Sources: Trump impeachment not expected to be released today

NEW YORK — Prosecutors are not expected to ask a judge to unseal the historic Manhattan grand jury indictment against former President Donald Trump on Friday, he confirmed to our sister network. BNC News a source with direct knowledge of the legal proceedings, although his attorney says the district attorney’s office initially wanted him to turn himself in.

Joe Tacopina, a lawyer for Trump, confirmed BNC News that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office wanted Trump to turn himself in on Friday, but Tacopoina said he and other Trump aides denied the request. Tacopoina said the Secret Service needed more time to prepare, a claim the Secret Service denies, sources say. NBC News.

Those sources said the Secret Service detail was ready to fly Trump to New York at a moment’s notice, saying its members were simply responding to orders based on dates agreed between Trump’s defense team and Bragg’s office. Bragg’s office confirmed late Thursday that his team had contacted Trump to coordinate his surrender. An arraignment date has not been officially set and the grand jury indictment remains sealed for now.

Some experts have said they believe Trump could be charged with falsifying business records, which may be a misdemeanor or felony under New York law. To secure a felony conviction, prosecutors would need to prove that records were tampered with with intent to commit or conceal a second crime.

It’s unclear what prosecutors are alleging as a second offense.

If Trump surrenders, expect a relatively quick process and release without bail (as is common in New York), with an emphasis on safety. There is no manual for hiring a former president with US Secret Service protection. Agents are tasked with protecting former presidents unless and until they say they don’t need them. Trump kept his contact information, so officers must be with him at all times.

Given the security concerns, experts say Trump is unlikely to walk down a crowded sidewalk or down a courtroom hallway in handcuffs. For most defendants, that would be typical, as would fingerprints and a photo.

Bragg himself made no comment as he left his office on Thursday evening.

Trump’s lawyers said BNC News the former president is expected to be arraigned on Tuesday, while two sources familiar with the matter said the tentative plan is for Trump to appear before Judge Juan Merchan after 2:15 p.m. Officers are in uniform and preparing to deploy accordingly starting on Friday.

Political analyst Carlos Vargas claimed that this accusation will unite the bases of the Republican Party for the next elections.

what the trump says

Trump’s team denied any wrongdoing during the investigation and did so vehemently again on Thursday. Tacopina said the former president had committed no crime and promised to “vigorously fight this political charge in court.”

Tacopina accused prosecutors of “bending the laws” in an attempt to bring down the former president. He described Trump as a victim of extortion who had to pay because the allegations were going to embarrass him “regardless of the campaign.”

In a lengthy statement in which he again denied the allegations, Trump echoed his lawyers’ claims the previous Thursday, calling the case “the highest level of political persecution and election interference in history.”

“Democrats lied, cheat and stole in their obsession with trying to ‘get Trump,’ but now they’ve done the unthinkable: indict a totally innocent person in an act of blatant election interference,” the statement said. Trump. “The Democrats have cheated countless times over the decades, including spying on my campaign, but using our justice system as a weapon to punish a political opponent, who happens to be the President of the United States and by far the Republican favorite for president, this has never happened before.”

As he always has in the past, Trump again called the investigation a “witch hunt.” He continued to lash out at Bragg, calling him “a disgrace…doing Joe Biden’s dirty work, ignoring the murders, robberies and assaults he should be focusing on.”

Legally, an impeachment does not prevent Trump from running in 2024, as he has repeatedly promised. Prosecutors did not say whether they intended to seek jail time if convicted, a development that also would not prevent Trump from seeking or winning the presidency.

The jury spent weeks meeting in secret to investigate Trump’s involvement in a 2016 $130,000 payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels to stop her from going public with a sexual encounter she said having had with him years earlier. Trump’s attorney, Michael Cohen, paid Daniels through a shell company before being reimbursed by Trump, whose company, the Trump Organization, recorded the reimbursements as legal fees.

In early 2016, Cohen also arranged for former Playboy model Karen McDougal to receive a $150,000 payout from the publisher of supermarket tabloid The National Enquirer, who later silenced her story.

Trump denies having had sex with either woman.

Trump’s company “inflated” Cohen’s reimbursement of Daniels’ salary to cover tax payments, according to federal prosecutors who filed criminal charges against the lawyer in connection with the payments in 2018. In total, Cohen received $360,000 plus $60,000 bail, for a total of $420,000.

Cohen pleaded guilty to violating federal campaign finance law in connection with the payments. Federal prosecutors say the payments amounted to unreported illegal aid to the Trump campaign. But they declined to press charges against Trump himself.