Donald Trump warned that expects to be arrested Tuesday – something unprecedented for a former president of the United States – in a case related to a payment to buy the silence of a porn actress.
The 76-year-old former president, who aspires to run for the White House in 2024, called on his supporters to protest, putting law enforcement on alert.
This is what can be expected in the next few days:
Will he be charged?
Although the New York State Attorney’s Office for the District of Manhattan, Alvin Bragg, has not confirmed that plans to formally impeach Trump, the announcement made by the former president on Saturday is a sign in this regard. But there are others.
In the United States, prosecutors can present witnesses and evidence to a panel of citizens known as a grand jury, which decides whether charges are warranted.
Last week, Daniels cooperated with the grand jury in this case. Trump’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, who acknowledged making the payment to Daniels and said he was later reimbursed, also testified before the panel.
trump too he was invited to testify, although he refused.
“Prosecutors almost never invite the subject of investigation to testify before the grand jury unless they plan to indict that individual,” said Bennett Gershman, a Pace University law professor and former prosecutor.
Fingerprints yes, wives unlikely
An impeachment by Trump would start a process that could last several months.
In the immediate term, it must be determined what the arrest, or more likely the handing over of Trump to the authorities, would look like, given the non-violent nature of the charges and the fact that he is a former president.
“This is unprecedented and there is no defined procedure,” former US Secret Service agent Robert McDonald, now a professor of criminal justice at the University of New Haven, told AFP.
According to the expert, the Secret Service, in charge of protecting high-ranking dignitaries, will coordinate with Bragg’s office so that Trump appears in court without his arrival becoming a “show.”
The exfiscal federal Renato Mariotti tweeted Saturday that he hopes Trump will “voluntarily appear in court, be fingerprinted and searched, and released on bail.”
Given Trump’s prominence and his ongoing 2024 presidential bid, the judge will likely not consider the former president a flight risk and Trump will be able to leave after arraignment, posting bail if necessary.
“I suppose that will not be held overnightMcDonald estimated.
But Trump some believe the former president could refuse to turn himself in, daring the Manhattan district attorney’s office to arrest him.
“One could imagine Trump wanting to do that,” former prosecutor Shan Wu told AFP. “That’s something Bragg’s office would be fearing.”
Security preparations?
After Trump’s call on Saturday to his supporters to protest against a possible accusation against himthe authorities are on alert, given the violence that erupted on January 6, 2021, when pro-Trump protesters harangued by the then-president stormed the United States Capitol seeking to stop the certification of their electoral defeat.
Now, law enforcement, from the FBI at the federal level, to the New York police at the state level, have been coordinating since last week with a view to a formal indictment of the former president, in order to avoid possible riots, reported CNN and NBC citing anonymous sources.
Pro-Trump groups are already mobilizing. The New York Young Republican Club is promoting a “peaceful protest of Alvin Bragg’s heinous attack” on Trump on Monday in Manhattan, where the court is located.
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While the authorities have given no indication that they expect violence near the courtCNN cited unnamed sources as saying law enforcement was evaluating the possibility of demonstrations by Trump supporters and opponents, with risk of confrontations.
Meanwhile, the Washington Police Department, scene of the riots at the United States Capitol Two years ago, he said Sunday he was “not aware of any” protests in the capital related to the possible impeachment of Trump.