The former president in court on April 4. The lawyer: “No handcuffs”
Tuesday, April 4, at 2.15 pm in New York, Donald Trump will appear in court. The former US president, indicted by a Manhattan grand jury in the Stormy Daniels case, will face more than 30 counts of corporate fraud. Trump, the first former president indicted in US history, will have to undergo the usual procedures in case of arrest, including mugshots and fingerprinting. “It is political harassment and election interference at the highest level in history,” Trump saidwhich aims to return to the White House in the 2024 elections and which, despite the indictment, can continue the campaign.
“I think this witch hunt will come back to haunt Joe Biden”, he said calling into question the current president who, during the day, did not comment on the matter. The Donald’s first reaction, according to attorney Joe Tacopina, was “shock”. Then, the counter-offensive in terms of communication and social media started.
Trump has pointed the finger at the judge who will formally notify him of the charges next week: “The judge who was assigned my witch hunt case hates me. His name is Juan Manuel Marchan, he was personally handpicked by Bragg and his prosecutors and he is the same person who coerced my 75 year old former CFO Allen Weisselberg, to plead guilty (pledge guilty, even if you’re not, and get 90 days, object and you get 10 years),” he added, referring to one of the Trump Organization’s financial irregularity cases. “He pressured Allen, something a judge can’t do, and treated my company very badly, and they pleaded not guilty, let’s appeal!” concluded Trump.
Trump will spend the weekend in Florida, in Mar-a-Lago, and will move to New York on Monday, April 3. He will appear in court on Tuesday and, according to his lawyer Joe Tacopina, he will not be handcuffed. The procedure is carefully studied and elaborated with the involvement of the US Secret Service, engaged in the protection of the former president.
Manhattan prosecutor Alvin Bragg would have wanted Trump in court as early as Friday, March 31st. The Donald’s lawyers objected, stating that the Secret Service needs more time to organize the unprecedented procedure, according to information released by Politico.
With the first indictment of a former president in American history, we find ourselves in the extremely delicate circumstance of a defendant who will present himself to the authorities escorted by agents of the presidential bodyguards. In New York, meanwhile, the police are monitoring the situation and prepares for a crucial day: at the moment, according to the NYPD, there are no “credible threats to the city”.
In court, the judge will also establish the conditions of the release, which could include movement restrictions or even house arrest. Even just the first eventuality could have an effect on Trump’s new electoral campaign.
The first hearing will also be the occasion in which the allegations will be formalized and then made public, which would include, as revealed by CNN, 30 charges of corporate fraud. Bragg in fact believes that the former president has committed an offense by recording as legal fees the $130,000 returned to attorney Michael Cohen who had paid Stormy Daniels out of his own pocket to pay for the silence of the porn star on the relationship she had with the tycoon in 2006. An offense aggravated by the fact that it was committed to prevent the woman’s revelations from influencing the 2016 electoral campaign.
Trump, according to Tacopina, “will not make any plea deals”. “It’s not going to happen, there’s no crime,” he told NBC referring to Attorney Bragg’s allegations. “I don’t know if it will go to trial because we have substantial legal arguments,” she added. “In the end, we truly hope and he hopes that the rule of law will prevail,” he concluded, stating that “in my 32-year career as a lawyer, I have never heard the rule of law shot to death in our country like it did yesterday” .
Source-www.adnkronos.com