Trump Aims to Appear in New York Court for Prosecution Case

In the affair of hush money payments, ex-US President Trump plans to appear before a New York court on Tuesday. As the city braces for protests, Trump capitalizes on the media frenzy.

Business as usual: Ex-US President Donald Trump played golf in Florida at the weekend. The fact that he is due to appear before a court in New York tomorrow does not seem to deter him. On the contrary: the 76-year-old used the media attention for himself.

He announced that he would travel to New York today, stay overnight in Trump Tower and appear in person at the courthouse in downtown Manhattan tomorrow at 2:15 p.m. local time. He did not publicly object to mugshots and fingerprints. In the evening at prime time, Trump announced, he would then address his supporters at home in Mar-a-Lago.

Accused and Popular

Like Trump, his attorney Joe Tacopina also described the charges as “political persecution.” Tacopina deliberately sought publicity over the weekend and appeared on a number of US television talk shows.

“If Trump weren’t running for president, he wouldn’t have been impeached,” Tacopina told CNN’s State of the Union. By the way: since these charges were announced, Trump’s popularity ratings have increased significantly.

Not only Trump’s poll numbers have risen, but also his campaign account balance. He and his campaign team had used the media hype to collect money. In the 24 hours after the charges against him became known, more than four million dollars in campaign donations were collected.

competition from within their own ranks

While there was unanimous outrage from Republicans about the ex-president’s indictment, a party colleague opposed Trump. Asa Hutchinson, the former governor of Arkansas, announced on ABC that he intends to run as a presidential candidate. At the same time, he called on Trump to withdraw his candidacy. After all, he was involved in a total of three investigations.

“The first is the hush money payment in New York, the second is the solicitation to find more voters in Georgia and the third is the handling of classified documents in Mar-a-Lago. Those are three very serious investigations,” Hutchinson said.

Riots expected in Manhattan

Meanwhile, authorities in New York are preparing for riots and protests in Manhattan. Radical Republican and Trump friend Marjorie Taylor Green announced that she would be making public appearances near the courthouse. Among other things, she wrote on Twitter: “I am traveling to New York to protest – against the abuse of our justice system and against election interference.”

Trump was charged on Thursday with hush money payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 election. Daniels testified that he had a sexual affair with Trump in 2006, which he denies. The hush money payments themselves are not illegal, but Trump could be held responsible for improper campaign finance or forged business documents.