Former US President Donald Trump is expected to appear at the New York State Department on Tuesday after being charged last week. It is the first time in history that a former president of the United States has been charged with criminal charges.
LOOK. This is what we already know about what awaits Trump in court
US media know that prosecutor Alvin Bragg has prepared an indictment of about thirty counts against Trump. The exact details will not become clear until the indictment is read out. It is scheduled for Tuesday at 8:15 p.m. Belgian time at the Manhattan courthouse.
The case concerns the payment of hush money to porn actress Stormy Daniels. It may violate campaign finance rules. Trump, meanwhile, has already acknowledged that he paid back his former counsel Michael Cohen that hush money, but insists that transaction was not illegal.
His lawyers have already made it clear that Trump is preparing for “battle”. “Because really, I think Tuesday is the day that the rule of law in the United States comes to an end,” said his attorney Joe Tacopina.
Fingerprints and photos
The former president will be briefly arrested so that fingerprints and police photos can be taken of him. Defendants are often also handcuffed. Whether that will happen in Trump’s case is unclear. What is certain is that the former president can go home after that procedure.
A conviction is unlikely to lead to a prison sentence, nor will his 2024 presidential candidacy be jeopardised. But the indictment has already turned the American political landscape upside down.
Protest
New York police are prepared for protests from Trump supporters. Radical supporters and Marjorie Taylor Greene, a prominent Trump follower in the House of Representatives, have already announced demonstrations.
The mayor of New York, Eric Adams, already warned possible rioters on Monday. “Control yourselves”, Adams called on possible demonstrators. New York is “not a playground for misplaced anger,” said the mayor.
Trump Tower and the streets around the courthouse in Manhattan have been hermetically sealed since the weekend. More than 50,000 agents have been on high alert since Friday for Trump’s arrival.
After his passage in New York, Trump will give a speech at his Florida estate on Tuesday evening. That speech will show how “determined he is,” said Trump aide Jason Miller.
No television cameras in the room
No television cameras are allowed in the courtroom during the reading of the indictment against former US President Donald Trump. Judge Juan Merchan rejected a request from various media on Monday.
Five photographers are allowed in the courtroom to take pictures before the start of the hearing.
Trump’s lawyers had resisted the television cameras. The judge follows them in this. According to him, the interests of the news organizations to gain the widest possible access must be weighed against opposing interests, even though this is a historic procedure, Merchan acknowledged.
In the US, television cameras are generally not allowed inside a courtroom, according to CNN, which also filed a request.
LOOK. Trump on his way to New York for ‘historic indictment’
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