• US Donald Trump appears for the Stormy Daniels case
  • United States Delay and obstruct, Trump's legal strategy after his indictment

The day has come. On Tuesday, Donald Trump will become the first president in U.S. history to be formally indicted for crimes that, in theory, could carry jail time. This afternoon, the Republican will appear in court in New York, where he will be read the approximately 30 charges filed against him by a grand jury in the city. But what implications will this have for the former president ahead of the 2024 presidential elections? Here are some answers to the uncertainties of the 'Trump case'.

If the former president ended up in jail, how would it affect his aspirations to return to the White House?

This question leads to another: whether the law of the United States allows to opt for the Presidency - which in that country is the head of state and government - being charged, being tried or even after having been convicted and in prison. And the answer is yes. Now, in case of being in prison, there would be practical consequences difficult to imagine and that revolve fundamentally around another question: How can a country be run from a cell?

What are the next steps?

This afternoon, Trump will appear before the New York Justice accompanied by the agents of the Secret Service who are in charge of his security for being a former president. The Secret Service will have to coordinate with the NYPD on everything related to fingerprinting, height measurement and photographing of Trump. There remained the great question of the perp walk, that is, the promenade to which all those arrested in New York are subjected, handcuffed with their hands behind their backs and two agents grabbing their arms. Will they dare to do so, even without handcuffs, with a former president? In principle, it has been ruled out.

Will the judge accept the charges of the Prosecutor's Office?

At the moment, we do not know what they are, although, according to the US media, it could be more than 30 charges. In many cases, judges significantly cut prosecutors' indictments, so if that were to happen with Trump, it wouldn't be exceptional.

What will happen inside the courtroom?

Once he is arraigned by the NYPD, Trump will appear before Judge Juan Merchan, where the charges will be read to him. His lawyers have confirmed that the former president will plead not guilty to these charges.

Who will appear as witnesses?

There the Prosecutor's Office is in theoretically slippery terrain. One of the main assets of the Prosecutor's Office is the pornographic actress Stormy Daniels, whom Trump's defense will accuse, predictably, of having orchestrated all the assembly to relaunch her dying career.

The other is Michael Cohen, the former head of the Trump Organization's legal team, which is the umbrella under which the former president organizes his businesses, and who has been convicted of fraud and has his former chief financial officer, David Weisselberg (who played a central role in the payments to Daniels). But Cohen has spent three years in jail for tax fraud and campaign finance violations, and has become Trump's public enemy number one. That could call into question his credibility as a witness, since the former president's defense would not have a hard time presenting him as a confessed criminal and a former employee of Donald Trump moved by resentment.

The point, however, is that the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Manhattan is, without a doubt, the most professional and effective in the United States, as it has jurisdiction over none other than Wall Street. So it seems unlikely that he has thrown himself foolishly and madly into a case of historic magnitude. Be that as it may, we will only have theanswer in the coming weeks or, more likely, months. Meanwhile, one thing is clear: candidate Trump continues to lead, with enormous advantage, the polls of the Republican Party to the elections of 2024. And the only thing that can prevent him from running are two things: a health problem (which, considering the longevity of his parents, seems unlikely), or losing the primaries. From jail, from the courthouse or from Mar-a-Lago, candidate Trump continues.

  • United States
  • Donald Trump
  • Stormy Daniels
  • Republican Party USA
  • New York
  • Justice
  • America
  • Articles Pablo Pardo

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