'Here we go again': In Iowa, Pence calls Trump's possible indictment 'politically motivated'

Former Vice President Mike Pence said he's confident Donald Trump "can take care of himself" when it comes Trump's assertion that he expects to be arrested Tuesday, and Pence expressed frustration over "what appears to be a politically motivated prosecution of the former president."

"Here we go again. Another politically charged prosecution against the former president of the United States," Pence told reporters after a foreign policy forum in Des Moines on Saturday. "I think many Americans are taken aback at the unprecedented indictment of a former president, but also the fact that the Manhattan D.A., in the midst of a crime wave in New York City, then says that indicting the former president is his highest priority. It tells you everything you need to know about the liberal left in this country."

Trump posted on Truth Social, his social media site, early Saturday that he expects to be arrested Tuesday in connection with a Manhattan District Attorney’s investigation.

Representatives for Trump later said the former president didn't have any direct knowledge that he would be arrested Tuesday and was making an assumption based on media reports, the New York Times reported.

The D.A. is looking into a $130,000 payment Trump made just before the 2016 election to silence allegations he had an affair with adult film star Stormy Daniels.

More:Donald Trump claims he will be arrested Tuesday in Manhattan probe, calls for protests

The former president has denied wrongdoing, and federal investigators ended their own inquiry into the payments in 2019.

Posting in all capital letters on Truth Social, Trump said the prosecution's case against him was based on a "fairytale," and described himself as the "far and away leading Republican candidate" who "will be arrested on Tuesday of next week."

And in an echo of his calls to protest his 2020 election defeat Jan. 6, Trump urged his supporters to, “Protest, take our nation back.”