Panama City, Florida - Florida's Republican governor Ron DeSantis said Monday he would not be involved in a what he called a "manufactured circus" over a possible indictment of former US President Donald Trump.

"I don't know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some type of alleged affair. I just I can't speak to that," DeSantis told reporters at a news conference in Panama City, referring to the allegations that Trump paid Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about an affair before he was elected in 2016.

The governor did instead make the evidence-free accusation that Manhattan's district attorney, Alvin Bragg, is being funded by liberal billionaire George Soros and suggested that he was not aggressively pursuing routine prosecutions.

"I have no interest in getting involved in some type of manufactured circus by some Soros DA," he said, referring to Bragg. "He's trying to do a political spectacle."

DeSantis also insisted that if the former president, whose permanent residence is in Palm Beach, refuses to travel to New York, he would not be engaged in extradition proceedings.

"I'm not aware of anything," he said.

A Manhattan grand jury is expected to indict Trump on the pending charges, but the timing is unclear.

Trump predicted the indictment on his site, Truth Social, on Saturday morning in a lengthy post that said he would be arrested on Tuesday.