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Donald Trump Prepares to Surrender Following Hush-Money Indictment in New York

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New York officials and

Donald Trump’s

legal team began making preparations for the former president to surrender Tuesday to face charges for his role in paying hush money to a porn star, as one of Mr. Trump’s lawyers mounted a public offensive against the indictment.

A grand jury handed up the indictment, sought by the office of Manhattan District Attorney

Alvin Bragg,

on Thursday afternoon. The charges aren’t public and are expected to remain sealed until Mr. Trump makes an initial appearance in court, scheduled for 2:15 p.m. on Tuesday. He is first expected to report to the district attorney’s office that morning, when he will be arrested, fingerprinted and photographed.

Mr. Trump is planning to fly from Florida to New York on Monday and spend the night at Trump Tower before heading to the courthouse Tuesday, according to people familiar with his schedule.

Streets surrounding the lower Manhattan courthouse are also expected to be blocked off, officials said. The U.S. Secret Service is expected to accompany Mr. Trump during his time at the courthouse.

The former president has previously called on his supporters to protest, and forecast “death & destruction,” but he hasn’t repeated such pitches since being indicted. U.S. Rep.

Marjorie Taylor Greene

(R., Ga.), one of his supporters, wrote on Twitter that she would be there Tuesday.

A spokesman for Mayor

Eric Adams

said Friday that there are no credible threats to New York City at this time.

New York Gov.

Kathy Hochul,

a Democrat, said she spoke with Mr. Adams on Thursday about Mr. Trump’s pending appearance and offered state resources to help with security or crowd control. “This is not new to the NYPD, but I also want to offer our assistance in any way they want to take advantage of it—our State Police, the Guard, whatever they ask for,” she said.

Trump lawyer Joe Tacopina appeared on major television networks to defend his client from charges he said were unprecedented and unfair. He said there was “zero” chance Mr. Trump would take a plea in the case, which centers on his role in making a hush-money payment to a porn star before the 2016 election.

“It’s not going to happen,” Mr. Tacopina said on NBC’s “Today” show. “There’s no crime. I don’t know if it’s going to make the trial because we have substantial legal challenges that we have to front before we get to that point.” 

Mr. Trump said Thursday night on his social-media network that the charges were disgraceful and that he didn’t think he could get a fair trial in New York.

Mr. Trump’s campaign said it raised more than $4 million in the 24 hours since news of the indictment became public.

Lawyer Joe Tacopina appeared on major television networks to defend his client, Donald Trump.



Photo:

Gilbert Carrasquillo/Getty Images

The former president and his allies were surprised by the timing of the indictment. Advisers said they had viewed the timing of an upcoming planned break for the grand jury as a sign that an indictment wouldn’t come for weeks, if at all.

Mr. Trump, who dined Thursday night with his wife and friends at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, had expressed optimism before the indictment that the case may be falling apart—a notion supported by several of his advisers, according to people familiar with the discussions.

Having faced more than a dozen federal, congressional and state probes since 2016 made it easier for Mr. Trump and his allies to believe that an indictment wouldn’t really come, said David Urban, a longtime Trump adviser.

“It’s like the boy who cries wolf,” he said. “They became numb to it because in those instances, the wolf never came.”

Still, Mr. Trump has been unsettled for weeks by the prospect of being indicted, advisers have said. As president, he relished the pomp and pageantry of his office, offering up tours of the Oval Office and marveling at the elaborate choreography of events at the White House and in meetings with counterparts abroad. Advisers said they expected him to struggle with the notion of being fingerprinted and having his mug shot taken—as one of his lawyers put it, “just like anyone else.”

The case is expected to land in the court of Justice

Juan Merchan,

who presided over the tax-fraud trial against the Trump Organization last year. 

A jury found that the company engaged in an off-the-books compensation scheme to pay some executives in car leases, apartments and cash. Justice Merchan sentenced the Trump Organization’s former chief financial officer,

Allen Weisselberg,

to five months in jail for his role in the scheme. Mr. Weisselberg, who pleaded guilty and testified against the company, is due to be released next month.

Justice Merchan has handled felony trials since 2009. He previously worked in the New York attorney general’s office and in the Manhattan district attorney’s office.

Mr. Trump has already begun laying the foundation for an argument that the judge wouldn’t give him a fair shake.

“The Judge ‘assigned’ to my Witch Hunt Case, a ‘Case’ that has NEVER BEEN CHARGED BEFORE, HATES ME,” Mr. Trump wrote in a post on his social-media site on Friday morning. He said Justice Merchan treated the Trump Organization “VICIOUSLY” in the fraud trial.

Mr. Trump’s attacks on Justice Merchan are outside the legal norm, but he has a history of criticizing judges in his cases. In 2016, Mr. Trump said a judge presiding over fraud lawsuits against Trump University had a conflict of interest because of his “Mexican heritage.” Mr. Trump later settled the suits. Mr. Trump, as president, also disparaged judges who ruled against Trump administration policies. He called a California-based federal appeals court “a disgrace.”

A New York state courts spokesman declined to comment.

Mr. Bragg’s office on Friday sent a letter to the Republican chairs of three U.S. House committees who have criticized the investigation into Mr. Trump and demanded documents about the probe. Mr. Bragg’s general counsel said in the letter that the lawmakers’ actions were improper.

“Based on your reportedly close collaboration with Mr. Trump in attacking this Office and the grand jury process, it appears you are acting more like criminal defense counsel trying to gather evidence for a client than a legislative body seeking to achieve a legitimate legislative objective,” the letter said.

A spokesman for House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R., Ohio) didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The Manhattan grand jury that voted to indict Mr. Trump had been hearing testimony since late January about his role in a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.

Mr. Trump’s then-lawyer,

Michael Cohen,

wired the money to Ms. Daniels in the final stretch of Mr. Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. In return, she agreed to keep quiet about an alleged sexual encounter with Mr. Trump a decade earlier. Mr. Trump denies the sexual encounter. Mr. Cohen has said that Mr. Trump directed him to pay Ms. Daniels.

Mr. Trump reimbursed Mr. Cohen in 2017 in monthly installments. The Trump Organization’s records falsely reflected the payments to Mr. Cohen as legal expenses, federal prosecutors alleged in a 2018 case against Mr. Cohen.

The grand jury also heard detailed accounts of a separate $150,000 payment to a former Playboy model who alleged that she had a 10-month affair with the former president, people familiar with the matter said. That payment was made by the publisher of the National Enquirer in August 2016 to Karen McDougal.

American Media Inc., long allied with Mr. Trump, bought the rights to Ms. McDougal’s story of the affair and then sat on them, preventing her from going public. Mr. Trump also denies he had an affair with Ms. McDougal.

David Pecker,

the former chief executive of American Media, told the grand jury that Mr. Trump appealed to him directly to buy Ms. McDougal’s story, the people said.

Former President Donald Trump said the charges against him were disgraceful.



Photo:

Alex Brandon/Associated Press

Write to Corinne Ramey at [email protected], Joe Palazzolo at [email protected] and Rebecca Ballhaus at [email protected]

Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8


New York officials and

Donald Trump’s

legal team began making preparations for the former president to surrender Tuesday to face charges for his role in paying hush money to a porn star, as one of Mr. Trump’s lawyers mounted a public offensive against the indictment.

A grand jury handed up the indictment, sought by the office of Manhattan District Attorney

Alvin Bragg,

on Thursday afternoon. The charges aren’t public and are expected to remain sealed until Mr. Trump makes an initial appearance in court, scheduled for 2:15 p.m. on Tuesday. He is first expected to report to the district attorney’s office that morning, when he will be arrested, fingerprinted and photographed.

Mr. Trump is planning to fly from Florida to New York on Monday and spend the night at Trump Tower before heading to the courthouse Tuesday, according to people familiar with his schedule.

Streets surrounding the lower Manhattan courthouse are also expected to be blocked off, officials said. The U.S. Secret Service is expected to accompany Mr. Trump during his time at the courthouse.

The former president has previously called on his supporters to protest, and forecast “death & destruction,” but he hasn’t repeated such pitches since being indicted. U.S. Rep.

Marjorie Taylor Greene

(R., Ga.), one of his supporters, wrote on Twitter that she would be there Tuesday.

A spokesman for Mayor

Eric Adams

said Friday that there are no credible threats to New York City at this time.

New York Gov.

Kathy Hochul,

a Democrat, said she spoke with Mr. Adams on Thursday about Mr. Trump’s pending appearance and offered state resources to help with security or crowd control. “This is not new to the NYPD, but I also want to offer our assistance in any way they want to take advantage of it—our State Police, the Guard, whatever they ask for,” she said.

Trump lawyer Joe Tacopina appeared on major television networks to defend his client from charges he said were unprecedented and unfair. He said there was “zero” chance Mr. Trump would take a plea in the case, which centers on his role in making a hush-money payment to a porn star before the 2016 election.

“It’s not going to happen,” Mr. Tacopina said on NBC’s “Today” show. “There’s no crime. I don’t know if it’s going to make the trial because we have substantial legal challenges that we have to front before we get to that point.” 

Mr. Trump said Thursday night on his social-media network that the charges were disgraceful and that he didn’t think he could get a fair trial in New York.

Mr. Trump’s campaign said it raised more than $4 million in the 24 hours since news of the indictment became public.

Lawyer Joe Tacopina appeared on major television networks to defend his client, Donald Trump.



Photo:

Gilbert Carrasquillo/Getty Images

The former president and his allies were surprised by the timing of the indictment. Advisers said they had viewed the timing of an upcoming planned break for the grand jury as a sign that an indictment wouldn’t come for weeks, if at all.

Mr. Trump, who dined Thursday night with his wife and friends at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, had expressed optimism before the indictment that the case may be falling apart—a notion supported by several of his advisers, according to people familiar with the discussions.

Having faced more than a dozen federal, congressional and state probes since 2016 made it easier for Mr. Trump and his allies to believe that an indictment wouldn’t really come, said David Urban, a longtime Trump adviser.

“It’s like the boy who cries wolf,” he said. “They became numb to it because in those instances, the wolf never came.”

Still, Mr. Trump has been unsettled for weeks by the prospect of being indicted, advisers have said. As president, he relished the pomp and pageantry of his office, offering up tours of the Oval Office and marveling at the elaborate choreography of events at the White House and in meetings with counterparts abroad. Advisers said they expected him to struggle with the notion of being fingerprinted and having his mug shot taken—as one of his lawyers put it, “just like anyone else.”

The case is expected to land in the court of Justice

Juan Merchan,

who presided over the tax-fraud trial against the Trump Organization last year. 

A jury found that the company engaged in an off-the-books compensation scheme to pay some executives in car leases, apartments and cash. Justice Merchan sentenced the Trump Organization’s former chief financial officer,

Allen Weisselberg,

to five months in jail for his role in the scheme. Mr. Weisselberg, who pleaded guilty and testified against the company, is due to be released next month.

Justice Merchan has handled felony trials since 2009. He previously worked in the New York attorney general’s office and in the Manhattan district attorney’s office.

Mr. Trump has already begun laying the foundation for an argument that the judge wouldn’t give him a fair shake.

“The Judge ‘assigned’ to my Witch Hunt Case, a ‘Case’ that has NEVER BEEN CHARGED BEFORE, HATES ME,” Mr. Trump wrote in a post on his social-media site on Friday morning. He said Justice Merchan treated the Trump Organization “VICIOUSLY” in the fraud trial.

Mr. Trump’s attacks on Justice Merchan are outside the legal norm, but he has a history of criticizing judges in his cases. In 2016, Mr. Trump said a judge presiding over fraud lawsuits against Trump University had a conflict of interest because of his “Mexican heritage.” Mr. Trump later settled the suits. Mr. Trump, as president, also disparaged judges who ruled against Trump administration policies. He called a California-based federal appeals court “a disgrace.”

A New York state courts spokesman declined to comment.

Mr. Bragg’s office on Friday sent a letter to the Republican chairs of three U.S. House committees who have criticized the investigation into Mr. Trump and demanded documents about the probe. Mr. Bragg’s general counsel said in the letter that the lawmakers’ actions were improper.

“Based on your reportedly close collaboration with Mr. Trump in attacking this Office and the grand jury process, it appears you are acting more like criminal defense counsel trying to gather evidence for a client than a legislative body seeking to achieve a legitimate legislative objective,” the letter said.

A spokesman for House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R., Ohio) didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The Manhattan grand jury that voted to indict Mr. Trump had been hearing testimony since late January about his role in a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.

Mr. Trump’s then-lawyer,

Michael Cohen,

wired the money to Ms. Daniels in the final stretch of Mr. Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. In return, she agreed to keep quiet about an alleged sexual encounter with Mr. Trump a decade earlier. Mr. Trump denies the sexual encounter. Mr. Cohen has said that Mr. Trump directed him to pay Ms. Daniels.

Mr. Trump reimbursed Mr. Cohen in 2017 in monthly installments. The Trump Organization’s records falsely reflected the payments to Mr. Cohen as legal expenses, federal prosecutors alleged in a 2018 case against Mr. Cohen.

The grand jury also heard detailed accounts of a separate $150,000 payment to a former Playboy model who alleged that she had a 10-month affair with the former president, people familiar with the matter said. That payment was made by the publisher of the National Enquirer in August 2016 to Karen McDougal.

American Media Inc., long allied with Mr. Trump, bought the rights to Ms. McDougal’s story of the affair and then sat on them, preventing her from going public. Mr. Trump also denies he had an affair with Ms. McDougal.

David Pecker,

the former chief executive of American Media, told the grand jury that Mr. Trump appealed to him directly to buy Ms. McDougal’s story, the people said.

Former President Donald Trump said the charges against him were disgraceful.



Photo:

Alex Brandon/Associated Press

Write to Corinne Ramey at [email protected], Joe Palazzolo at [email protected] and Rebecca Ballhaus at [email protected]

Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

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