Former President Donald Trump’s lawyer said Sunday he expects to make a motion to dismiss any charges brought by a Manhattan grand jury in District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s probe.
“We will take the indictment. We will dissect it. The team will look at every, every potential issue that we will be able to challenge, and we will challenge. And of course, I very much anticipate a motion to dismiss coming because there’s no law that fits this,” Trump’s attorney Joe Tacopina told CNN host Dana Bash Sunday.
“And you have a situation where, you know, the federal government, the Department of Justice, turned this matter down,” Tacopina continued on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “The FEC, which governs federal election laws, said there’s no violation here. Yet somehow a state prosecutor has taken a misdemeanor and tried cobble together to make it a felony by alleging a violation of federal campaign violations. And the FEC said that doesn’t exist.”
In reference the grand jury’s vote to indict the former President of the United States, Tacopina called it a sign that “rule of law in the United States has died.”
“Whether you send the right or the left or you’re a supporter or detractor of Donald Trump, this should really bother you,” Tacopina said. “This should really shake the core of what we believe our justice system should be about. It should not be weaponized to go after political opponents.”
Trump, an early frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, is expected to be arraigned in New York City on Tuesday.
The details of the indictment have not been released, as they typically remain under seal before the arraignment takes place. The charges are expected to relate to Trump’s 2016 alleged hush money scandal, which the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has been investigating for five years.
If the charges relate to the hush money scandal, prosecutors are expected to argue that the $130,000 sum given to Stormy Daniels and the $150,000 given to former Playboy model Karen McDougal were improper donations to the Trump campaign, which helped his candidacy during the 2016 election.
“We are going to tape the indictment, evaluate all our legal options and pursue everyone most vigorously. This is a case of political persecution,” Tacopina said Sunday. “Had he not been running for office right now for the office of the presidency, which by the way, the polls have shown since this has been announced, his numbers have gone up significantly. Had he not been running for presidency, he would not have been indicted.”
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