Trump first ex-President of US to face criminal charges
Published: 05:03 PM,Mar 31,2023 | EDITED : 09:03 PM,Mar 31,2023
Former US president Donald Trump
NEW YORK: Donald Trump, the ex-president and frontrunner to be Republican nominee in 2024, is set to face a mug shot, finger-printing and court appearance next week after being indicted over a probe into hush money paid to a porn star in a historic US first.
The possible spectacle of Trump's appearance in Manhattan on Tuesday before a judge as the first sitting or former president to face criminal charges could further divide the world's most powerful country.
Trump is seeking the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden next year. Even before news of the indictment broke, he had been seeking to use the legal threats to raise money and rally his most faithful supporters.
The first US president to have tried to overthrow an election defeat, whose false claims of election fraud inspired the deadly US Capitol assault on January 6, 2021, signalled that he will continue to campaign even as he faces charges.
Those specific charges have not yet been made public as the indictment remains under seal, but CNN on Thursday reported Trump faced more than 30 counts related to business fraud.
While Trump claimed in a social media post on March 18 that he would be arrested in days, Trump's first reaction at the news was 'shock,' said one of his attorneys, Joe Tacopina, in a Friday interview on ABC.
'We'll go in there and we'll proceed to see a judge at some point, plead not guilty, start talking about filing motions, which we will do immediately and very aggressively,' Tacopina said.
Trump, 76, said he was 'completely innocent' and accused Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, the Democrat who led the investigation, of trying to hurt his electoral chances.
'This is Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history,' Trump said in a statement.
Trump claims political motivations for all four criminal investigations he is known to face - including federal probes into his retention of classified documents and attempts to overturn his election defeat, and a separate Georgia probe into his attempt to overturn his loss in that state.
He has also accused Bragg, who is Black, of racial bias.
Shortly after news of his indictment broke, Trump appealed to supporters to provide money for a legal defence.
As news of Trump's indictment flashed across a news ticker on a Times Square skyscraper on Thursday evening, New York City resident Elizabeth Blaise welcomed the news.
'It shows that democracy is finally at a place where it is supposed to be,' she said.
Trump earlier this month called for nationwide protests, recalling his charged rhetoric ahead of the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol by his supporters.
Neither the White House nor Biden, a Democrat who is widely expected to seek re-election, commented.
Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer, called for calm: 'I encourage both Mr. Trump’s critics and supporters to let the process proceed peacefully and according to the law.'
TUESDAY SURRENDER
The Manhattan charges will likely be unsealed by a judge in the coming days and Trump will have to travel there to be photographed, fingerprinted and appear in court, which a court official said was expected on Tuesday. Trump lawyer Susan Necheles confirmed the Tuesday surrender date and said she did not expect charges to be unsealed until that day.
The grand jury indictment follows months of hearing evidence about an alleged $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels in the waning days of the 2016 campaign.
But any potential trial is still at least more than a year away, legal experts said, meaning it could occur during or after the presidential campaign. — Reuters
The possible spectacle of Trump's appearance in Manhattan on Tuesday before a judge as the first sitting or former president to face criminal charges could further divide the world's most powerful country.
Trump is seeking the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden next year. Even before news of the indictment broke, he had been seeking to use the legal threats to raise money and rally his most faithful supporters.
The first US president to have tried to overthrow an election defeat, whose false claims of election fraud inspired the deadly US Capitol assault on January 6, 2021, signalled that he will continue to campaign even as he faces charges.
Those specific charges have not yet been made public as the indictment remains under seal, but CNN on Thursday reported Trump faced more than 30 counts related to business fraud.
While Trump claimed in a social media post on March 18 that he would be arrested in days, Trump's first reaction at the news was 'shock,' said one of his attorneys, Joe Tacopina, in a Friday interview on ABC.
'We'll go in there and we'll proceed to see a judge at some point, plead not guilty, start talking about filing motions, which we will do immediately and very aggressively,' Tacopina said.
Trump, 76, said he was 'completely innocent' and accused Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, the Democrat who led the investigation, of trying to hurt his electoral chances.
'This is Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history,' Trump said in a statement.
Trump claims political motivations for all four criminal investigations he is known to face - including federal probes into his retention of classified documents and attempts to overturn his election defeat, and a separate Georgia probe into his attempt to overturn his loss in that state.
He has also accused Bragg, who is Black, of racial bias.
Shortly after news of his indictment broke, Trump appealed to supporters to provide money for a legal defence.
As news of Trump's indictment flashed across a news ticker on a Times Square skyscraper on Thursday evening, New York City resident Elizabeth Blaise welcomed the news.
'It shows that democracy is finally at a place where it is supposed to be,' she said.
Trump earlier this month called for nationwide protests, recalling his charged rhetoric ahead of the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol by his supporters.
Neither the White House nor Biden, a Democrat who is widely expected to seek re-election, commented.
Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer, called for calm: 'I encourage both Mr. Trump’s critics and supporters to let the process proceed peacefully and according to the law.'
TUESDAY SURRENDER
The Manhattan charges will likely be unsealed by a judge in the coming days and Trump will have to travel there to be photographed, fingerprinted and appear in court, which a court official said was expected on Tuesday. Trump lawyer Susan Necheles confirmed the Tuesday surrender date and said she did not expect charges to be unsealed until that day.
The grand jury indictment follows months of hearing evidence about an alleged $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels in the waning days of the 2016 campaign.
But any potential trial is still at least more than a year away, legal experts said, meaning it could occur during or after the presidential campaign. — Reuters