Former U.S. President Donald Trump will appear next Tuesday, April 4, before the Manhattan Criminal Court to hear in person the indictment, still under seal, for which he has been charged this past Thursday in the framework of the investigation into the payment of bribes to porn actress Stephanie Clifford (better known as Stormy Daniels) through an operation buried in the accounts of the Trump Organization, Trump’s company, during the 2016 election campaign.
Trump’s appearance has been confirmed by his lawyer, Susan R. Necheles, in what is officially a process of »voluntary surrender» within a phase of proceedings that the former president’s legal team intends to go through as an initial step with the fewest possible shocks after the commotion unleashed by the first criminal charge faced by a US president, active or retired, in the history of the country.
The calmness with which the president’s legal team will approach Tuesday’s session will contrast sharply with the mood that the former president’s campaign team, and again a candidate for the White House in 2024, anticipates outside the courtroom. It’s going to be like O.J. Simpson on steroids,» an adviser to the tycoon told Politico, referring to the extraordinary media circus that surrounded the former soccer star at his trial in the 1990s for the murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown.
Trump’s legal team has assured that it has not the slightest intention of »initiating a duel» with the Prosecutor’s Office, in the words of one of the tycoon’s lawyers, Joe Tacopina, in statements to the »New York Daily News», even though the state governor, the ultraconservative Ron DeSantis, has declared that in no way will contribute to the »extradition» of Trump if he refuses to leave his residence.
20.15 HOURS Donald Trump is scheduled to appear in court around 14.15 hours on Tuesday (20.15 in mainland Spain and the Balearic Islands) after a trip that will take him from his mansion in Mar-a-lago (Florida) to the district court of Lower Manhattan (in the south of the island, near Wall Street) after a trip in his private plane from Palm Beach International Airport to New York’s LaGuardia airport.
The details of Trump’s arrival at the court are still being negotiated between his lawyers and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office headed by Alvin Bragg, so right now it is unknown whether the former president will access the place through a private entrance or, on the contrary, he will walk down Centre Street in front of the cameras and his supporters.
In any case, Trump will have to undergo at some point during the day, either in the same court or in a nearby police station, the usual procedure that the accused have to go through: fingerprinting, mugshot and reading of his Miranda rights, which will remind the former president of his right to receive the assistance of a lawyer and to refuse to talk to the police.
Once the procedure is completed, Trump will await — perhaps in a cell or, given the relevance of his figure, in the prosecutor’s office itself — the moment of his appearance before the court, where he will most likely plead »not guilty» to the charges, public from that moment on, which are imputed to him.
From there, the judge, most likely Judge Juan Merchan, who has already handled the tax fraud case against two Trump companies, will determine whether it is necessary to impose any bail or restrictions on the former US president before setting a date for the immediate pretrial proceedings.
The former president will be accompanied at all times by his U.S. Secret Service protection team, which is enjoyed by all retired presidents, led by Special Agent Sean Curran.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
