Trump set to be arraigned Tuesday
The indicted former president faces at least 1 felony charge in hush-money case, sources reveal
Former President Donald Trump is facing multiple charges of falsifying business records, including at least one felony offense, in the indictment handed down against him by a New York grand jury, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Friday.
He will be formally arrested and arraigned Tuesday in his hush-money case, court officials said — an announcement promising the historic, shocking scene of a former U.S. commander in chief forced to stand before a judge. The indictment against him remains sealed and the specific charges were not immediately known, but details were confirmed by people who requested anonymity to discuss details that aren't yet public.
It is not clear that the New York case will be the first to go to trial because he still faces other investigations.
A Georgia prosecutor is in the final stages of an inquiry into Trump's attempts to reverse the election results in that state. Moreover, a federal special counsel is leading two separate investigations into Trump's broader actions to cling to power after his 2020 electoral defeat, and into his hoarding a cache of top-secret government documents at his Florida club and residence, Mara-Lago.
While Trump has sought to capitalize on the criminal charges to energize his base, the ignominy of becoming a defendant — especially after decades of evading prosecution despite numerous repeated investigations — marks a profound change for a global celebrity who has a history of deriding others accused of wrongdoing.
In Manhattan, the streets outside the courthouse where the arraignment will unfold were calm Friday compared with earlier in the week. There were no large-scale demonstrations for or against Trump, though tourists stopped to take selfies and throngs of reporters and police officers remained assembled.
When Trump turns himself in, he'll be booked
mostly like anyone else facing charges, mug shot, fingerprinting and all. But he isn't expected to be put in handcuffs; he'll have Secret Service protection and will almost certainly be released that same day.
In the meantime, Trump's legal team prepared his defense while the prosecutor defended the grand jury investigation that propelled the matter toward trial.
“We urge you to refrain from these inflammatory accusations, withdraw your demand for information, and let the criminal justice process proceed without unlawful political interference,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg wrote to three Republican House committee chairs Friday in a letter obtained by The Associated
Press.
The case is plunging the U.S. into uncharted legal waters, with Trump the first former president ever to face an indictment. And the political implications could be titanic ahead of next year's presidential election. Trump is in the midst of running for president a third time and has said the case against
him could hurt that effort — though his campaign is already raising money by citing it.
Top Republicans also have begun closing ranks around him. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has promised to use congressional oversight to probe Bragg. Reps. James Comer, Jim Jordan and Bryan Steil, the committee
chairs whom Bragg addressed in his letter, have asked the district attorney's office for grand jury testimony, documents and copies of any communications with the Justice Department.
Notably, however, the top two Senate Republicans have so far remained silent in the wake of news of the indictment.
The silence from Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Whip John Thune underscores the divide within the Republican Party over the former president. McConnell and Thune have made no secret about their desire to move past Trump, while McCarthy has credited Trump for helping him win the speakership.
Trump's indictment came after a grand jury probe into hush money paid during the 2016 presidential campaign to squelch allegations of an extramarital sexual encounter.
The investigation dug into six-figure payments made to porn actor Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal. Both claim to have had sexual encounters with the married Trump years before he got into politics. He denies having sexual liaisons with either woman.
Trump also has denied any wrongdoing involving payments and has denounced the investigation as a “scam,” a “persecution,” an injustice. He argues that it is specifically designed to damage his 2024 presidential run.
Trump lawyer Joseph Tacopina said during TV interviews Friday he would “very aggressively” challenge the legal validity of the Manhattan grand jury indictment. Trump himself, on his social media platform, trained his ire on a new target, complaining that the judge expected to handle the case, Juan Manuel Merchan, “HATES ME.”
On his social media platform Trump also accused Democrats of having “LIED, CHEATED, AND STOLEN IN THEIR MANIACAL OBSESSION TO `GET TRUMP.' ”
The former president is expected to fly to New York on Monday and stay at Trump Tower overnight ahead of his planned arraignment Tuesday, according to two people familiar with his plans who requested anonymity to discuss Trump's travel.
Trump will be arraigned in the same Manhattan courtroom where his company was tried and convicted of tax fraud in December and where disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein's rape trial took place. On Friday, officials from the Secret Service and the NYPD toured the courthouse and met about security plans.