunities Corp. SKGR , has seen its journey marked by regulatory challenges and strategic shifts, particularly around its crypto operations.

The proposed merger, valuing the combined entity at approximately $7.3 billion, is set to elevate Webull onto the Nasdaq, contingent upon approval from shareholders and regulators.

This development followed several thwarted attempts at an initial public offering, with Anthony Denier, Webulls U.S. CEO, citing various impediments, including the platforms exposure to cryptocurrency, as significant obstacles.

The SEC has not been friendly, which is widely known, Denier remarked in an interview with Bloomberg News.Webull Steers Away From Crypto To Secure Nasdaq Listing

Founded by Wang Anquan, an alumnus of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. BABA and Xiaomi Corp., Webull ventured into crypto trading in 2020, aiming to compete with platforms like Robinhood Markets Inc. HOOD .

However, the regulatory landscape concerning crypto trading prompted Webull to divest its digital asset business and eliminate cryptocurrency trading from its offerings globally by the end of the third quarter, as stated by Denier. This decision underscored the regulatory ambiguities faced by registered broker dealers in the crypto space, leading to a cautious retreat from these offerings.

Despite these challenges, Webull maintained crypto- and forex-related information on its website, providing market data and educational content for informational purposes only, without offering actual trading in these products, as specified by the company.

Webull has a robust 20 million registered users across 15 regions worldwide and manages $370 billion in equity notional volumes. Recently, the broker announced a partnership with the NBA's Brooklyn Nets and the WNBA's New York Liberty as the official basketball jersey patch partner.

Now Read: Webull To Go Public With SPAC Merger: What Investors Need To KnowLoading… Loading…

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I used to flip burgers at McDonald’s here’s how I ‘accidentally’ became a millionaire

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SEO entrepreneur Joe Davies is sharing nuggets of wisdom about how to become a millionaire now that he’s lovin’ his career path.

After years of working dead-end jobs, including at McDonald’s, Davies longed to make a name for himself an aspiration he shared with his childhood friend, Joe Taylor.

“I didnt go to university like I had originally planned as I got fed up with learning and I only wanted to make money,” Davies, 36, explained to Jam Press.

“[After leaving school], I worked mostly on building sites, delivering from factories to shops and flipping burgers in McDonalds,” he continued. “I hated it, as I felt like I wasnt doing anything important.”

Noticing that e-commerce was booming at the time, the UK native took a $125-per-week job as an IT apprentice, swiftly learning the ropes including how to use search engine optimization to make money.

“At the company I was working for, I was asked to build a website and learned SEO on the job. This was the first time I had heard that word,” Davies shared. I couldnt put my finger on it, but it had elements of engineering, coupled with creativity and marketing, which really fed into my creative personality.”

Davies said he quickly figured out the business side at his next job, at an SEO agency.

When his employer sought a salesperson, Davies suggested Taylor.

“And the rest is history,” Davies said.

The two Joes would eventually earn millions.

Sitting across from each other at their desks, the pair decided to launchFATJOE.comin 2012, developing a system to score top client SEO results which they say had not been done by another agency before.

They reportedly made their first million within two years.

“As kids, we dreamed of being rich and famous, with our own rock band,” recalled Davies, who still enjoys playing the guitar. “One out of two isnt too bad.”

After realizing they made a great business team, the Joes quit their jobs in 2013 to give the business their all.

“We rented an office from Day 1 to make it real,’ and at the start, we did everything ourselves. Me and Joe would be working up to 13 hours a day just to get everything done,” said Davies, who noted they built a large team of specialists and writers over time.

“We accidentally created this great solution, a service platform for agencies to outsource SEO services, that even our old agency uses today,” he added.

The $12.6 million company employs 100 people across the globe, and the client roster features 1,000 agencies, Jam Press reports.

Davies, who is an only child, was inspired by his entrepreneur dad, Mick, 60, who owns a first aid training company.

Davies says aspiring entrepreneurs need these three key traits personal drive, curiosity, and a burning desire to make money.

“Its cliche, but just starting something do and build,” Davies advised. “A lot of the problem for me was procrastinating and thinking about the right time to start, in which there never is one.”

Don’t think too far ahead because plans can change, Davies also recommends, and there’s no such thing as “destiny.”

“Its all about working hard and seeing where this takes you,” he declared.

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Sergey Brin, Mark Zuckerberg have personally recruited AI staffers as talent war heats up

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Tech companies are pulling out all the stops to hire top-tier talent in the field of artificial intelligence — so much so that billionaire moguls like Mark Zuckerberg and Sergey Brin are personally reaching out to candidates in hopes of convincing them to work for their firms.

Zuckerberg, the founder and CEO of Meta Platforms Inc, has sent personally written notes to AI researchers at DeepMind, the lab owned by tech rival Google, in hopes of recruiting them to join Facebook’s parent company, according to a report in The Information.

Brin, the fellow billionaire who made his fortune as co-founder of search engine Google, personally called a company employee who was about to leave for OpenAI and offered them a pay bump and other perks to persuade them to stay, tech news site reported.

It is unclear when the call was made. The Post has sought comment from Brin and Zuckerberg.

Life update! ? Today is my first day as a Principal Llama Engineer of the @Meta's GenAI in Paris!

Massive thanks for a very personal involvement of Mano, @edunov, Mark, @ylecun, @jpineau1, Naila, Laurens & Ricardo to bring me onboard to https://t.co/3Dgw3GDS5f of @AIatMeta! pic.twitter.com/mhd4ksD64z

Meta is looking to lure AI talent by extending job offers without interviewing the candidates and relaxing longstanding company policy to not raise the salary of an in-house employee who threatens to leave for a competitor, according to the report.

Zuckerberg’s personal outreach, which is considered rare when considering the rank of the employee, has borne fruit.

Last week, Michal Valko, a senior engineer at DeepMind, announced that he was defecting to Meta to take up a role as principal engineer at the company’s AI-powered large language model LlaMA.

In a social media post, Valko credited Zuckerberg’s pitch, saying he owed the Facebook founder “massive thanks for a very personal involvement.”

In the X post, Valko even referred to the billionaire CEO by his first name, “Mark.”

Meta is considered a Silicon Valley laggard when it comes to tech companies’ salary packages for coveted AI researchers.

While ChatGPT-maker OpenAI pays its prized recruits a reported compensation package ranging from $5 million to $10 million mostly in the form of stock, Zuckerberg’s shop is offering a relatively measly $1 million to $2 million annual wage, according to The Information.

A Wall Street Journal report cited data from Levels.fyi which found that the median compensation of 344 machine learning and AI engineers at Meta was nearly $400,000 a year including bonus and equity.

While tech companies are laying off people in non-AI divisions, they are ramping up offers to engineers who can help them develop the know-how behind chat bots and language models.

Some firms are even extending seven-figure annual pay packages to members of entire engineering teams in hopes of getting them to defect in unison, according to the Journal.

The median salary for six candidates who were weighing job offers from OpenAI was $925,000 including bonus and equity.

Justin Kinsey, the president of a chip-recruiting company, said he recently convinced an AI engineering manager making more than $1 million in bonuses and stock to leave Microsoft in favor of a startup that was paying him $100,000 less in base salary.

Kinsey told the Journal that the engineering manager received stock options that he anticipates will one day be worth $40 million.

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