Donald Trump, and America with him, is about to experience a historic first: he will leave Florida on Monday to reach New York, where he must appear the next day in criminal justice after being charged in connection with a payment to a porn star.
• Read also: Indicted, Trump to speak in Florida on Tuesday night and prepare for ‘battle’
• Read also: New York police ‘on high alert’ ahead of Trump appearance
For a former American president to be presented to a judge in this way is unprecedented.
And it comes as the 76-year-old billionaire is in the race for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.
“Tuesday morning I will, believe it or not, be going to court. America was not supposed to be like that”, launched Sunday evening on his Truth Social network Donald Trump, who claims his innocence and cries for several days in the “witch hunt”.
The tycoon, who said he will leave his residence in Mar-a-Lago, Florida at noon on Monday, must appear in a Manhattan court to be formally served the next day with the charges against him. These have not yet been made public.
The same day, at 8:15 p.m. local time, he planned to speak from Florida, his services announced.
«Perp walk»?
In the turmoil surrounding the case, the way his appearance will unfold is on everyone’s lips in political and media circles.
Usually, the ritual is well established. The defendants give their name, age, profession, submit to fingerprinting and have their photo taken (the famous “mugshot”).
This time, the fact that it is a former head of state leaves suspense and “nothing is decided yet”, according to one of Mr. Trump’s lawyers, Joe Tacopina.
“It has never happened before. Never had the Secret Service been involved in a reading of the indictment” at such a high level, he said on Sunday, referring to the elite police responsible for protecting high American personalities.
Will there be a “perp walk”, this march of the defendant surrounded by police in a public space, during which he is machine-gunned by photographers and cameras?
In the meantime, the former president is preparing for the “battle”, according to Joe Tacopina. “Because really, (Tuesday) is the day, in my opinion, that the rule of law in the United States died.”
If many Republicans seem to unite around him, including among his rivals, the former governor of Arkansas Asa Hutchinson announced his candidacy for the presidency of 2024 to him on Sunday, estimating in the same breath that Mr. Trump should withdraw from the race in view of his indictment.
One file among others
The case that comes back to torment Donald Trump dates back to 2016, just before his surprise election at the head of the first world power.
His personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, had at the time paid 130,000 dollars to the actress of pornographic films Stormy Daniels to buy his silence. The porn star says she had sex with Donald Trump, married to Melania, he denies it.
The magnate has since been forced to admit that he had reimbursed Michael Cohen, but assures that the transaction was not illegal.
If the agreement made with Stormy Daniels was indeed authorized, it could however correspond to a campaign expense. However, the sum does not appear in the candidate’s accounts and has, on the contrary, been entered as “legal fees” in his company’s documents.
The Stormy Daniels case is just one of many investigations threatening Donald Trump.
Federal justice has opened investigations into his role in the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, and into his management of the presidential archives after his departure from the White House. A Georgia state prosecutor is also interested in pressure exerted on electoral officials to challenge her defeat in the 2020 presidential election.
In the meantime, his supporters want to believe that his impeachment will only solidify his candidacy in 2024, reinforcing their sense of a “conspiracy” against him.
His supporters, including the elected Marjorie Taylor Greene, planned to demonstrate in New York on Tuesday against the “odious attack” of the prosecutor against him.
The New York police are already on alert to avoid any overflow.