By MICHAEL R. SISAK, ERIC TUCKER, JENNIFER PELTZ and WILL WEISSERT (Associated Press)
NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump surrendered to authorities Tuesday at a Manhattan courthouse forward of his arraignment on felony fees stemming from a hush cash cost to a porn actor throughout his 2016 marketing campaign.
Trump himself described the expertise as “SURREAL” as he traveled from Trump Tower to a decrease Manhattan courtroom, the place he was to face a choose as the primary former president in American historical past to be criminally prosecuted.
The arraignment, although anticipated to be temporary and procedural in nature, quantities to a exceptional reckoning for Trump after years of investigations into his private, enterprise and political dealings. The case is unfolding in opposition to the backdrop not solely of his third marketing campaign for the White House but additionally in opposition to different investigations in Washington and Atlanta which may but produce much more fees.
It represents the brand new split-screen actuality for Trump as he submits to the dour calls for of the American felony justice system whereas projecting an aura of defiance and victimhood at celebratory marketing campaign occasions.
Wearing his signature darkish swimsuit and pink tie, Trump turned and waved to crowds outdoors the constructing earlier than heading inside to be fingerprinted and processed. He arrived at court docket in an eight-car motorcade from Trump Tower, speaking in actual time his anger on the course of.
“Heading to Lower Manhattan, the Courthouse,” the voluble ex-president posted on his Truth Social platform. “Seems so SURREAL — WOW, they are going to ARREST ME. Can’t believe this is happening in America. MAGA!”
The reserving and look earlier than Judge Juan Merchan needs to be comparatively temporary — although hardly routine — as Trump learns for the primary time the costs in opposition to him. Trump will plead not responsible, in line with his attorneys, and is predicted to enter the plea himself, as is normal within the court docket.
Merchan has dominated that TV cameras gained’t be allowed within the courtroom.
Trump, who was impeached twice by the U.S. House however was by no means convicted within the U.S. Senate, is the primary former president to face felony fees. The nation’s forty fifth commander in chief was escorted from Trump Tower to the courthouse by the Secret Service and will have his mug shot taken.
“He is strong and ready to go,” Trump lawyer Joe Tacopina instructed The Associated Press. Earlier, Tacopina stated in a TV interview that the previous president wouldn’t plead responsible to lesser fees, even when it’d resolve the case. He additionally stated he didn’t suppose the case would make it to a jury.
New York police stated they had been prepared for big protests by Trump supporters, who share the Republican former president’s perception that the New York grand jury indictment and three extra pending investigations are politically motivated and supposed to weaken his bid to retake the White House in 2024. Journalists usually outnumbered protesters, although.
Trump, a former actuality TV star, has been hyping that narrative to his political benefit, saying he raised greater than $8 million within the days because the indictment on claims of a “witch hunt.” His marketing campaign launched a fundraising request titled “My last email before arrest” and he has repeatedly assailed the Manhattan district legal professional, egged on supporters to protest and claimed with out proof that the choose presiding over the case “hates me” — one thing his personal lawyer has stated is just not true.
Trump is scheduled to return to his Palm Beach, Florida, dwelling, Mar-a-Lago, on Tuesday night to offer remarks. At least 500 distinguished supporters have been invited, with a few of the most pro-Trump congressional Republicans anticipated to attend.
A conviction wouldn’t forestall Trump from working for or successful the presidency in 2024.
Inside the Manhattan courtroom, prosecutors led by New York’s district legal professional, Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, are anticipated to unseal the indictment issued final week by a grand jury. This is when Trump and his protection attorneys will get their first glimpse of the exact allegations in opposition to him.
The indictment comprises a number of fees of falsifying enterprise data, together with no less than one felony offense, two individuals aware of the matter instructed The Associated Press final week.
After the arraignment, Trump is predicted to be launched by authorities as a result of the costs in opposition to him don’t require that bail be set.
The investigation is scrutinizing six-figure funds made to porn actor Stormy Daniels and former Playboy mannequin Karen McDougal. Both say they’d sexual encounters with the married Trump years earlier than he bought into politics. Trump denies having sexual liaisons with both lady and has denied any wrongdoing involving funds.
The arraignment will unfold in opposition to the backdrop of heavy safety in New York, coming greater than two years after Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in a failed bid to halt the congressional certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s win.
Trump was defiant forward of his arraignment. He used his social media community to complain that he was going to court docket in a closely Democratic space, declaring, “KANGAROO COURT” and “THIS IS NOT WHAT AMERICA WAS SUPPOSED TO BE!” He and his marketing campaign have repeatedly assailed Bragg and even skilled scrutiny on members of Bragg’s household.
Despite that, the scenes round Trump Tower and the courthouse the place Trump will stand earlier than a choose didn’t function main unrest. Police tried to maintain aside protesters supporting the previous president and people opposing him by confining them to separate sides of a park close to the courthouse utilizing metallic barricades.
Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, certainly one of Trump’s staunchest supporters in Congress, staged a quick rally on the park, however the scene was so chaotic that it was laborious to listen to her over the crush of reporters and protesters.
“We’re the party of peace,” Greene stated, thanking these Trump supporters current. “Democrats are communists.”
Embattled Republican New York Rep. George Santos additionally confirmed up in solidarity with Trump, saying, “I want to support the president.”
“I think this is unprecedented and it’s a bad day for democracy,” Santos stated, suggesting that future prosecutors may goal Biden and different presidents with different instances, which “cheapens the judicial system.”
New York’s capability to hold out secure and drama-free courthouse proceedings in a case involving a polarizing ex-president could possibly be an necessary check case as prosecutors in Atlanta and Washington conduct their very own investigations of Trump that would additionally lead to fees. Those investigations concern efforts to undo the 2020 election outcomes in addition to the attainable mishandling of categorized paperwork at Mar-a-Lago.
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Tucker and Weissert reported from Washington. Associated Press journalists Jill Colvin, Bobby Caina Calvan, Larry Neumeister, Karen Matthews, Larry Fleisher, Deepti Hajela, Julie Walker, Ted Shaffrey, David R. Martin, Joe Frederick and Robert Bumsted in New York and Colleen Long and Michael Balsamo in Washington contributed to this report.
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Follow the AP’s protection of former President Donald Trump at https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”