Donald Trump will not be put in handcuffs, placed in a jail cell or subjected to a mugshot upon his arrival in New York City, where he will be tried for dozens of counts related to a hush money payout, a new report says. (Read More Here).
Other senior members of Trump’s team have discussed using the mugshot on merchandise and fundraising pitches, with some believing it could net the campaign millions of dollars, sources told Rolling Stone. His campaign is currently selling “I Stand With Trump” T-shirts and, on Monday, his PAC sent out a fundraising email with the subject line, “Tomorrow, I will be arrested.” Trump has already raised money from the case’s publicity, accumulating $7 million in the first three days after this indictment.
Will he be forced to post bail?
Probably not. Should he be formally arraigned without conflict, a judge will likely release him on his own recognisance.
New York’s mugshot law was passed in 2019 by then-governor Andrew Cuomo. Previously, booking photos were subject to the state’s Freedom of Information Law, meaning police almost always had to release them. The 2019 law calls mugshots “an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy” and essentially leaves it up to local police to decide when to release photos.
Several questions remain about the step-by-step process for criminally indicting a former president, including the logistics of actually carrying out the task of bringing Mr Trump to the courtroom.
The former president arrived at La Guardia International Airport on Monday afternoon and spent the final night before his arrest at Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue.
Almost certainly not. The crime(s) for which he has been indicted are not considered violent offences, and the former president is hardly considered an escape risk. District Attorney Alvin Bragg has also reportedly been discussing the optics of handling Mr Trump’s arraignment, so don’t expect any attention-grabbing moves like slapping Mr Trump in cuffs. By contrast, The New York Times reports that Mr Trump hopes that Mr Bragg will indeed take this step, as he hopes to inspire a frenzy of photos in the media of a former US president being “perp-walked”.
Mr Trump’s lawyer, Joe Tacopina, told Good Morning America on 31 March: “The president will not be put in handcuffs.”
Yes, and no. Those are standard parts of the booking procedure but latest reports suggest a mugshot will be skipped because of Mr Trump’s celebrity status.
Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg has reportedly consulted with the Secret Service and New York City court officials and decided that there was no reason to put Mr Trump through the normal procedure of being cuffed and having a photo taken.
Karen Agnifilo, a former prosecutor in the Manhattan district attorney’s office, told the Wall Street Journal that after having his fingerprints taken Trump will be interviewed by detective investigators and arrested.
“And he would be issued a rap sheet reflecting this arrest, like every other person who is arrested and fingerprinted in this country,” said Ms. Agnifilo.
Discover more from KossyDerrickent
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
