The eve of his court appearance there was an indictment regarding Trump
Trump and the People of the State of New York: The Predictions for Tuesday’s Arrival at Trump’s Escalator Receipt
There is a growing sense of pressure on Trump that will compromise his ability to evade accountability in the wake of an ex-president and current president about to appear in court.
The 45th president is expected to turn himself in on Tuesday in Manhattan, the stage where he built his legend as a brash popular culture figure and real estate magnate but which could now, in the case of “The People of the State of New York against Donald J. Trump,” engineer his downfall.
A source familiar with his plans says that Trump will leave Florida at noon on Monday and arrive at the New York airport at 3 p.m. The former president will stay at Trump Tower Monday night and is expected to depart New York immediately after Tuesday’s arraignment to head back to Florida, the source said.
In the lead-up to Tuesday’s appearance, Trump’s legal teams gave a preview of a robust defense that will unfold in the midst of a political campaign. His leading loyalists are using the power of the new GOP House majority to interfere with Bragg’s prosecution. In an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Trump lawyer Joe Tacopina said the ex-president’s team would loudly and proudly declare he is not guilty and signaled an attempt to try to prevent the case ever from reaching trial.
In all of the cases, Trump has denied wrongdoing. But once more, America’s political and legal systems, under a near-constant stress test since he came down the escalator in Trump Tower to launch his campaign in 2015, will be put under enormous pressure that is likely to only deepen the country’s internal estrangement.
Some legal experts have questioned whether a case with the potential for violations of accounting practices and possible campaignfinance violations should merit the step of indicting the ex-president who is running again.
Trump denies any wrongdoing in all of these investigations. He describes his behavior in Georgia as perfect. And he has lambasted the sealed indictment in New York, where he faces more than 30 counts related to business fraud, as an example of politicized justice.
If he hadn’t been running for presidency, his numbers have gone up a lot, so he wouldn’t have been indicted. Bragg has made no public comment on the case since the indictment came down last Thursday.
Tacopina also telegraphed an effort to target the credibility of Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, who made a $130,000 payment to Daniels and went to prison on charges including lying to Congress, but who may be a central witness in any trial of Trump.
security is very high in New York due to the sensitivities of the case and Trump’s past advocacy of insurrection in the Capitol. Many of Trump’s supporters haven’t attended the protests despite his calls.
CNN reported that despite his indictment, Trump has remained focused and calm as he prepares to appear in court.
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson doubled down on his call for Donald Trump to pull out of the race now he is facing charges.
In a statement on Thursday, Trump said he will use his power to stir up huge disruption and partisan anger in the same way he has used his business and political careers before, with fury and in order to bring about change.
“I believe this Witch-Hunt will backfire massively on Joe Biden,” he said. “The American people realize exactly what the Radical Left Democrats are doing here. Everyone can see it. So our Movement, and our Party – united and strong – will first defeat Alvin Bragg, and then we will defeat Joe Biden, and we are going to throw every last one of these Crooked Democrats out of office so we can MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
His approach means that this Tuesday is likely to be just the start of a new, dramatic and divisive chapter in Trump’s political career and another extreme test for America.
The expected voluntary surrender of a former president and 2024 White House candidate will be a unique affair in more ways than one – both for the Manhattan district attorney’s office and the New York courthouse where he’ll be arraigned and for a nation watching to see how it’ll shake up the GOP presidential primary.
CNN reported Sunday night that after an indictment caught him and his advisers off guard, the former president spent the weekend playing golf and pondering how to use it to boost his campaign.
At times, he may be compelled to appear in court. The grueling pre-trial process, with its numerous legal argument deadlines and heaps of evidence the defense must sift through, will impose severe demands on a legal team that has often struggled to act coherently. Ahead of his appearance Tuesday, for instance, Trump made a late shuffle of his legal team, bringing in another attorney, Todd Blanche, to serve as his lead counsel – a move some saw as sidelining another attorney, Joe Tacopina. The ex-president’s camp pushed back on this interpretation, however.
The Secret Service will be with Trump throughout the day. The district attorney’s office is where his arrest will be processed. There are concerns that a mugshot could leak out, so it’s still not certain if one will be taken, sources told CNN.
Ordinarily, a defendant who is released would walk out the front doors, but Secret Service will want to limit the time and space where Trump is in public. After the court hearing is over, Trump is supposed to go back to where his motorcade is waiting, through the public hallway and then back to the district attorney’s office.
This is not the same. This is the first time it has happened. I have never had Secret Service involved in an arraignment before at 100 Centre Street,” Trump lawyer Joe Tacopina said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. “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.”
CNN and other media outlets have asked a judge in New York to uncloak the indictment and allow them to broadcast Trump’s appearance in the courtroom on Tuesday.
The news organizations are asking for a “limited number of photographers, videographers, and radio journalists to be present at the arraignment,” and said in the letter that they are making “this limited request for audio-visual coverage in order to ensure that the operations of the Court will not be disrupted in any way.”
Merchan, an acting New York Supreme Court justice, has sentenced Trump’s close confidant Allen Weisselberg to prison, presided over the Trump Organization tax fraud trial and overseen former adviser Steve Bannon’s criminal fraud case.
Attorneys who have appeared before him told CNN that Merchan doesn’t care about disruptions or delays, he’s known to keep his courtroom under control even when his cases draw attention.
Trump attorney Timothy Parlatore said during an interview Friday on CNN that Merchan was “not easy” on him when he tried a case before him but that he will likely be fair.
I tried a case in front of him. He could be tough. I don’t think that it will affect his ability to evaluate the facts in this case.
The former president will plead not guilty, according to tacopina. He will look at every potential issue his team will be able to challenge.
The prosecutors tied the Daniels payments to the business records and could use them to argue that the case is barred by the statute of limitations. Tacopina suggested in TV interviews Sunday the statute of limitations may have passed, and said the Trump businesses didn’t make false entries.
Trump lawyers are not currently thinking about moving the case to a different city, said Joseph Tacopina. In an interview with ABC, he said there was no discussion of that. It is too early to worry about venue changes until we have a better idea of the legal issues.
Trump’s political advisers over the weekend were actively discussing how to best campaign off the indictment they have portrayed as a political hoax and witch hunt, according to sources close to Trump.
His team has spent the last several days presenting the former president with polls showing him with a growing lead over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, currently considered Trump’s biggest 2024 rival, in a head-to-head match up. And his team says it has raised more than $5 million dollars since he was indicted Thursday.
Bragg was attacked by many people before and after the indictment.
Trump’s first appearance at the Courthouse: speach in a prosecutor’s office or not for the prosecution of a criminal crime
The office is more important than anyone else. Hutchinson said that it was too much of a distraction for the office of the presidency. He has to be focused on his process.
Daniels and Cohen testified before the grand jury, as did the former president’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen. Ultimately, more than half of the jurors were convinced there was reasonable cause to believe that Trump committed a crime, resulting in his indictment Thursday.
Trump has denied any criminal wrongdoing and is expected to plead not guilty. “On Tuesday morning I will be going to, believe it or not, the Courthouse,” he wrote on Truth Social. “America was not supposed to be this way!”
A criminal’s first appearance in court is a speach. A process that typically takes several hours behind closed doors is when a normal person would show up for their case, such as when a photograph is required.
Then, defendants go before a judge to hear the charges against them. Defendants can enter a plea, most often “not guilty,” at this stage in the criminal process.
Trump Traveling to New York City: What’s Next for a New-York-Arregular-Area Judge?
His status as a former president is expected to present some unique logistical challenges. He has a large legal team and a Secret Service detail. Protests are expected. There will be media attention. And all of that will happen in the same state court office.
“There’s a lot of external factors that just don’t happen for 99.99% of the cases we have,” said former Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance in an NPR interview on Sunday. “It will be a real challenge for the [police department], the court officers, investigators in our office to ensure that things function safely and smoothly.”
But he’s still entitled to the same due process as everyone else, says Kim Wehle, a former assistant U.S. attorney and now a law professor at the University of Baltimore.
When asked about the potential charges against him and penalties they would carry, she says that’s a long way down the line.
There are a lot of protections in place to ensure that the question is fair, according to Wehle.
The strength of the evidence presented by prosecutors will be a key to a trial, legal experts said. Another factor will be the jury, said Michael Gerhardt, a law professor at the University of North Carolina.
The decision will be made by those 12 people, no matter what the public opinion is. Mr. Trump’s lawyers will be there at every step of the way to make sure that the jury is fair and that it does its job.
In New York City, where Trump won only 12% of the vote in his election, it could be hard to find jurors who wouldn’t give him a hard time.
Most similar cases would probably take a year to get to trial, Galluzzo says. He thinks that Trump will try to delay it as much as possible.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/04/03/1167756756/trump-traveling-new-york-arraignment-whats-next-trial
The extraordinary moment of Donald Trump’s term as a presidential candidate: the newsroom emergence in the wake of his oudeal in office
He says that they aren’t going to make him an offer that he will accept. “And I think more than anything he probably wants that public stage to play the victim, to have an audience.”
The extraordinary moment will present newsrooms with a slew of coverage issues and test how well they have adapted to reporting on Trump since he left office in disgrace.
The newsletter “Reliable Sources” published a version of this article. If you sign up for the daily digest, it will chronicle the evolving media landscape here.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/03/media/trump-coverage-reliable-sources/index.html
The Truth is Not a Thing, But a Truth Whether or Not It Is a Sneak Truth: Trump as a Candidate Editor
He should be covered as a truth sandwich. Tell the truth before you repeat one of his lies. if you can don’t repeat the lies. If you have to repeat the lie, make sure to say it is a lie. His campaign’s framing should not be used. He can be your assignment editor. Like every other candidate and defendant, Trump should be treated like a candidate. Don’t give him the chance to argue with the doubt.
Editors and producers should stop looking at what ox peckers might say about their camera angles, the number of hours they spend on the booking, the number of column inches they burn on the prosecution and trust their own journalistic instincts and training. Follow the story. Inform your readers and viewers.”
► Alyssa Farah: “Be careful not to be spun by Trump world. It is Trump’s team that will try to harness the narrative and make him feel better about the indictment. Take a step back, contextualize this moment for history: being indicted is never a good thing and it hurts him in a general election regardless of what he says.”
There are growing signs of this new reality possibly being duplicated at a time when the demands of his second White House bid are more intense.
The case may not be over. Smith is looking into Trump’s conduct prior to the Capitol insurrection. The ex-president could face prosecution for attempting to change the result of the 2020 election in Georgia.
While Trump’s comments will signal how he intends to fight the charges against him in the political arena, the former president is also preparing for the fight in court: Todd Blanche was added to the defense team on Monday.
One criminal prosecution is onerous enough. The multi front defense in multiple cases would represent an extraordinary storm, as Trump hasn’t been charged in any other cases. And it would further disrupt the ex-president’s capacity to dictate his political schedule and control his destiny. When he was being scrutinized by the Russia investigation or the impeachments, Trump used his vast popularity with Republican voters to prove that the accusations against him were false. Most GOP senators knew that if they voted to convict him in the impeachment trial they’d be out of a job.
The situation is somewhat similar to the 2020 election, when the will of voters prevailed because Trump’s attempts to have votes thrown out and results changed foundered in multiple courts because of the fact-based standards of evidence and the law.
Donald Trump, the Wall Street Wall and Media Circuses: The Last of Donald Trump and His Twitter Pageants (Report on Donald Trump’s 2016 Campaign)
In a late-night ruling, Merchan turned down the request for broadcast cameras. Five still photographers will be allowed to take pictures of Trump and the courtroom before the hearing starts.
The irony of the ex-president complaining about being subject to a media circus was very rich. Without his salesman’s talent for whipping up media circuses, he’d have never have been president. New York has made Donald Trump famous by giving fodder for the city’s tabloids with his famed celebrity feuds and colorful personal life. His entire 2016 campaign and his single-term presidency were pageants of outrage, scandal and lawlessness stoked by his often unchained Twitter posts.
