Mugshot, Fingerprints, and Arraignment: Donald Trump's First Court Appearance

The former president's legal team tries to minimize the tension for his client in the face of the media circus they anticipate

MADRID, 31 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The former president of the United States Donald Trump will appear next Tuesday, April 4, before the Manhattan Criminal Court to hear in person the statement of charges, still under summary secrecy, for which he has been charged this past Thursday in the framework of the investigation into the payment of bribes to the porn actress Stephanie Clifford (better known as Stormy Daniels) through an operation buried in the accounts of the Trump Organization, Trump's company, during the 2016 election campaign.

Trump's appearance has been confirmed by his lawyer, Susan R. Necheles, in what is officially a "voluntary surrender" process within a procedural phase that the former president's legal team intends to go through as an initial process with the minor shocks possible after the commotion unleashed by the first criminal charge facing a president of the United States, active or retired, in the history of the country.

The calm with which the president's legal team will approach the session on Tuesday will contrast radically with the atmosphere that the campaign team of the former president and, again, a candidate for the White House in 2024, anticipates outside the room. "He's going to be like O.J. Simpson but on steroids," an adviser to the mogul told Politico news portal, referring to the extraordinary media circus that surrounded the former football star at his trial in the 1990s for the murder. from his ex-wife Nicole Brown.

Trump's legal team has assured that it does not have the slightest intention of "starting a duel" with the Prosecutor's Office, in the words of one of the magnate's lawyers, Joe Tacopina, in statements to the 'New York Daily News', for much that the governor of the state, the ultraconservative Ron DeSantis, has declared that he will in no way contribute to the "extradition" of Trump if he refused to leave his residence.

Donald Trump plans to appear in court at around 2:15 p.m. on Tuesday (8:15 p.m. in mainland Spain and the Balearic Islands) after a trip that will take him from his mansion in Mar-a-lago (Florida) to the district court of Lower Manhattan (in the south of the island, near Wall Street) after a journey in his private plane from Palm Beach International Airport to New York's LaGuardia Airport.

The details of Trump's arrival at the court are still being negotiated between his lawyers and the Manhattan District Attorney's Office led by Alvin Bragg, so it is currently unknown if the former president will access the place through a private entrance or, through the Otherwise, he will walk down Center Street before the cameras and his supporters.

Be that as it may, Trump must submit at some point of the day, either in the same court or in a nearby police station, to the usual procedure that the accused have to go through: fingerprinting, mugshot and reading of their Miranda rights. , which will remind the former president of his right to receive the assistance of a lawyer and to refuse to speak to the Police.

Once the procedure is complete, Trump will await -- perhaps in a cell or, given the relevance of his figure, in the same prosecutor's office -- for his appearance in court, where in all probability he will plead "not guilty." of the charges, public from that moment, that are imputed to him.

From there, the judge, probably Magistrate Juan Merchan, who has already investigated the case for tax fraud against two Trump companies, will determine whether it is necessary to impose a bond or any restriction on the former US president before declaring a date for the immediate preliminaries to the judgment.

The former president will be accompanied at all times by his protection team from the United States Secret Service, which all retired presidents enjoy, led by special agent Sean Curran.