NY.- A Manhattan court awaits this Tuesday for an extraordinary event in US history: Former President Donald Trump, facing several election-related investigations, will turn himself in to face criminal charges stemming from payments to silence women in 2016.
The process of booking and arraigning Trump is likely to be relatively brief — though not exactly routine. The ex-president will be fingerprinted, informed of the exact charges against him, and he will rule on them, hopefully pleading not guilty.
Trump, who went through two impeachment trials in the US House of Representatives but was never convicted in the Senate, will become the first former president to face criminal charges. The nation’s 45th commander-in-chief will be escorted by the Secret Service from Trump Tower to court, where his photo could be taken for the record.
Trump’s attorney, Joe Tacopina, said Tuesday that Trump would not plead guilty to lesser charges, even if that could settle the case. He said that he did not believe the process would go to a jury, although he admitted that “there is a lot of mystery here because we are doing something that has never been done before.”
“I think there will be a typical indictment, which doesn’t take a long time, 20 or 30 minutes. There will be no shackles,” Tacopina explained to ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “But yes, it will be prosecuted like anyone else would be, up to a point.”
The New York police have braced for protests from Trump supporters, who share the president’s belief that the grand jury indictments – and three other ongoing investigations – are politically motivated and aimed at undermining his campaign to return to the White House in 2024.
Trump, a former reality TV star, has pushed that message to his political advantage, saying he had raised $8 million in less than a week since it was announced that he would be indicted, on the grounds that there is a “witch hunt” .
He has personally criticized the Manhattan district attorney, urged his supporters to protest and claimed without evidence that the judge presiding over the case “hates me,” something that Trump’s own lawyer has said is not true.
Trump was scheduled to return to his Florida home, Mar-a-Lago, Tuesday night for a rally, reflecting his new reality: submitting to the cold demands of the American criminal justice system while displaying a air of defiance and victimhood in campaign events with a celebratory tone. At least 500 prominent Trump supporters were invited, with some of the Republican congressmen closest to the former president expected to attend.
A conviction might not prevent Trump from running for or winning the presidency in 2024.
In Manhattan court, prosecutors led by New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg were expected to unseal details of the indictment issued last week by a grand jury. That’s when Trump and his defense attorneys will learn the details of the charges against him.
The indictments include several counts of falsifying business documents, including at least one criminal offense, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press last week.
After trial, Trump is expected to be released because the charges against him do not require posting bail.
The investigation centers on six-figure payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal. Both say they had sexual encounters with Trump, who was married, years before he entered politics. Trump denies having relationships with either woman and has denied any payment-related violations.
The judicial process will take place amid tight security in New York, more than two years after Trump supporters stormed the United States Capitol in a failed attempt to stop the certification in Congress of the current president’s electoral victory. , Joe Biden.
Although police say they have no intelligence pointing to probable violence, they are on alert for possible disturbances.
“While some rioters may arrive in our city tomorrow, our message is clear and simple: get a grip on yourselves,” Mayor Eric Adams said at a news conference Monday. He also specifically mentioned Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from Georgia, one of Trump’s biggest supporters in Congress and who organized a rally Tuesday in a park across from the courthouse. “While you’re in town, be on your best behavior,” Adams said.
Trump pollster John McLaughlin said the former president would approach the day with “dignity.”
“He will be a gentleman,” McLaughlin said. “He will show strength and he will show dignity (…) we will get through this and win the election.”
But Trump was also defiant. In a post Monday night on his social media platform, he lashed out at Biden and suggested that the current president would have his own legal troubles.
However, the areas around Trump Tower and the courthouse where Trump would appear before a judge were quiet overnight. There were signs both supporting and against the former president posted on billboards. One asked pedestrians to donate to help fund Trump’s presidential library, and another showed Trump screaming behind bars.
The public’s fascination with the case was evident Monday, when national television showed live footage of Trump’s motorcade from his club in Mar-a-Lago to his private plane, a red, white and blue Boeing 757 bearing his name. written. From there he flew to New York, spending the night at Trump Tower as he prepared to turn himself in the next day.
The former president and his collaborators were preparing for a media circus. After being caught off guard by news of the indictment Thursday night, Trump and his team were confident they would make the most of the case. Still, they asked the judge in a document Monday to ban graphic coverage of the quote.
Although the prosecution reiterates that no one is above the law, bringing criminal charges against a former president entails automatic logistical complications.
New York’s ability to conduct trials safely and smoothly in a case involving a divisive former president could be an important example for prosecutors in Atlanta and Washington conducting their own investigations into Trump that could also lead to indictments. Those inquiries focus on efforts to overturn the 2020 election results and the possible mishandling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.
Republican leaders, including some of Trump’s potential rivals in next year’s primaries, have criticized the case against him. In general, the president, Joe Biden, who has not yet officially announced that he will run for re-election next year, and other leading Democrats have had little to say on the issue.
Trump’s former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, campaigning near the US-Mexico border on Monday as part of her bid for the Republican presidential nomination, suggested that media coverage of the former president’s indictment was distracting. attention to other important issues such as immigration. But even she added “they have a progressive prosecutor who is taking political vendetta against a former president.”
The prosecution claims that the case against Trump has nothing to do with politics.
