Donald Trump will be flying to New York Monday evening where he is set to appear in court on Tuesday to face the first criminal charges ever brought against a US former president.
The 45th president will be arraigned on Tuesday in Manhattan, after a grand jury voted to indict him last week in a case involving a hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.
Trump, 76, is set to fly from his estate in Florida ahead of the scheduled court hearing.
Police erected barricades outside Trump Tower over the weekend, with demonstrations expected both there and at the courthouse in Lower Manhattan. The exact charges he faces are not yet known but they will be read in full when he appears at the Manhattan Criminal Courts Building.
Although the indictment, which was approved Thursday, remains sealed in Manhattan Supreme Court, different media outlets have reported that there are approximately 30 counts in the indictment.
In a statement responding to news of his indictment, the former president called it “political persecution and election interference at the highest level in history.”
The indictment is understood to be related to Trump’s reimbursement of his then-lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen for a $130,000 hush money payment made to Daniels before the 2016 presidential election. It is a misdemeanour under New York law to misclassify business expenses. That can become a felony if done to cover up another crime.
Trump, who is the leading contender for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, has accused Democrats of weaponizing the justice system to punish him.
