Donald Trump is expected to fly to New York on Monday for his historic arraignment on criminal charges, thrusting the United States and the presidency into uncharted, potentially volatile territory. The 76‑year‑old billionaire was indicted last week by a grand jury on a series of counts related to a hush‑money payment made to an adult‑film star during the 2016 election campaign. The Republican provocateur, who has already launched a 2024 White House bid, is the first sitting or former U.S. president ever charged with a crime.
His aides say Trump will leave his Mar‑a‑Lago home in Florida and travel to New York, his former base of operations. There, as part of his arraignment scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, he will undergo the standard booking procedure of being fingerprinted and photographed, likely producing one of the most famous mugshots of the modern era. Trump plans to make public remarks Tuesday at 8:15 p.m. (0015 GMT Wednesday) from Florida, denouncing the legal proceedings as a “witch hunt” and “political persecution” and assailing the judge assigned to hear the case. It remains to be seen whether the famously unpredictable former president will follow the script or find a way to upend events.
The New York Police Department is on high alert ahead of the extraordinary arraignment, anticipating possible street protests by Trump supporters and detractors. NBC News reported, citing official sources, that the force has ordered its 36,000 officers to be in uniform and ready to deploy. While an arraignment is a routine legal ritual, there is no roadmap for a former president’s surrender to court authorities. “It’s all up in the air,” Trump lawyer Joe Tacopina told CNN on Sunday. A “perp walk” – in which a defendant is escorted in handcuffs past media cameras – is unlikely for an ex‑president under Secret Service protection, but Tacopina added, “I anticipate them trying to get every ounce of publicity out of this that they can get. Hopefully this will be as painless and classy as possible for a situation like this.” Still, Tacopina said Trump is girding for battle.
The specific charges remain sealed, but the case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg centers on the investigation of a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election. Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and aide who has since turned against him, testified before Congress that he arranged the payment to Daniels in exchange for her silence about a tryst she says occurred in 2006, when Trump was already married to Melania. Trump denies the affair. The Daniels case is only one of several investigations threatening him. An independent prosecutor is examining any potential role Trump played in the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, as well as his handling of classified documents after leaving the White House. In Georgia, he is under investigation for pressuring officials to overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 victory, including a taped phone call in which he asked the secretary of state to “find” enough votes to reverse the result.
President Biden, aware that any comment could fuel Trump’s claims of a politically “weaponized” judicial system, has remained largely silent on the indictment of his political rival. Most Republicans have rallied around Trump, including his primary rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who called the indictment “un‑American.” However, some Republicans bristled at the prospect of a twice‑impeached president facing multiple legal probes while seeking the party’s nomination. Former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson, who announced his own presidential bid on Sunday, openly questioned the strategy and urged Trump to drop out of the race. “I do think that’s too much of a sideshow and distraction, and he needs to be able to concentrate on his due process,” Hutchinson said. “The office is always more important than the person.”
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