ABC producer says Trump 'hung up' on him after being asked if he'd turn himself in: ‘You take care, John’
ABC news producer John Santucci claimed Trump abruptly ended a phone call between the two after the producer asked him if he would turn himself in to the Manhattan district attorney.
ABC News producer John Santucci claimed that former President Donald Trump hung up on him during a phone call when the producer asked if he would turn himself in to the Manhattan district attorney’s office.
During an ABC News special report on Thursday with anchor David Muir, Santucci told viewers that the former president abruptly ended their phone call after Santucci asked him a provocative question about his potential arrest.
The news segment aired after the office of Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg announced that it was officially indicting Trump. Though the office didn’t disclose what charges it was bringing against Trump, reports claimed they were most likely related to hush money payments Trump allegedly made to porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016.
TRUMP INDICTED AFTER MANHATTAN DA PROBE FOR HUSH MONEY PAYMENTS
ABC News producer John Santucci claimed former President Trump hung up on him during a conversation about his indictment. (Screenshot/ABC)
Santucci joined Muir on ABC News Live Thursday to disclose how his recent call with the embattled former president went. Santucci apparently received an earful from Trump about how feels about the attack, but got a dial tone when he asked details about how he would respond to the arrest.
Muir prompted Santucci, asking, "What has the former president told you?" The producer said, "David, I just hung up with the former president. He tells me that he just learned of the news, said it’s ‘an attack on our country.’ He said, ‘It’s political persecution.’ He went on to say, David, ‘They are trying to impact an election.’"
Santucci then mentioned his question that resulted in Trump ditching the call: "I asked the former president, does he plan to turn himself in? David, he said, ‘You take care, John,’ and then he hung up on me."
Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a 2024 election campaign rally in Waco, Texas, March 25, 2023. - Trump held the rally at the site of the deadly 1993 standoff between an anti-government cult and federal agents. ((Photo by SUZANNE CORDEIRO/AFP via Getty Images))
The producer added, "So I think we’re going to have to wait and see, but obviously all of our reporting has been that the former president does indeed intend to head to New York. Maybe he didn’t want to give me that piece of information just yet from him, but something that we know his team has been in active conversations right now with the Secret Service of what that is going to look like."
On Thursday evening, Bragg’s office put out a statement claiming that it had "contacted Mr. Trump’s attorney to coordinate his surrender to the D.A.’s Office for arraignment on a Supreme Court indictment, which remains under seal."
Reports claim that next Tuesday is one likely date that Trump will surrender to the Manhattan D.A.
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Other major GOP figures have weighed in on the potential arrest with Gov. Ron DeSantis. R-Fla., declaring that he would not aid New York law enforcement in extraditing the president from his Florida home.
On Thursday, the governor tweeted that the indictment was "un-American" and claimed, "Florida will not assist in an extradition request given the questionable circumstances at issue with this Soros-backed Manhattan prosecutor and his political agenda."
Former US President Donald Trump's private airplane at Palm Beach International Airport after the indictment of Trump in Palm Beach, Florida, US, on Friday, March 31, 2023. Trump became the first former US president to be indicted on Thursday when a Manhattan grand jury determined there was enough evidence to proceed with a case against him for directing hush money payments to a porn star during his 2016 campaign. ( Eva Marie Uzcategui/ Bloomberg)
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