Former President Donald Trump’s attorney Joe Tacopina said during an interview Friday morning that he does not expect his client to be placed in handcuffs when he turns himself in to New York law enforcement officials next week.
The indictment stems from a five-year investigation surrounding an alleged $130,000 hush money payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels and whether the money was improperly recorded in business records and if that improper recording was used to conceal or commit a second crime.
While the indictment is still under seal, The New York Times reported that Trump faces more than two dozen counts while CNN put the number at greater than 30.
Tacopina said in an interview on NBC News that Trump “will not take a plea deal on this case. It’s not gonna happen.”
“There’s no crime,” he claimed. “I don’t know if it’s gonna make it to trial because we have substantial legal challenges.”
In an interview on ABC News, Tacopina said that Trump was “shock[ed]” by the news that he was being indicted.
“This is unprecedented in this country’s history. I don’t know what to expect other than an arraignment,” he said. “I understand they’re going to be closing off blocks around the courthouse, shutting down the courthouse. You know, we’ll go in there and we’ll proceed to see a judge at some point, plead not guilty, start talking about filing motions, which we will do immediately and very aggressively regarding the legal viability of this case.”
Tacopina said that he expects prosecutors to “try to get every ounce of publicity they can out of this thing.”
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“The president will not be put in handcuffs,” he added. “As far as a mugshot’s concerned, perp walk, I mean, you know, as I said, I’m sure they’ll try to make sure they get some joy out of this by parading him.”
“But, you know, I think this is a different situation,” he continued. “It is a lot of groups involved here and I don’t think they’re going to allow this to become a circus, as much as humanly possible.”
The news comes as The Wall Street Journal reported that District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office has started examining an alleged $150,000 payment to former Playboy model Karen McDougal.
Trump faces additional legal jeopardy in three other criminal investigations into him, including a federal investigation into his efforts to stay in power after the 2020 election, an investigation in Georgia related to alleged meddling in the 2020 election, and another federal investigation into his handling of U.S. government records after leaving office.