Trump Agrees to Arrest Terms

Court says former president is due in court, in person, Tuesday afternoon
By Bob Cronin,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 31, 2023 2:48 PM CDT
Trump Agrees to Arrest Terms
Pedestrians on Friday walk past Manhattan Criminal Court in New York, where former President Donald Trump is scheduled to be arraigned.   (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Court officials in New York said Friday that they plan to arraign Donald Trump at 2pm Tuesday. The former president's presence is expected in a 15th-floor Manhattan courtroom for the proceeding, they said. A lawyer for Trump said his team has agreed with the district attorney's office on how the arrest will be handled, Fox News reports: Trump is to surrender to detectives, who will not handcuff him. The Secret Service will decide how the former president is brought to Judge Juan Merchan's courtroom. A meeting was scheduled for Friday afternoon among representatives of the FBI, New York City police, New York state court officers, the Secret Service, and the district attorney's office to settle logistical and security arrangements.

The prosecutor in the case responded Friday to intense criticism from Republican lawmakers over the indictment. A letter from District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office to three GOP committee chairmen called their accusation that the indictment is politically motivated "misleading and meritless." General counsel Leslie Dubeck wrote that Trump is entitled to fight the charges in court, per Politico. "What neither Mr. Trump nor Congress may do is interfere with the ordinary course of proceedings in New York State," the letter says. Dubeck asked that Reps. Jim Jordan, James Comer, and Bryan Steil withdraw their demands for information about the case and allow the case to "proceed without unlawful political interference."

Trump launched fresh attacks Friday on the judge he'll stand before Tuesday, posting that "the Judge 'assigned' to my Witch Hunt Case … HATES ME." Merchan handled unrelated accusations against the Trump Organization, and Trump said the judge treated him "viciously." Partly because of Trump's recent social media posts, fears of political violence related to the case have increased. The New York mayor's office tweeted Friday afternoon that no credible threats have been received, per the Independent. (Trump was reportedly "blindsided" by the timing of the indictment.)

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