NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump will make comments Tuesday night in Florida after his scheduled arraignment in New York on charges related to the money laundering, his campaign announced Sunday.
Trump will hold the event at the Mar-a-Lago club after returning from Manhattan, where he is expected to voluntarily enter. turned the allegations into political assets to boost his 2024 presidential campaign.
Trump faces multiple charges of falsifying business records, including at least one felony count, in an indictment handed down by a Manhattan grand jury last week, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. He spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss information not yet public because the indictment remains sealed.
Trump has denied wrongdoing and has blasted the investigation as part of a years-long “witch hunt” aimed at damaging his candidacy.
Trump’s aides and lawyers have repeatedly spoken about the wisdom of his appearing in front of reporters after the trial in light of news of the indictment that shocked many. Trump has been thrust back into the headlines with criminal charges and he’s relishing the media attention, and while some of his lawyers prefer to remain silent, his campaign believes the development has emboldened supporters.
The Trump campaign said it has raised more than $5 million and signed up more than 16,000 volunteers since the indictment, which Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said is “a major indicator that Americans of all backgrounds are sick and tired of the weapons of the justice system. President Trump and his supporters.”
Trump was indicted Thursday by a grand jury in a case involving money he paid during the 2016 presidential campaign to a porn actor who admitted that Trump had an extramarital sexual relationship with him years earlier.
In a televised interview on Sunday, Trump’s lawyer Joe Tacopina said he would consider the indictment if he accepted it, then plan his next legal steps. He dismissed questions about whether he would seek a change of venue or file a motion to dismiss the case as premature, though most defense attorneys do both.
“It’s too early to decide whether or not to file a motion, and we have to look at the indictment and get to work,” he told ABC’s “This Week.” “I mean, look, this is the beginning.”
The former president is expected to fly to New York at noon Monday and spend the night at Trump Tower in Manhattan before Tuesday’s planned arraignment, according to two people familiar with the plan who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss Trump’s travel plans.
He is expected to report to court Tuesday morning, where he will be fingerprinted and mugshots taken, just like everyone else facing charges. Investigators will review the arrest documents and check to see if they have any criminal charges or warrants.
After the order is finalized, Trump will appear before a judge for an afternoon arraignment. It will take place in the same Manhattan courtroom where his company was tried and convicted of tax fraud in December and where Harvey Weinstein’s rape trial took place.
But Tacopina said much of what will happen Tuesday remains “up in the air,” given Trump’s unique status as a former president, “other than the fact that we’re going to be loud and proud to say, ‘It’s not wrong.’
“Obviously, this is different. This has happened before. I’ve never had the Secret Service participate in an arraignment before at 100 Center Street,” he said on CNN’s “State of the Union,” using the street address of the courthouse.
The judge may decide to ban anyone involved in the case from talking about it publicly, but that is unlikely to happen at Tuesday’s proceedings. Joke sequences are generally used as a way to avoid offending potential jurors. But it’s often done at the request of the defendant, and in this case, it’s Trump who speaks
Officials from the Secret Service and the New York Police Department visited the courthouse and met about security plans on Friday.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., a key ally of Trump, and the New York Young Republican Club, is planning a “peaceful protest” against Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg across the street from the courthouse on Friday afternoon.
___ Long reported from Wilmington, Delaware.