Former President Trump is to be booked and charged in New York

NEW YORK — An extraordinary moment in US history is set to unfold Tuesday at a Manhattan courthouse: Former President Donald Trumpfacing multiple election-related investigations will emerge be prosecuted due to hush money payments in 2016.

The booking and charge are likely to be relatively brief – if hardly routine – as Trump takes fingerprints, learns the charges against him and, as expected, pleads not guilty.

Trump who was charged twice by the US House of Representatives but never convicted in the US Senate, will be the first former president to be prosecuted. The nation’s 45th commander-in-chief will be escorted by Secret Service from Trump Tower to the courthouse and his mug shot may be taken.

New York police are braced for protests from Trump supporters, who share the Republican former president’s belief that the New York grand jury’s indictment and three other pending investigations are politically motivated and designed to weaken his attempt to retake the White House in 2024.

Trump, a former reality TV star, has hyped this narrative for his political gain, raising millions of dollars since being indicted over claims of a “witch hunt.” He attacked the Manhattan District Attorney, incited supporters to protest, and claimed he did so without evidence the competent judge “hates me” – something his own lawyer said is not true.

Trump is scheduled to return to his home in Palm Beach, Florida. Mar-a-Lagoon Tuesday night to hold a rally to underscore his new reality: to submit to the surly demands of America’s criminal justice system while projecting an aura of defiance and victimhood at solemn campaign events.

A conviction would not prevent Trump from running for or winning the presidency in 2024.

In the Manhattan courtroom, prosecutors led by New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, are scheduled to unseal the indictment issued by a grand jury last week. At that point, Trump and his defense attorneys will have their first look at the precise allegations against him.

The The indictment contains several counts of falsifying business records, including at least one criminal offence, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press last week.

Following the indictment, Trump is expected to be released by authorities as the charges against him do not require bail to be posted.

The investigations are examining payments in the six-figure range Porn actor Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal. Both say they had sexual encounters with the married Trump years before he got into politics. Trump denies having had sexual relations with both women and has denied any wrongdoing related to payments.

The indictment will come amid heavy security in New York, which will come more than two years later Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol in a failed attempt to halt congressional certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s election victory.

Although police said they had no information to suggest violence was likely, they were on high alert for possible disruption.

“Although there are some rebels thinking of coming to our city tomorrow, our message is clear and simple: control yourselves,” Mayor Eric Adams said at a news conference Monday.

Trump pollster John McLaughlin said the former president will approach the day with “dignity.”

“He’ll be a gentleman,” McLaughlin said. “He’s going to show strength and dignity and … we’re going to get through this and win the election.”

But Trump was also defiant. In a post late Monday night on his social media network, he lashed out at Biden and suggested the current president should face legal troubles of his own.

Despite this, the scene around Trump Tower and the courthouse where Trump will stand before a judge was quiet overnight. There were signs both supporting and deciphering the former president clinging to post, one called on passers-by to donate to fund Trump’s presidential library and another showed a screaming Trump behind bars.

Public fascination with the case was evident Monday when national television broadcast live footage of Trump’s motorcade from his Mar-a-Lago club to a private red-white-blue Boeing 757 bearing his name. From there, Trump was flown to New York, where cameras followed his motorcade into Manhattan and he spent the night at Trump Tower while preparing to turn himself in.

The former president and his aides join the media circus. After initially being taken by surprise when news of the indictment broke Thursday night, Trump and his team are hoping to use the case to their advantage. Still, in a filing filed Monday, they asked the judge to ban photo and video coverage of the charges.

Although prosecutors routinely insist that no one is above the law, filing criminal charges against a former president brings immediate logistical complications.

New York’s ability to conduct safe, drama-free trials in a case involving a polarizing ex-president could be a key test case as prosecutors in Atlanta and Washington conduct their own investigations into Trump, which also result in indictments could. These investigations concern efforts to reverse 2020 election results as well as the possible mishandling of classified documents in Mar-a-Lago.

Top Republicans, including some of Trump’s potential rivals in next year’s GOP presidential primary, have condemned the case against him. Biden, who has yet to officially announce that he will seek re-election next year, and other leading Democrats mostly had little to say on the matter.

Prosecutors say their case against Trump has nothing to do with politics.

Tucker and Weissert reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Jill Colvin, Bobby Caina Calvan, Jennifer Peltz, and Ted Shaffrey in New York contributed to this report.