Trump, at an event in Sarasota with his supporters in July 2021. Octavio Jones | REUTERS
It is still unclear what his arrival in court will be like, pending negotiations between prosecutor Alvin Bragg’s team with the former president’s lawyers.
31 mar 2023 . Updated at 10:24 p.m.
Donald Trump plans to appear at 2:15 p.m. (8:15 p.m. in Spain) next Tuesday before the Manhattan Criminal Court to hear the statement of charges in person —still under summary secrecy— in the process payable $130,000 to the porn actress Stormy Daniels in exchange for her silence about a sexual affair, through a sting operation on the accounts of the Trump Organization, during the 2016 presidential campaign.
It is expected that that same day he will start the trip from his Mar-a-Lago mansion to New York, in a private plane, and always under the protection of the Secret Service, like all former presidents. He has yet to determine what Trump’s arrival in court will be like, pending negotiations between prosecutor Alvin Bragg’s team with his lawyers. It was unknown if he will enter through a private entrance or choose to walk Center Street before the cameras and his faithful. What one of his lawyers has already made clear is that He will not enter handcuffed.
Be that as it may, Trump must undergo the usual procedure for all defendants: fingerprinting, mugshot and reading of his rights. Immediately afterwards, he will wait in the prosecutor’s office, and not in a cell, for the moment of his appearance before the judge, Juan Manuel Merchanwhere he will plead not guilty. Then, the judge will determine if it is necessary to impose a bond or any restrictions. Under New York law, as a minor charge and without violence, it is highly unlikely that you will be issued a bond, let alone jail.
media circus
His attorney, Susan R. Necheles, confirmed the appearance Tuesday before the judge in what she called “voluntary surrender.”
The calm with which the president’s legal team approaches the session before the court contrasts radically with the atmosphere that the campaign team of the, once again, candidate for the White House, anticipates outside the courtroom. “It’s going to be like OJ Simpson but on steroids,” indicated an adviser to the tycoon to Politico in reference to the media circus surrounding the trial of the American football star for the murder of his ex-wife.