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Donald Trump’s lawyer said Friday that the former president will surrender to New York authorities, but he won’t consider a plea deal after his indictment by a Manhattan grand jury investigating a hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
Trump faces multiple charges of falsifying business records, including at least one felony offense, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.
The former president is set to appear in court in New York at 2:15 p.m. Tuesday. The unprecedented indictment represents the first criminal charges against a former U.S. president.
Prosecutors in New York investigated money paid to porn actor Stormy Daniels and ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal to keep the women from going public with claims that they had sex with him.
Trump’s lawyer, Joe Tacopina, told NBC’s “Today” show on Friday that Trump was initially “shocked” when notified of the grand jury’s action late Thursday. But the 76-year-old Trump “put a notch on his belt” and vowed to challenge the criminal case, Tacopina said.
“President Trump will not take a plea deal in this case. It’s not going to happen. There’s no crime,” Tacopina said.
How Stormy Daniels reacted to indictment:Stormy Daniels said she’d dance in the streets if Trump was indicted. Now she’s sad it happened
Trump indicted: How did Michael Cohen arrange hush payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal?
Here is the latest on the indictment:
Exonerated Central Park 5 member reacts
One of the men wrongly convicted in the 1989 Central Park Five case has one word for Donald Trump: “karma.”
That’s the tweet Yusef Salaam — now a New York City Council candidate — sent out Thursday. He was one of five Black and Hispanic teenagers wrongly convicted of assaulting and raping a white woman in New York’s Central Park.
During that period Trump, who was a popular New York real estate mogul, bought a full-page newspaper ad demanding the state adopt the death penalty in reaction to the attack.
As president, Trump refused to apologize when the five were officially exonerated and evidence showed police illegally coerced a confession.
— Phillip M. Bailey
Previously:‘They admitted their guilt’: 30 years of Trump’s comments about the Central Park Five
Stormy Daniels opts out of Piers Morgan interview
The woman at the center of the criminal investigation that led to Donald Trump’s indictment postponed what was being promoted as a blockbuster interview.
Stormy Daniels, an adult film actress, was set to do an interview with British TV personality Piers Morgan on Friday, which would have been her first in the wake of the former president being hit with unspecified criminal charges.
But Morgan, who was a guest star on Trump’s “Celebrity Apprentice” during its run on NBC, said she changed plans at the last minute.
“Unfortunately, Stormy Daniels has had to suddenly postpone our interview tonight due to some security issues that have arisen,” Morgan said via Twitter.
“Hope she’s OK.”
Daniels’ attorney did not immediately respond to USA TODAY’s request for comment.
— Phillip M. Bailey
Previously:Stormy Daniels said she’d dance in the streets if Trump was indicted. Now she’s sad it happened
What is an arraignment?:What the legal proceeding means following Trump’s indictment
Juan Merchan, judge in Trump Organization trial, expected to preside at Trump arraignment
The New York judge tentatively assigned to preside at next week’s arraignment of Donald Trump is more than familiar with the players in the former president’s orbit.
Manhattan’s Acting Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan presided over the fraud trial of Trump’s namesake real estate company and the related Trump Payroll Corporation ending in a December conviction and $1.6 million in fines.
Merchan also oversaw the sentencing of former Trump financial chief Allen Weisselberg, whose testimony in the fraud case helped secure the convictions.
– Kevin Johnson, Josh Meyer, David Jackson
Who will be judge at Trump arraignment?:Juan Merchan, judge in Trump Organization trial, expected to preside at Trump arraignment
Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s office: GOP House chairmen ‘baseless and inflammatory’
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office told three House Republican chairmen who have criticized his investigation of Donald Trump their dispute is “baseless and inflammatory,” and that Trump can now defend himself against criminal charges in court.
The three chairmen – Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio, on the Judiciary Committee, James Comer of Kentucky on the Oversight and Accountability Committee and Bryan Steil of Wisconsin on the Administration Committee – asked Bragg to answer questions about his inquiry, which they said appeared politically motivated.
Bragg’s general counsel, Leslie Dubeck, rejected the request by saying the lawmakers had no legitimate basis to ask about a pending criminal matter. The chairmen wrote again saying they were justified in asking how a local prosecutor could alter a president’s policies by threatening criminal charges.
“Your second letter asserts that, by failing to provide it, the District Attorney somehow failed to dispute your baseless and inflammatory allegations that our investigation is politically motivated,” Dubeck wrote. “That conclusion is misleading and meritless.”
– Bart Jansen
Jailed Trump exec cuts ties with lawyers:Former Trump Organization exec Allen Weisselberg cuts ties with attorneys
Eric and Donald Trump Jr. outraged by indictment
Trump’s sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr. expressed outrage that the Manhattan District Attorney’s office has obtained a grand jury indictment against their father, calling it a witch hunt and politically motivated prosecutorial misconduct.
Donald Trump Jr. took to the former president’s Truth Social media platform to describe the indictment as “Big news in the weaponization of our Govt against their political enemies.”
Eric Trump said the indictment came in response to his father’s third attempt to win the Republican nomination for the 2024 presidential election.
“This is third world prosecutorial misconduct. It is the opportunistic targeting of a political opponent in a campaign year,” Eric Trump said in a tweet.
– Josh Meyer
Trump mugshot?:A Donald Trump mugshot? Fingerprints? What happens next after Trump indictment
Ivanka Trump on father’s indictment
But Trump’s eldest daughter and former White House advisor, Ivanka Trump, hadn’t said anything on social media until Friday morning, when she offered a cautious response.
“I love my father, and I love my country. Today, l am pained for both,” she wrote in an Instagram post shortly after 11 a.m. EST. “I appreciate the voices across the political spectrum expressing support and concern.”
After Trump announced his presidential candidacy last year, she suggested she’d be stepping back from her father’s political career. “While I will always love and support my father, going forward I will do so outside the political arena,” she said at the time.
– Josh Meyer
Jailed Trump exec cuts ties with lawyers:Former Trump Organization exec Allen Weisselberg cuts ties with attorneys
When will Trump be arrested?
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office acknowledged late Thursday that Trump’s lawyers had been notified of the indictment.
Details of the charges haven’t been released. But legal experts said the charges could stem from the $130,000 payment former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen said he arranged from Trump to porn actress Daniels in exchange for her silence before the 2016 election. Cohen and Daniels have each appeared before the grand jury.
Trump’s attorney Joe Tacopina said Trump was expected in New York by Tuesday for arraignment.
“We’re working out those logistics right now,” Tacopina told NBC’s “Today” show, referring to Trump’s surrender.
– Kevin Johnson
Alvin Bragg v. Donald Trump: Inside Manhattan DA’s latest legal tangle with former president
How will Trump be arrested?
Trump’s lawyer has said he would surrender voluntarily to face the charges in New York.
When he is arrested he will be read his rights known as a Miranda warning, including the right to remain silent and the right to an attorney.
Trump is expected to be taken into custody and processed like any other defendant, according to law enforcement experts. The difference is that as a former president, his Secret Service detail will accompany him.
“There will still be a mug shot, fingerprints and lots of paperwork filled out as part of the booking process,” like other defendants, said former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner.
– Josh Meyer
How Trump’s Republican rivals reacted:‘An outrage’: What Trump’s potential rivals for 2024 are saying about his indictment
Biden: ‘No comment’ on Trump indictment
President Joe Biden stayed silent Friday about Trump’s indictment.
Reporters asked Biden about the indictment multiple times as he left the White House early Friday for a trip to Mississippi. “I have no comment on Trump,” he said.
Biden has nothing publicly about Trump’s legal troubles since the former president announced two weeks ago that he expected to face criminal charges.
– Michael Collins and Maureen Groppe
Biden refuses to talk Trump indictment:‘No. I’m not going to talk about the Trump indictment’: Biden refuses to comment on hush money case
Trump’s GOP rivals: Indictment an ‘outrage’ and ‘un-American’
Trump’s Republican rivals and potential opponents for the 2024 presidential nomination also slammed the charges as politically motivated:
- Former Vice President Mike Pence, who is weighing a bid, told CNN the unprecedented indictment was “nothing more than a political prosecution” and an “outrage.”
- Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley told Fox News Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg was trying to take “revenge.”
- Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is considering a run, said the “weaponization of the legal system” is “un-American.”
- Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, another possible candidate, said Trump should have the “presumption of innocence.” He said Trump shouldn’t be the next president, but that the voters should decide.
– Rebecca Morin
Who is Michael Cohen?:Former Trump lawyer is a key witness in New York probe of ex-president
New York indictment one of 4 pending investigations against Trump
The New York indictment against Trump is one of at least four investigations against the former president.
- In Georgia, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is investigating potential charges of election fraud for Trump’s call 2021 call to state Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
- Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith has a two-pronged investigation. He is reviewing Trump’s role in the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021, and the discovery of classified documents at his estate Mar-a-Lago.
Potential New York charges such as falsifying business records are relatively mundane compared to allegations Trump tried to overturn the 2020 election. But Barbara McQuade, a former U.S. attorney and now a law professor at the University of Michigan, said the evidence for falsifying business records would be fairly straightforward based on documents and is a common charge in New York.
“It certainly does not raise the level of overturning an election, but this case is comparable to other cases that get filed on a regular basis in New York against defendants for falsifying business records,” McQuade told USA TODAY. “Trump should not get a pass on this case in New York just because he also faces potential charges in Georgia and in federal court.”
– Bart Jansen
Other countries charge their leaders:Charges against Trump would be a first in US. But other countries? They routinely charge leaders.
Stormy Daniels: ‘No joy’ from indictment, lawyer says
Daniels said a few weeks ago she would “dance down the street” if Trump were indicted. But on Thursday, the woman at the center of the investigative storm feels bad that he was charged, although it means the judicial system is working, according to her lawyer.
“She was surprised, honestly, even though it was mostly expected,” her lawyer, Clark Brewster told USA TODAY. “But on behalf of Stormy and honestly myself, there’s no joy in seeing the man indicted.”
Daniels wasn’t immediately aware of the indictment because she was out riding her horse.
“The fact is that she feels bad that the guy has been charged,” Brewster said. “But on the other hand, truly, she knew what the facts were and she wants him to deal with the truth as well. So from that perspective, there’s a degree of feeling like the system is working.”
– Josh Meyer
How does hush money work?:Trump indicted: How did Michael Cohen arrange hush payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal?
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