NEW YORK/PALM BEACH, Florida, April 3 (Reuters) – Former US President Donald Trump is scheduled to fly from Florida to New York City on Monday, ahead of his scheduled arraignment in connection with a hush money scandal. paid to a porn star before the 2016 election, while security was tight in Manhattan.
Trump, the first former US president to face criminal charges, was due to be arraigned, fingerprinted and photographed at a downtown Manhattan courthouse on Tuesday. His lawyers said he will enter a plea of not guilty.
The specific charges included in the grand jury indictment were not disclosed; Tuesday’s arraignment marked Trump’s first court appearance in the case.
In a social media post Sunday, Trump said he planned to leave his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach at noon for Trump Tower in Manhattan before heading to court Tuesday morning.
A court official said the arraignment was scheduled for 2:15 pm (1815 GMT) on Tuesday. Trump will then return to Florida and deliver remarks at Mar-a-Lago at 8:15 pm on Tuesday (0015 GMT on Wednesday), his office said.
Trump is expected to appear before Justice Juan Merchan, the judge who also presided over a criminal trial last year in which Trump’s real estate company was convicted of tax fraud. Trump himself has not been charged in the case.
Trump wrote that Merchan “HATES ME” on social media on Friday and also attacked the prosecutor in the case, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
That could lead to more legal risk for Trump, said Bragg’s predecessor, Cyrus Vance.
“I am disturbed by the inappropriate, highly personal and ad hominem attacks against the district attorney and Judge Merchan,” Vance said.
A court official said the judge will decide Monday whether to allow cameras and video in court.
New York police over the weekend began erecting barricades along the sidewalks around Trump Tower and the Manhattan Criminal Court building downtown.
Demonstrations are expected in those areas and the police have promised to be prepared.
Some courtrooms on the upper floors of the courthouse will be closed before the arraignment as part of security precautions, a court official said.
US Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene on Sunday urged Trump supporters to join her in a protest near the courthouse on Tuesday. “They don’t follow President Trump, they follow us, he’s in their way,” he wrote on social media.
TRUMP’S LAWYERS HOPE TO LOSE
Before the indictment, the grand jury heard evidence about a $130,000 payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in the waning days of the 2016 presidential campaign. Daniels said she was paid to keep quiet about a sexual encounter she had with Trump at a Lake Tahoe hotel in 2006. Trump has denied the affair.
Trump, 76, served as president from 2017 to 2021 and in November launched a bid to regain the presidency in 2024, aiming to deny Democratic President Joe Biden a second term in office.
The accusation may have boosted his candidacy, at least in the short term.
“Now I’m totally voting for Trump,” said Larry White, 75, a musician in Nevada who was once considered supporting Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a potential opponent for the Republican presidential nomination. “The indictment was the last straw for me, because Trump has suffered a lot of political abuse.
Word of the indictment came out on Thursday. Trump has called himself innocent, and he and his allies have described the accusations as politically motivated. Bragg, the prosecutor, was a Democrat.
The New York case is just one of many investigations the Republican has faced during his run for the White House. A Georgia prosecutor is investigating Trump’s alleged efforts to reverse his 2020 election loss in that state.
The US Department of Justice is investigating Trump’s actions in the 2020 election and his retention of classified documents after leaving the White House in 2021.
Joe Tacopina, a lawyer for Trump, said on Sunday that it would not be possible for Trump to be paraded before the media by court authorities because of security concerns.
“I honestly don’t know how it’s going to go — hopefully as smoothly as possible — and then we’ll start the fight to right this wrong,” Tacopina told CNN.
Tacopina said Trump’s legal team is likely to file a motion to dismiss the charges.
Reporting by Rich McKay in Palm Beach, Florida and Karen Freifeld in New York; Additional reporting by Tim Reid in Henderson, Nevada; Jonathan Allen, Jeenah Moon and David Dee Delgado in New York and Doina Chiacu in Washington; Writing by Will Dunham Editing by Andy Sullivan, Heather Timmons, Matthew Lewis and Lisa Shumaker
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.