Police and court security at Manhattan Criminal Court, where former President Donald Trump is expected to be charged on Tuesday.
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John Minchillo/AP
Police and court security at Manhattan Criminal Court, where former President Donald Trump is expected to be charged on Tuesday.
John Minchillo/AP
Former President Donald Trump is on his way to New York City to turn himself in to the authorities following his historic indictment by a grand jury in Manhattan.
The charges, which are expected to remain sealed until Trump is impeached on Tuesday, relate to his alleged role in covering up hush money paid to adult film actress Stormy. Daniels in the days leading up to the 2016 presidential election.
For months, the 23-person grand jury heard evidence about the former president’s role in the gag scheme, including testimony from Daniels and Trump’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen. In the end, more than half of jurors believed there was good reason to believe that Trump committed a crime, leading to his indictment on Thursday.
Trump has denied any criminal wrongdoing and is expected to plead not guilty. “Tuesday morning, I’m going to, believe it or not, the Court,” he wrote on Truth Social. “America shouldn’t be like that!”
The trial to make history is scheduled for 2:15 p.m. Tuesday, where criminal charges against the former president will not be sealed.
“This is the first time it looks like the former president of the United States will be photographed, fingerprinted,” said presidential historian Douglas Brinkley tell NPR Morning version. With Trump also have to face several other ongoing criminal cases“We’re in for a very rocky spring,” Brinkley said.
Trump will be directly impeached
The charge is the first appearance of a criminal defendant. For an ordinary defendant, that is usually when a person shows up for photographs, fingerprints and arrest papers, a process that usually takes a few hours behind closed doors.
The defendants then go before a judge to hear the charges against them. The defendant may issue a guilty plea, usually “not guilty” at this stage of the criminal proceedings.
Two of Trump’s attorneys told Reuters on Friday that he would not be handcuffed upon arrival and plans to plead not guilty.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has repeatedly said that the justice system should treat a former president like any other defendant, a suggestion that Trump may have to go through many of the typical steps of an impeachment case. sin.
Even so, his status as former president is expected to pose some unusual logistical challenges. He has a large legal team and a Secret Service detail. Protests are expected. There will be media attention. And all of that will happen alongside the day-to-day operations of a busy state court office.
“There’s a lot of external factors that don’t happen in 99.99% of the cases we have,” said former Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance. in an NPR interview on Sunday. “It will be a real challenge for [police department]court officers, investigators at our office to make sure everything goes on safely and smoothly.”
It is expected that a judge will determine that Trump poses no risk to the flight. After the hearing, Trump will be free to leave. He plans to return immediately to Florida, where he will give a speech that night, his campaign announced Sunday.
The case can be brought to trial
A law enforcement officer waves to former President Donald Trump as he arrives at Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Monday.
Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images
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Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images
A law enforcement officer waves to former President Donald Trump as he arrives at Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Monday.
Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images
Trump’s indictment raises many particular legal and political questions, given his former job and the fact that he is currently campaigning for re-election.
“But he’s still entitled to due process like everyone else,” said Kim Wehle, a former assistant US attorney and now a law professor at the University of Baltimore.
When asked about the possible charges against him and the punishments they would face, she said it was “the way, the last way,” speak All things Considered There are many obstacles to overcome first.
Wehle adds: “There are numerous procedural, evidence and constitutional safeguards to ensure that that far-fetched question gets a fair trial.
The key to a trial will be the strength of evidence presented by prosecutors, legal experts say. Michael Gerhardt, a law professor at the University of North Carolina, said another factor would be the jury.
“This will ultimately not be decided by the court of public opinion, it will be decided by those 12 people,” Gerhardt said Weekend version. “Trump’s lawyers will be there every step of the way and they’ll have to make sure the jury is chosen fairly and that the jury does its job.”
In Manhattan, where Trump won just 12% of the vote in the 2020 presidential election, it can be difficult to find jurs who don’t yet have a negative view of him, said Matthew Galluzzo, a former New District prosecutor. York, said. Law officer.
“If I had to choose which side to take and I had to win to save my life, I would probably choose to side with the prosecution simply because the grand jury in Manhattan is extremely anti-Donald Trump,” he said. in an interview with NPR.
that test may not happen for a while
Galluzzo hopes defense attorneys will argue that it would be unfair for Trump to get a fair trial in Manhattan and push for the trial to be moved somewhere else.
And he doesn’t think that’s the only pre-trial action Trump’s team will take.
Galluzzo said most similar cases will likely take a year to go to trial. He hopes that Trump’s strategy will be to delay that process as much as possible.
“If he can push this back until after the election he can effectively win the trial that way,” he said.
He said it was theoretically possible to delay a case for two or three years, using petitions and appeals.
But one thing he doesn’t expect to see is a settlement that the two sides have reached.
“They wouldn’t make an offer he would accept,” he added. “And I think more than anything he probably wanted that public stage to play the victim, to have an audience.”
