Donald Trump, the former U.S. president and 2024 Republican presidential nomination candidate, was preparing Monday to appear before a Manhattan court on Tuesday after being indicted on criminal charges.
This is the first time a former or current U.S. president has had criminal charges laid against them.
Following a grand jury inquiry, Manhattan District attorney Alvin Bragg’s indicted Trump last Thursday on charges in relation to a hush money scandal.
The grand jury had been hearing evidence about money paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels to silence her speaking about an alleged affair with Trump before his 2016 presidential campaign.
There were no exact details released as to what else was found in the inquiry. The indictment has remained sealed so its contents are not known.
Trump left his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida at midday on Monday, flying to New York City where was to spend the night at his home in Trump Tower in midtown Manhattan.
On Tuesday morning he will head to the courthouse, according to a post he made yesterday on Truth Social, a social media platform he founded.
Toronto Metropolitan University political science professor Wayne Petrozzi said it’s very serious to lay a criminal charge against a current or former U.S. president.
“I don’t know what exactly will happen tomorrow once Trump appears before the courts,” Petrozzi said.
He mentioned the Watergate scandal which happened in the 1970’s when Republican president Richard Nixon resigned after nearly facing criminal charges. Nixon was pardoned by Gerald Ford, his successor who had served as his vice-president.
Petrozzi said it’s too early to determine whether the court case will hurt Trump’s chances of winning the election since the court case has not begun and we don’t know the outcome, yet.
“We don’t know the exact nature of the charges as they didn’t go into any more specifics about the inquiry, but anyone defending Trump without knowing the whole truth doesn’t have a spine,” Petrozzi said.
Petrozzi also said we cannot know at this point whether the court proceedings will also hurt the Republican party since many of its members are defending Trump.
The former president, who continues to maintain he won the last election, went on a rampage last week following the announcement thought a media release statement shared on his reinstated Facebook account, where he took some shots at his political opponent party.
“This is Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history,” he said.
Trump futhermore in his statement swore his revenge on current U.S. President Joe Biden, the democrats and attorney Alvin Bragg if he wins the next presidential election which will take place in 2024.
“I believe this Witch-Hunt will backfire massively on Joe Biden,” the statement added.