Lawyers for former US president Donald Trump have indicated that they will seek to challenge “every potential issue” when charges are brought against him later this week.
Mr Trump is expected to be arrested and brought before a court in New York city on Tuesday after a grand jury last week determined he should be indicted relating to a $130,000 (€120,000) payment made to a porn star in 2016, allegedly in a bid to secure her silence over an affair. The exact nature of the charges have not been revealed so far and may become known only at the court appearance.
On Sunday, a number of members of Mr Trump’s legal team did interviews with TV networks in the United States.
Defence lawyer Joe Tacopina told CNN that Mr Trump would be pleading not guilty. “This is a case of political persecution. Had he not been running for office of the presidency, he would not have been indicted,” he said.
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He said once the charges become available, “we will evaluate every single legal manoeuvre“.
“The team will look at every potential issue that we will be able to challenge, and we will challenge.”
Following the arraignment at the court in New York on Tuesday afternoon, the former president is expected to be released pending further hearings.
Mr Trump’s campaign indicated on Sunday that following the court appearance he will return immediately to his home in Florida.
It said he would make comments from his Mar-a-Lago home and club on Tuesday evening.
Meanwhile, a new ABC News/Ipsos poll released on Sunday found that 45 per cent of Americans believe Mr Trump should face charges arising from the investigation by the Manhattan district attorney’s office.
The poll maintained also that 32 per cent say he shouldn’t have been indicted while 23 per cent did not know. The poll suggested that opinion was also divided on party lines.
A total of 88 per cent of Democrats say Mr Trump should face charges.
The poll found that 62 per cent of Republicans believe the former president should not have been charged while 16 per cent of Republicans say he should have been indicted.
About 47 per cent of Americans polled believe the charges against Mr Trump are politically motivated, according to the ABC News/Ipsos poll.
Meanwhile, the former Republican governor of Arkansas, Asa Hutchinson, said on Sunday that he is running for president in 2024.
Mr Hutchinson will seek the Republican Party nomination to run for the White House. He called on Mr Trump to withdraw from the contest.
Mr Trump is currently the frontrunner to secure the Republican Party nomination to be its candidate in the 2024 election.
Mr Trump will be the first former president in US history to face criminal charges.
The former president, who has repeatedly denied having an affair with the adult film actress Stormy Daniels, will travel to New York on Monday in advance of his surrender to the district attorney’s office and court appearance on Tuesday afternoon.
