Donald Trump is Turning Himself In
It’s a moment that many people never thought they’d live to see: Donald Trump is flying to New York City
Tristan Green
It’s a moment that many people never thought they’d live to see: Donald Trump is flying to New York City to turn himself in for a criminal indictment.
Trump is the first former President to be criminally charged, and the whole process has been uncharted waters for the United States.
But we now know what Trump’s Monday and Tuesday will likely look like – and it involves a flight from Florida to New York for booking and to face the judge for arraignment.
See: DONALD TRUMP TO BE ARRAIGNED AFTER TURNING HIMSELF IN ON TUESDAY
Donald Trump Heads to New York
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News broke late last week that Trump would be turning himself in on Tuesday, and we now know a little more about how that will look.
Trump will not be handcuffed, even though he reportedly wanted to be in order to harness the optics of being perp walked into court in handcuffed.
He will be fingerprinted, and a mugshot taken, and he will appear before a judge who will inform him of the charges he faces.
Trump will then be told the terms of his pre-trial waiting period. It will almost certainly involve a gag order, given Trump’s propensity for shooting verbally from the hip over any and everything, but whether or not Trump complies is another matter entirely.
One or two violations of a gag order won’t land Trump in extremely hot water, but enough may – at this point, it’s up to his legal team to impress upon the former POTUS exactly what can happen if he doesn’t respect the judge.
Trump wrote on Truth Social, “I will be leaving Mar-a-Lago on Monday at 12 noon, heading to Trump Tower in New York. On Tuesday morning I will be going to, believe it or not, the Courthouse. America was not supposed to be this way!”
He is expected to speak from Mar-a-Lago today.
News outlets are requesting that they be given the ability to live stream the hearing on Tuesday, and that Judge Juan Merchan unseal the indictment ahead of Trump’s arraignment.
The Guardian reports, “Lawyers for the former president, meanwhile, say they are expecting Merchan to issue a gag order Monday, or at his arraignment, on all parties in the case, after Trump maintained a furious tirade against Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg over the weekend.
Such an order could substantially impact what Trump will have to say in comments he is scheduled to make from Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday evening, immediately after returning from New York.
As for today, Trump’s flight is expected to leave Palm Beach international airport at midday, and arrive at LaGuardia airport in New York about 3pm, reports said. He will spend the night at his Trump Tower apartment in Manhattan.”
Trump Either Had a Calm Weekend or a Fevered and Furious One – Depending on Who You Ask
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And the question as to how Trump spent his last weekend before being fingerprinted and given a mugshot is a topic of great speculation.
Some outlets reported that Trump spent a calm weekend playing golf, posting on social media and spending time with his inner circle. Others suggested that he was lashing out and furious, especially frustrated by his inability to insult witnesses and prosecutors involved in the case against him.
But the truth is likely somewhere in the middle.
Trump did appear to golf and post to social media with some level of calm over the weekend – so that much can be supposed true. However, Trump has already been warned by legal experts to stop lashing out at District Attorney Alvin Bragg and others involved in the case if he wants to remain a free man while awaiting trial.
So while Trump has reigned in some of his worse impulses online, he almost certainly dealt with them behind the scenes. Trump still feels persecuted and unfairly treated, and it doesn’t seem likely that those feelings of fury and righteous indignation are all gone.
However, there’s one bright star in the Trump camp; the indictment has pushed Republican voters more firmly in his camp, and they’re sending money his way in support.
There’s no constitutional vehicle preventing Trump from running for office or even winning as a convicted felon (if he should be convicted of a felony), or even running from prison if the worst happens for the former POTUS.
So Trump is instead using the indictment to drum up enthusiasm for 2024 – and drive people into a state of paranoid fear that they’re next on the list of people that Democrat prosecutors will come after once they’re done with him.
Of course, the New York DA is unlikely to have interest in any average Trump voter – but he’s done a good job at making them fear that he might.