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The expected arrest of Donald Trump is putting Republican senators who want to move on from the former president in a tough spot as he calls for mass protests if Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg places him in custody. 

GOP lawmakers see the indictment of a former president by a local district attorney as crossing the line and setting a bad precedent, but they fear a repeat of the violence that broke out when Trump encouraged his supporters to protest Congress’s certification of the 2020 election on Jan. 6, 2021.  

Adding to their discomfort is the nature of the allegations that Trump paid $130,000 in hush money to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels, something his onetime fixer, Michael Cohen, testified about before Congress in 2019.  

The top members of Senate Republican leadership have stayed silent on the prospect of Trump being arrested and on Trump’s calls for mass protests, which Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) tried to discourage over the weekend.  

There’s also a concern among Republicans that arresting Trump could supercharge his support among GOP voters and vault him to victory in next year’s presidential primary. 

“If you want to talk about how to unify Republicans behind Donald Trump in the primary, having an unhinged left-wing prosecution, complete with perhaps a perp walk for the cameras, that ends up being thrown out and ends in failure could be the single biggest in-kind gift to the Donald Trump campaign of this entire cycle,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said on his podcast Monday.   

Cruz hasn’t yet made an endorsement in the primary. 

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Trump’s closest ally in the Senate, said Bragg, the Manhattan prosecutor, “has done more to help Donald Trump get elected president than any single person in America today.”  

“I think this is an effort that’s ongoing, never ending to destroy Donald Trump, everything around Donald Trump,” he said.  

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) framed Trump’s expected arrest as part of a broader effort by Democrats to weaponize law enforcement agencies against their opponents. 

“Now they want to arrest Trump, their leading political opponent. They are the banana republic party,” he tweeted over the weekend.  

But GOP strategists and aides say the complicated political dynamics put Republican lawmakers in a tough situation.  

“My view is that Trump is a despicable individual who has done fundamental damage to our party and has harmed our country but what is going on in New York seems to be a classic example of prosecutorial abuse,” said former Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), a onetime adviser to Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell’s (Ky.) leadership team. 

McConnell has been absent from the Senate for more than a week after suffering a concussion during a fall at an event away from the Capitol.

“You just don’t indict a former president on some issue involving campaign finance of seven years ago unless it’s really, really serious and an open-and-shut case,” Gregg said.  

But Gregg also criticized Trump’s call for mass protests as “inexcusable.”  

“It reflects the type of person he is and why we had Jan. 6 but hopefully people ignore it,” he said.  

McCarthy, who has been criticized for not holding Trump accountable for the violence on Jan. 6, on Sunday tried to tamp down Trump’s calls for mass protests if he is arrested.  

“I don’t think people should protest this, no,” he said.  

Vin Weber, a GOP strategist and former member of the House Republican leadership, said Republican lawmakers “should condemn the precedent of arresting and indicting a former president. Period, full stop.”  

“If we let the genie out of the bottle, we can expect that it’ll happen again to other people and all of the sudden America doesn’t look like America anymore. We look like those countries where you would use the judicial system to go after your political opponents,” he said.  

Trump’s biggest rival for the GOP presidential nomination, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), at first stayed quiet about the former president’s possible indictment. 

He finally broke his silence on Monday by offering a half-hearted defense. 

“I’ve seen rumors swirl. I have not seen any facts yet, and so I don’t know what’s going to happen,” he said. “But I do know this: The Manhattan district attorney is a Soros-funded prosecutor and so he, like other Soros-funded prosecutors, they weaponize their office to impose a political agenda on society at the expense of the rule of law and public safety.” 

George Soros is a prominent Democratic donor who has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to Color of Change PAC, which supported Bragg’s election. He’s also a frequent target of the GOP and conspiracy theories. 

DeSantis also took a veiled shot at his rival by quipping he didn’t “know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some type of alleged affair.”  

In a sign of how statements about Trump are already playing out in real time in the emerging GOP presidential primary race, Donald Trump Jr. blasted DeSantis’s response as “pure weakness.” 

“So DeSantis thinks that Dems weaponizing the law to indict President Trump is a ‘manufactured circus’ & isn’t a ‘real issue’ Pure weakness. Now we know why he was silent all weekend. He’s totally owned by Karl Rove, Paul Ryan & his billionaire donors. 100% Controlled Opposition,” he tweeted.  

A Senate Republican aide said GOP senators who aren’t Trump fans will straddle the line like DeSantis by condemning the Manhattan district attorney for dredging up an old allegation while staying away from defending Trump. 

“DeSantis’s statement was pretty creative, it checked both boxes, acknowledging the absurdity of paying off a porn star and all that and highlighting how this is a Soros-backed district attorney. That may be the way forward for people,” the aide said. 

Weber, the GOP strategist, said Trump’s alleged conduct “has to appall” leading Republicans such as DeSantis and Utah Sen. Mitt Romney (R) but that’s why they should focus on “the precedent of indicting a former president on the face of it is a bad idea.”   Democratic senator presses tech companies about AI’s threat to teens Watch live: Yellen delivers remarks at the American Bankers Association summit

Brian Darling, a GOP strategist and former Senate aide, acknowledged that prominent Republicans don’t want to go too far in defending Trump. 

“You’re seeing that now with Ron DeSantis’s comments, a backhanded defense. You’ll see a lot of back-handed defenses going forward. I think that DeSantis probably gave cover to a lot of Republicans to give backhanded defenses,” he said. 

“But the bottom line is I think that Republicans understand that voters are going to look at this as overreach and the weaponization of the D.A.’s office,” he added.

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Bama can’t stop Castellanos as FSU stuns Tide

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Bama can't stop Castellanos as FSU stuns Tide

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — New quarterback Tommy Castellanos led a punishing rushing attack for Florida State with 78 yards and a touchdown as the Seminoles stunned No. 8 Alabama 31-17 on Saturday, ending the Crimson Tide’s streak of 23 straight wins in season openers.

Coming off a 2-10 season, Florida State handed a crushing setback to Alabama, which was viewed as a College Football Playoff contender under second-year coach Kalen DeBoer.

Castellanos, a transfer from Boston College, made headlines over the summer after saying legendary Alabama coach Nick Saban wasn’t there to “save” the Tide vs. Florida State in their Week 1 matchup and that he doesn’t “see them stopping me.” He backed up that jab by spearheading FSU’s dominant ground attack while staying efficient through the air, finishing 9 of 14 passing for 152 yards.

Students and fans swarmed the field at Doak Campbell Stadium to celebrate the upset by the Seminoles, who closed as 13 1/2-point underdogs at ESPN BET.

Under new offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn — who spent eight seasons as Auburn’s head coach — Florida State was physical from the start, finishing with 230 rushing yards and averaging 4.7 yards per carry. The Seminoles averaged just 89.9 yards during their disastrous 2024 season.

The Crimson Tide had not dropped a season opener since losing 20-17 to UCLA in 2001 under Dennis Franchione, and this defeat will ratchet up the pressure on DeBoer from the demanding Tuscaloosa faithful. His predecessor, Nick Saban, led Alabama to six national titles.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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‘Story of the game’: Defense keys Ohio State win

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'Story of the game': Defense keys Ohio State win

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State opened its national title defense by playing dominant defense.

The third-ranked Buckeyes rattled quarterback Arch Manning and stuffed top-ranked Texas four times on fourth down on the way to a 14-7 victory Saturday at the Horseshoe.

Two of those fourth-down stops came inside the Ohio State 10-yard line.

Another came on Texas’ final possession. Manning found tight end Jack Endries on fourth-and-5. But Buckeyes star safety Caleb Downs wrapped Endries up two yards short of the first down to seal the win.

“The story of the game was the defense,” said Ohio State coach Ryan Day. “Those fourth-down stops were big.”

The Buckeyes defeated Texas with a fourth-down stop in last year’s CFP semifinal. Jack Sawyer stripped Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers on fourth-and-goal and scooped up the fumble for the game-clinching touchdown at the Cotton Bowl, propelling Ohio State to the national championship game.

On Saturday, the Buckeyes defense — featuring eight new starters and a new coordinator in Matt Patricia — came up big on fourth down again.

In the first half, Ohio State stopped Manning on a fourth-and-goal quarterback sneak from the 1-yard line.

Midway through the fourth quarter, Texas finally got back inside the Ohio State 10. But cornerback Davison Igbinosun swatted away Manning’s fourth-down attempt in the end zone.

Texas scored a touchdown with 3:28 left to avoid being shut out for the first time in nine years, then got the ball back with just over two minutes remaining with a chance to tie. But after Texas pushed the ball to midfield, the Ohio State defense ended the threat with Downs’ one-on-one tackle of Endries.

“He was unbelievable back there as a field general,” Patricia said of Downs, one of three returning starters along with Igbinosun and linebacker Sonny Styles. “Guys stepped up to the challenge all the way across the board.”

This offseason, Patricia replaced Jim Knowles, who left the Buckeyes following the national championship to become defensive coordinator for rival Penn State. Patricia had won three Super Bowls with New England, including two as the Patriots’ defensive coordinator, but had never coached a college game until Saturday.

According to ESPN Research, Texas’ four turnovers on downs were the most in the game since a 2017 season-opening loss to Maryland.

“I thought the game plan was excellent,” Day said of the defense, “but the buy-in is what’s most important. What matters is the guys and warriors on the field believing in it. … The grittiness of our guys running around, there’s a lot we can build on.”

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Manning struggles vs. lofty expectations in debut

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Manning struggles vs. lofty expectations in debut

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning failed to live up to lofty expectations in his starting debut Saturday at Ohio State, but Texas coach Steve Sarkisian called the 14-7 loss just “one chapter” in Manning’s season.

With scouts from more than a dozen NFL teams watching, including the nearby Cleveland Browns, Manning was inconsistent, displaying flashes of promise tempered by mistakes. He completed 17 of 30 passes for 170 yards, 1 touchdown and an interception — an underwhelming day for a player some have already pegged as the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NFL draft.

He also entered the game as the Heisman Trophy favorite (+650) at ESPN BET Sportsbook.

“For Arch, the expectations were out of control on the outside,” Sarkisian said. “I’d say let’s finish the book before we judge him. That’s one chapter.”

Texas started slowly offensively, struggling to create big plays. Manning was 0-for-5 with an interception on throws of more than 5 yards in the first three quarters. Sarkisian and Manning sat together in the locker room at the half, though, and went over some film and made some adjustments. In the fourth quarter, Manning completed 4 of 7 passes for 105 yards and a touchdown on passes of more than 5 yards.

“They’ve got a good scheme,” Sarkisian said. “They’ve got a very smart secondary, and they made Arch work. I thought at halftime, Arch having a chance to really sit and look at the tape and understand some of the coverages they were playing, I think that helped him into the second half.”

Still, it was too little, too late. Texas had four drives that ended in turnovers on downs, its most since its 2017 season-opening loss to Maryland. The Longhorns failed to score on their two red zone drives, including a fourth-down stop just inches from the goal line that deflated a 15-play, 70-yard drive that ate up 6:54 in the third quarter.

“I felt like hey, we don’t give them a chance to sub to real big people,” Sarkisian said. “We went with the sneak. I think they got under us pretty good and kind of took Arch’s legs out from him. Hindsight’s 20/20. If I could do it all over again, we’d probably sub and they’d put their big guys, we’d put our big guys in and see if we could get in the end zone.”

Manning finished with an off-target percentage of 37%, the worst by a Texas quarterback in a game over the past decade, according to ESPN Research.

“It took us too long to get the ball down the field,” Manning said. “That starts with me. … They’re a good team, but I thought we beat ourselves a lot. That starts with me, and I’ve got to play better for us to win.”

Manning, whose running ability is one of his strongest assets, added 38 yards on 10 carries, with his longest run being a 15-yard burst. The Longhorns outgained Ohio State 166-77 on the ground, and Sarkisian said he’d like to incorporate Manning’s running ability earlier.

“I think when that happened, I felt like he started really playing,” Sarkisian said of Manning’s rushing. “And we saw some real flashes and glimpses of the type of player that he’s going to become here.”

Texas had four new starters on its offensive line, but Manning had ample time to throw. He occasionally executed passes with precision, and other attempts were high, low, or thrown behind his receiver.

“I felt like Arch had good time in the pocket to throw it,” Sarkisian said. “I felt like we were moving the line of scrimmage; we were running the ball. We just didn’t create explosive plays early in the game like we did in the second half of the game. … I think we could have thrown it better than we did, but we didn’t throw it the way we wanted to because of the O-line. I thought the O-line gave us ample protection and opportunities to throw the ball down the field.”

Texas won’t play another Power 4 opponent until Oct. 4 at Florida, and those within the Longhorns’ program agreed that the offensive issues are correctable before the SEC slate begins.

“We had opportunities to score points and we didn’t,” Sarkisian said. “We’ve got to make a couple of throws. We’ve got to make a couple catches. We’ve got to make a couple better calls, but those are things that are fixable for us and I feel confident in that.”

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