New York | Former President Donald Trump surrendered in a local court here on Tuesday, after which the first person to hold the highest office in America was arrested.
Now he will be accused of giving money to buy the silence of a porn star.
He was then booked like a normal crime suspect, except he was not handcuffed or paraded around, he appeared before New York State Acting Supreme Court Justice Juan Marchan to be formally charged. Was waiting to be taken to the front.
Given his position, the arrest came under the supervision of the Secret Service, which is charged with protecting former presidents, making it an odd scenario.
Trump walked four miles from his Trump Tower penthouse to the local courthouse in a motorcade as his supporters and opponents held separate rallies.
He was taken inside through the side entrance.
Trump became the first former president in the country’s 246-year history to be arrested and face trial. The incident pushed America into uncharted legal and political territory.
He is also a candidate for next year’s presidential election, leading the Republican nomination and trailing President Joe Biden by only two percentage points in an election poll conducted by RealClearPolitics.
Trump is accused of allegedly paying porn star Stormy Daniels through his former lawyer Michael Cohen, who claimed to have had an affair with her in 2006, ahead of the 2016 election.
Cohen pleaded guilty in federal court in connection with the $130,000 payoff and was sentenced to three years in prison. Federal prosecutors declined to prosecute Trump.
Cohen is the key witness in the local New York case.
Since hush money payments and extra-martial affairs are not illegal, it is likely that the charges will be about irregularities in bookkeeping, how they were recorded and if they can be made in violation of campaign finance laws.
Some leaks reported by the media said Trump would face more than two dozen charges, some of them serious criminal charges or felonies with a maximum sentence of four years in prison.
In a social media post, Trump asked Manhattan Prosecutor Alvin Bragg to charge himself for violating laws against disclosure of the sealed indictment before it is released in court.
Trump’s lawyers have said he will fight the charges in a trial that will take place months later.
