When Donald Trump comes in court tonight, one of his attorneys has predicted that he will enter a “very loud and proud” not-guilty plea.
When he is taken into custody on Tuesday, the first former president to be indicted, he will be informed that he is charged with 34 felonies for falsifying company records.
On the eve of the 2016 election, hush money payments were made to Stormy Daniels, a porn star, and Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model, who both claim to have had affairs with Trump.
In a historic move before of the election in 2016, he will be led out Trump Tower by Secret Service personnel to be officially charged, fingerprinted, and photographed.
In an email to supporters of his 2024 campaign, Trump mourned ‘the loss of justice in America’.
He wrote: ‘Today is the day that a ruling political party ARRESTS its leading opponent for having committed NO CRIME.
‘As I will be out of commission for the next few hours, I want to take this moment to THANK YOU for all of your support.
‘Our nation is becoming a Marxist Third World country that CRIMINALIZES dissent and IMPRISONS its political opposition.’
He added: ‘We are a nation that declared its independence from the world’s biggest empire, won two world wars, and landed the first man on the moon.
‘Resilience is in our blood. Our movement has overcome so much. And there is no doubt in my mind that we will prevail once again and WIN the White House in 2024.’
Asked how Trump will conduct himself during the short appearance, Joe Tacopina told CNN’s State of the Union he will ‘very loudly and proudly say “not guilty”’.
The lawyer said he would also deny any lesser charges, even if it would bring an end to the case.
Mr Tacopina said he does not believe the case will ever reach a jury, but conceded: ‘Really, there’s a lot of mystery here because we’re doing something that’s never been done before.’
Speaking to ABC’s Good Morning America, he said: ‘I think there will be a typical processing, which does not take long, 20-30 minutes. There won’t be handcuffs.
‘But, yeah, he’ll be processed the way anyone else would be — to a degree.’
Trump is expected to be released following the hearing as thee charges against him do not require bail to be set.
He is due to return to Mar-a-Lago in Florida this evening to hold a rally in which he is set to be joined by supporters as he seeks to use the criminal charges as a boost to his 2024 campaign.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing and has blasted the investigation as part of a years-long ‘witch hunt’ aimed at damaging his candidacy.
The judge could issue a gag order barring him from speaking about his indictment on the campaign trail, but such directions are usually made at the request of the defendant and Trump is said to be relishing the attention.
His campaign team claims he raised $8 million in the less than a week since the indictment.
Trump has assailed the Manhattan district attorney, egged on supporters to protest and claimed without evidence that the judge ‘hates me’ — something his own lawyer has said is not true.