Donald Trump arrives in New York to face charges over Stormy Daniels payments
The former president will surrender early Wednesday (AEST) when he’ll face at least two dozen charges related to hush money to Stormy Daniels.
Donald Trump has flown to New York City to face the first ever indictment of a former US president, over the hush money payments he made to a porn star, as Manhattan police brace for protests and a sharply divided political class awaits the details of the charges.
Mr Trump walked in the doors of the skyscraper on Fifth Avenue under tight security at 4.15pm local time (6.15am AEST), pausing briefly to wave to supporters before going inside
Mr Trump’s trademark Trump Force One Boeing 757 took off from West Palm Beach airport at 1pm on Monday (3am Tuesday AEST) for the 3-hour journey back to the former president’s home city, where he will stay at Trump Tower for the night ahead of his historic arraignment in a lower Manhattan court on Tuesday at 2.15pm.
Reports suggest Mr Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican nomination for president, will face at least two dozen charges related to hush money payments made to Stormy Daniels in 2016, via his former lawyer, which may have breached state bookkeeping and federal campaign finance laws.
At 11am on Tuesday (1am Wednesday AEST) Mr Trump is expected to travel to the office of the Manhattan District Attorney, Alvin Bragg, where he will surrender himself before being formally charged, or arraigned, at the Manhattan Criminal Court next to Columbus Park, a process that could take up to 30 minutes.
“Hopefully this will be as painless and classy as possible for a situation like this, which I don’t even know really what brings us here, but that’s a different story,” one of Mr Trump’s lawyers, Joe Tacopina, told CNN on Sunday.
The former president will have a mugshot and his fingerprints taken, before heading back to Florida later in the afternoon where he is due to give an “address to the nation” at 8.15pm local time.
It’s unclear whether Mr Trump, who as a former president will be accompanied by a US Secret Service detail, will face a “perp walk” – being escorted by authorities in eye shot of the public – or be handcuffed, or subject to a “gag order” – potentially complicating his plans to discuss the charges later in the evening.
“I anticipate them trying to get every ounce of publicity out of this that they can get … All the Tuesday stuff is still very much up in the air other than the fact that we will very loudly and proudly say ‘not guilty’,” Mr Tacopina also said.
Mr Bragg, a far-left Democrat who campaigned for office promising to pursue a legal case against Mr Trump that other federal and state prosecutors have declined, confirmed last week that a Manhattan grand jury had voted to indict the former president, 76, with details of the charges to be unveiled after the arraignment.
Legal experts argue the expected charges Mr Trump will face — falsifying business records (to conceal the US$130,000 in hush money payments) with the intention to circumvent federal election laws that cap campaign finance limits — will be difficult to prove, and rest on untested legal theories.
Republicans, including Mr Trump’s actual and likely challengers for the GOP presidential nomination, have rallied around their former leader, accusing Mr Bragg of ‘weaponizing’ the judicial system to thwart Mr Trump’s third bid for the White House.
“We‘re dealing with a lot of political drama that’s unnecessary because you’ve got political, vengeful people out there,” fumed Nikki Haley, Mr Trump’s former ambassador to the United Nations and fellow contender for the GOP nomination, on Monday, speaking to Fox News from the Mexican border.
The former president, who is the subject of separate federal and state investigations into his behaviour during and after his presidency, has stridently maintained his innocence of all charges and allegations, and enjoyed a bounce in support among Republican voters according to most polls published since news of the indictment first emerged on 18th March.
“The Corrupt D.A. has no case. What he does have is a venue where it is IMPOSSIBLE for me to get a Fair Trial (it must be changed!), and a Trump Hating Judge, hand selected by the Soros backed D.A. (he must be changed!),” Mr Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social late Sunday, referring once again to billionaire financier George Soros who helped fund Mr Bragg’s election.
The judge who will oversee Mr Trump’s case is expected to be Juan Manuel Merchan, a 15 year veteran of the bench who last year presided over a criminal tax fraud case against Mr Trump’s company, which a jury found guilty.
Democrats have berated Mr Trump for earlier warning of “death and destruction” if he were indicted, although the former president dropped his call to protest once the indictment emerged with certainty last week.
Mayor of New York City, Democrat Eric Adams, warned in a press conference on Monday any “rabble rousers thinking about coming to our city tomorrow” to “control yourselves”, singling out “people like [Republican congresswoman] Marjorie Taylor Green”.
The firebrand congresswoman from Georgia has been among the most outspoken defenders of the former president, announcing she will headline a “Rally for Trump” at Collect Pond Park on Tuesday at 10:30am (Wednesday 12:30am AEST), along with the Young Republican party of New York.
“New York City is our home, not a playground for your misplaced anger …. While you are in town be on your best behaviour,” Mr Adams said.
The city’s police commissioner Keechant Sewell, standing beside him, warned protesters against “violence and destruction” as she flagged rolling road closures throughout Manhattan and increased police presence.
“NYPD is prepared to ensure everyone is able to have their voices heard peacefully and exercise their first amendment rights,” she said, stressing the police had no information about specific threats.
A handful of Trump supporters held “Fight for Trump” and “Finish the Wall” banners outside Trump Tower on Monday around noon, while a smaller group held “Lock Him Up and Throw Away the Key” signs, according to William Bennett, 28, an Australian graduate student in New York City, who witnessed the gathering.
“From a security point of view it seemed like a bit of a non-event, a nothing-burger, almost as if there were more police than protesters – and definitely more media than anyone else” he told The Australian.
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