Lawyers for Donald Trump said that they hope that the upcoming trial of the former president on charges related to money payments made to porn stars will be “painless and wonderful.”
“I hope they’re trying to get every ounce of publicity they can,” attorney Joe Tacopina said of New York prosecutors in an interview Sunday with CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Trump is scheduled to appear at a Manhattan courthouse on Tuesday where he will learn of the charges approved by a grand jury. Although the charges have not been made public, they are said to include multiple allegations of falsifying business records and at least one felony count, the Associated Press reported, citing two people familiar with the matter.
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Tacopina, in an interview with ABC News’ “This Week,” said that while he had not seen the allegations, he did not believe Trump’s case would “survive a legal challenge in the courtroom.”
“We all know that it has to do with a confidential settlement agreement, a legal confidential settlement agreement with Stormy Daniels,” he said of the $130,000 payment made to a porn star during the 2016 presidential campaign. “Michael Cohen and his lawyers signed it together. Donald Trump didn’t, ” said Tacopina.
Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and fixer, later pleaded guilty to violating federal campaign finance laws in connection with the payments.
Tacopina said Trump’s legal team would not immediately dismiss the case when it was indicted on Tuesday. They will review the charges and determine the next steps.
As for what people might see on Tuesday, Tacopina said she doesn’t know if Trump will take a mugshot or if, during his arrest, he will be taken out in public by authorities, which is called a “perp walk.”
“What I want is that we can get in and out quickly, that at the end of the day, there is a typical rule where we stand before the judge, we say, ‘not guilty,’ we set a schedule for the movement of files and whatever or discovery and we’re moving forward and getting out of there,” he told ABC News.
Cohen, who recently testified in the quiet money case, said he expected “total chaos” during Tuesday’s arraignment.
“This is my worst fear: being impeached, being fingerprinted, being labeled as a criminal,” Cohen said of Trump in an interview Sunday with CBS News’ “Sunday Morning.” “He was petrified.”
Cohen last week also said that he expected Trump’s arrest to be “classy” so that the country would not be “made the laughing stock of the world.”
Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, a onetime Trump ally, also said he did not believe the allegations could be made to Trump’s benefit.
“All this bravado from the Trump camp is baloney,” the former prosecutor told ABC News’ “This Week” in a separate interview.
“He should be stripped, fingerprinted, and he’s going to face a criminal trial in Manhattan. He’s not going to get away with it. You can’t make it a good day,” he said.