Donald Trump attended criminal court in Manhattan, New York on Tuesday (April 4) where he was appearing to be served with his indictment in a fraud case related to money paid in 2016 to the former porn star , Stormy Daniels.
The former tenant of the White House (2017-2021) and candidate for a new presidential term is summoned before a judge in the early afternoon, local time, for a historic hearing of a few minutes during which he should plead ” not guilty “.
“I’m heading to … the court. It sounds so SURREALISTIC – WOW they are going to ARREST ME. I can’t believe this is happening in America,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform.
After a Monday under extraordinary media tension, New York justice banned television cameras and any mode of transmission inside the courtroom. A single camera positioned in a corridor of the courthouse was to capture the first images of the former president of the United States, who should then say a few words.
No handcuffs or incarceration
During his appearance, Donald Trump is supposed to submit to the ritual imposed on any defendant: give his name, age, profession, take a fingerprint and be photographed, the famous “mugshot”, source of so many public humiliation for stars in the United States.
But his status as a high American dignitary protected by the Secret Service, an agency dedicated to the protection of public figures, was to offer him some accommodations. According to his lawyer Joe Tacopina, he will not be handcuffed. He should then be released, possibly on conditions, pending the organization of his trial at a later date.
The New York businessman, who made his fortune in real estate and television, met his followers and his tens of millions of voters for a press conference from his residence Mar-a- Lago, Florida, at 8:15 p.m. (after midnight in mainland France).
The charges have not yet been made public and should be made public by the Manhattan prosecutor who is prosecuting him, Alvin Bragg, an elected Democrat: they would be related to accounting fraud during the legal payment in October 2016 and the subsequent reimbursement of $130,000 to pornographic actress Stormy Daniels.
A possible election violation
From her real name Stephanie Clifford, this woman, who has been working with the justice system for five years, was supposed to silence a supposed and very brief extramarital relationship in 2006 with Donald Trump.
The $130,000 she had received from a former lawyer and handyman for the former president, Michael Cohen, who served time in prison and turned against his boss in 2018, had not been paid. reported in the 2016 presidential candidate Trump’s campaign accounts.
A possible violation of New York State election laws: this sum had been recorded, potentially illegally, as “legal fees” in the accounts of his company Trump Organization, already condemned in December and January to a civil fine of 1 $.6 million for fraud.
Beyond this affair, Donald Trump, who has upset the political system and society in the United States in less than ten years, is the subject of several other investigations, in particular on his role in the attack on the Capitol on January 6. 2021, his management of the presidential archives or the pressure exerted on electoral officials in Georgia to contest his defeat in the presidential election of 2020.
The New York police “on alert”
Authorities, concerned about safety around the Manhattan courthouse, placed New York City police “on high alert” and Mayor Eric Adams warned “troublemakers” on Monday.
Supporters of Donald Trump, led by far-right Republican parliamentarian Marjorie Taylor Greene, began to regroup in the morning in front of the court. A handful of pros and anti-Trumps exchanged a few invectives, with opponents unfurling a huge “Trump lies all the time” banner.
The billionaire claims his innocence and claims to be the victim of a “witch hunt” orchestrated by the Democrats of President Joe Biden, who would have “robbed” him of his victory in the 2020 presidential election. He again denounced Tuesday morning, on his platform Truth Social, a “phony court” and a “very partisan” judge.