The former president, Donald Trump will be put under arrest on Tuesday and informed that he has been charged with 34 felonies for falsifying business records.
Before Trump is officially arraigned on the charges—none of which are misdemeanors—a New York City police arrest report summarizing the charges against him will be written and submitted into the court system.
However, until a judge has spoken on pretrial conditions, the source claimed that Trump will not be placed in handcuffs, housed in a jail cell, or have a mug picture taken—typical actions even for white-collar defendants. The Secret Service and New York City judicial officials were consulted, and the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office came to the conclusion that there was no justification for handcuffing or photographing the former president.
The justification given for handcuffing defendants is that they may pose a flight risk or a threat to the district attorney or court staff, neither of which was deemed applicable to the case of a past president who was always surrounded by Secret Service agents.
In the state of New York, the charge of falsifying company records is punishable as a misdemeanor. According to the source, however, Bragg’s office increased all of the charges to Class E felonies, the lowest level of felony offenses in the New York state penal code, on the basis that the conduct was done with the intent to cover up another crime.
Falsifying company records is a Class E felony in New York State, which carries a maximum four-year prison sentence if convicted. But in reality, that seems incredibly improbable. According to a law enforcement official in New York, “No one gets jail time for that as a first offender.”
Till the indictment is unsealed on Tuesday, it is still unclear what crime gave rise to Trump’s claimed misdemeanors and turned them into felonies. However, it is thought to be connected to the $130,000 in hush money that was given to porn actress Stormy Daniels during the final weeks of the 2016 election to cover up an extramarital affair with Trump.
After this article was published, a Trump spokesman claimed that the defense team for the former president hadn’t seen the charge or been given the specifics. Trump’s own TruthSocial article offered a retort.
“Wow! District Attorney Bragg has just illegally LEAKED the full details of the pathetic indictment against me, including all of its main points, Trump added. Sadly, both I and the interviewer are familiar with one another. This indicates that he MUST BE INDICTED IMMEDIATELY. Now, if he truly wants to restore his image, he will act honorably and indict himself in his capacity as district attorney. He will be remembered in judicial history, and I have no doubt that his Trump-hating wife will be immensely pleased of him.
The district attorney’s office “declined to comment on a sealed indictment,” a Bragg spokesperson claimed in an email.