Trump attorney promises 'smooth surrender' after indictment as authorities make preparations for arraignment
An attorney for former President Trump told Insider that he will not resist attempts to arrest him.
Trump is due to present himself to the Manhattan Criminal Court on Tuesday.
"It will be a smooth surrender," attorney Susan Necheles promised.
The lead attorney for former President Donald Trump said the indicted Republican will voluntarily present himself without a fight on Tuesday in Manhattan, where he faces charges related to an alleged 2016 "hush" payment made to an adult film star.
"It will be a smooth surrender," lawyer Susan Necheles told Insider.
Final arrangements for Trump's appearance were still being hammered out on Friday by staff at the Manhattan Criminal Court as well as the Secret Service and the New York Police Department, Necheles said.
The pledge to voluntarily surrender comes after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis asserted Thursday that he would not assist an effort to extradite the former president. Trump's allies had been pressuring DeSantis — a presumed rival for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination — to make such a statement.
The full details of Trump's indictment by a grand jury this week have not yet been made public, but Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has been investigating a $130,000 payment made in 2016 to Stormy Daniels by the former president's ex-fixer, Michael Cohen.
Cohen was himself sentenced to 3 years in prison in connection with the payment and testified several times before the grand jury. In a 2018 statement, the Trump-era Department of Justice noted in a press release that Cohen had been reimbursed for the payment "in monthly installments disguised as payments for legal services performed pursuant to a retainer, when in fact no such retainer existed," with the payment intended to "influence the 2016 election." Disguising such a payment would entail falsifying business records, a felony in New York.
Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, has alleged having an affair with Trump soon after his wife, Melania, had given birth and that the payment was intended to buy her silence ahead of a presidential election. Trump has denied having an affair or directing Cohen to make the payment.
Republicans have rallied around the indicted leader of the party, accusing Bragg, a Democrat, of pursuing a political agenda.
On Friday, Bragg's office fired back at congressional critics, who have demanded the district attorney provide documents and testimony related to the investigation into Trump.
"Like any other defendant, Mr. Trump is entitled to challenge these charges in court and avail himself of all processes and protections that New York State's robust criminal procedure affords," stated a letter from Bragg's office to se House Republicans. "What neither Mr. Trump nor Congress may do is interfere with the ordinary course of proceedings in New York State," the letter added.
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