Alvin Bragg ‘fully capable’ of blowing Trump case: Elliot Felig
Former state prosecutor who worked in the Manhattan DA’s office breaks down the indictment of the former president and what’s to come.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg requested that former President Trump surrender to his office Friday following his unprecedented indictment Thursday evening, but a source familiar told Fox News Digital that Trump will surrender himself next week due to U.S. Secret Service involvement.
The former president of the United States, and the leading Republican presidential candidate for 2024, was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury Thursday after a years-long investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
The source told Fox News Digital that Bragg had requested Trump’s surrender to the Manhattan District Attorney's Office by Friday — the day after the indictment — but that timeline was extended due to arrangements needed to be made by Secret Service.
The source told Fox News Digital Trump will "most likely" surrender on Tuesday.
New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg had been investigating former President Trump for alleged hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. (Shane Bevel/NCAA Photos via Getty Images/Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Typically, a defendant who surrenders in a nonviolent case would surrender to a central booking location, legal experts have explained. However, special accommodations are likely being arranged because this indictment involves a former president of the United States.
The Secret Service and the New York Police Department are expected to play a large role in process next week.
TRUMP INDICTED AFTER MANHATTAN DA PROBE FOR HUSH MONEY PAYMENTS
The indictment of the former president comes after Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has been investigating Trump for hush money payments made leading up to the 2016 presidential election.
These include the $130,000 payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, and the $150,000 payment made to former Playboy model Karen McDougal.
Former President Trump speaks during a 2024 election campaign rally in Waco, Texas, March 25, 2023. Trump held the rally at the site of the deadly 1993 standoff between an anti-government cult and federal agents. (Photo by SUZANNE CORDEIRO/AFP via Getty Images)
Those payments had been investigated by the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York and by the Federal Election Commission.
Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York opted out of charging Trump related to the Daniels payment in 2019, even as Cohen implicated him as part of his plea deal. The Federal Election Commission also tossed its investigation into the matter in 2021.
"This evening we contacted Mr. Trump’s attorney to coordinate his surrender to the Manhattan D.A.’s Office for arraignment on a Supreme Court indictment, which remains under seal," a spokesperson for the Manhattan District Attorney's Office said in a statement Thursday. "Guidance will be provided when the arraignment date is selected."
Trump reacted by slamming Bragg for his "obsession" with trying to "get Trump," while warning the move to charge a former president of the United States will "backfire."
District Attorney Alvin Bragg speaks at a press conference to discuss the charges against Steve Bannon in New York on Sept. 8, 2022. Bannon, 68, Donald Trump's former advisor, was indicted on state charges of money laundering, conspiracy and fraud related to an alleged online scheme to raise money for the construction of the U.S.-Mexico border wall. (Photo by ALEX KENT/AFP via Getty Images)
"This is Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history," Trump said in a statement. "From the time I came down the golden escalator at Trump Tower, and even before I was sworn in as your President of the United States, the Radical Left Democrats- the enemy of the hard-working men and women of this Country- have been engaged in a Witch-Hunt to destroy the Make America Great Again movement."
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The investigation into Trump was opened in 2019 by then-Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance. The probe was focused on possible bank, insurance and tax fraud. The case initially involved financial dealings of Trump’s Manhattan properties, including his flagship Fifth Avenue building, Trump Tower, and the valuation of his 213-acre estate Seven Springs in Westchester.
Last year, the investigation led to tax fraud charges against The Trump Organization and its finance chief Allen Weisselberg.
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