ORLANDO, Florida — House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Sunday urged calm and said Americans should not protest if former President Trump is indicted and arrested in a hush-money investigation in New York, contradicting Trump who a day earlier called on his supporters to “Protest, take our nation back!” 

“I don’t think people should protest this, no. And I think President Trump, if you talk to him, he doesn’t believe that either,” McCarthy said in response to a question from NBC News during House Republicans’ retreat in Orlando.

The speaker later added: “Nobody should harm one another.”

But during that same news conference, McCarthy gave a full-throated defense of Trump, dismissing Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s probe as politically motivated and saying that he’s uninterested in cracking down on rising crime in New York City.

“Lawyer after lawyer will tell you this is the weakest case out there, trying to make a misdemeanor a felony. …” McCarthy said, flanked by members of his leadership team in an outdoor courtyard at the JW Marriott, Grande Lakes.

“The last thing we want … is somebody putting their thumb on the scale [of justice] simply because they don’t agree with somebody else’s political view,” McCarthy added. “That is what’s wrong, and that’s what infuriates people. And this will not hold up in court if this is what he wants to do.”

In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, Trump stated that “illegal leaks” from Bragg to the press suggest the he, “the far & away leading candidate” for president, will be arrested on Tuesday and called for his supporters to protest.