Donald Trump, and America with him, is about to experience a historic first: he must leave Florida on Monday to reach New York, where he is supposed to appear the next day in criminal justice after being charged in connection with a payment to a porn star.
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.
“A political persecution”, denounces the camp of Donald Trump, who proclaims his innocence and cries out for the “witch hunt”.
The magnate must appear in court in Manhattan a priori in the afternoon of Tuesday, to be formally served 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, but from his residence in Mar-a-Lago, Florida announced his services.
“Perpwalk”?
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 is causing unknowns and “nothing is settled yet”, according to one of Mr Trump’s lawyers, Joe Tacopina.
“It’s 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 service responsible for protecting high-ranking 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?
“I expect them to try to get as much publicity out of this as possible,” Tacopina said. “Let’s hope it’s as painless and classy as possible for a situation like this.”
In the meantime, the former president is preparing for “battle”, he continued. “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 attorney, Michael Cohen, paid porn actress Stormy Daniels $130,000 at the time to buy her silence. The porn star assures that she had a sexual relationship 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 his management of the presidential archives after his departure from the White House. A Georgia state prosecutor is also interested in pressure on election officials to contest 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 Tuesday in New York against the “odious attack” of the prosecutor against him.
The New York police are already on alert to avoid any overflow.
With Inès Bel Aiba, in Washington