The former American president left his residence in Mar-a-Lago, Palm Beach, Florida in a long car convoy, to reach New York, where he will be charged on Tuesday in a case of fraud linked to a payment of money to a porn star.
Donald Trump left on Monday to wage a “battle” in New York where a criminal court must serve him on Tuesday with his indictment in a case of fraud linked to the payment of money to a porn star, a historic legal fact for a former president of the United States. UNITED STATES.
The questioning by justice of Donald Trump is all the more extraordinary since the 76-year-old Republican billionaire, who left the White House in noise and fury in January 2021, has relaunched himself in the race for the Republican nomination to win back the US presidency in November 2024.
From his posh residence in Mar-a-Lago, Palm Beach, Florida, which he left in a long car convoy, supported on the road to the airport by a few sympathizers – “it’s an insult (…) Donald Trump is strong and will be our next president”, launched two of them – the 45th president of the United States has prepared for the “battle” of New York according to his lawyers.
“America wasn’t meant to be like this”
“Tuesday morning, believe it or not, I will go to court. America was not supposed to be like that”, had launched Sunday evening on his network Truth Social the one who, indicted on March 30 by the prosecutor of Manhattan Alvin Bragg, proclaims his innocence, shouts “witch hunt” and has rallied his supporters and Republican tenors to close ranks.
Tuesday “is the day, in my opinion, when the rule of law is dead in the United States,” the billionaire’s lawyer, Joseph Tacopina, judged on television on Sunday.
The real estate magnate, born in New York and where he prospered thanks to his fortune and his empire, must be served on Tuesday from 2:15 p.m. (6:15 p.m. GMT) with criminal proceedings: they have not been made public but would be 30 in number and would revolve around the accounting concealment of the reimbursement of a payment of 130,000 dollars at the end of 2016 to the porn actress Stormy Daniels.
This summons, with an unprecedented ritual for a former head of state, should see Mr. Trump decline his name, age, profession, submit to a fingerprinting and be photographed, like all warned.
According to Joseph Tacopina, he will not be handcuffed but may have to cross the halls of the Manhattan courthouse, in the presence of the media, in an inevitably indescribable mess.
His security will be provided by the Secret Service, the elite police that protects senior American dignitaries.
“Not guilty”
Before the judge, “the president will plead not guilty” because “there is no criminal offense” according to his defense. Donald Trump should then be released, possibly under conditions, pending the organization of his trial.
Surprised and destabilized to be prosecuted in his hometown acquired by the Democrats, the businessman had written on Friday on Truth Social that he would not benefit from a “fair trial in New York”.
In this district of the courthouse, in the south of Manhattan, under very high security and while the police have declared themselves “on alert” since Friday, supporters including the elected Republican far-right Marjorie Taylor Greene, have planned to demonstrate. But New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a former police officer, warned potential “troublemakers” on Monday, urging them to “restrain themselves”.
$130,000 to a porn star
The case that comes back to torment Donald Trump dates back to October 2016, just before his surprise election at the head of the first world power.
His personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, who turned against him, had at the time paid 130,000 dollars to the actress of pornographic films Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, to buy his silence. The porn star assures that she had a sexual relationship with Donald Trump, married to Melania. What the interested party denies.
The magnate admitted that he had reimbursed Michael Cohen, but assures that the transaction was not illegal. If the agreement made with Stormy Daniels was indeed authorized, it could however correspond to a campaign expense. However, the sum does not appear in the candidate’s accounts and has, on the contrary, been entered as “legal fees” in his company’s documents.
