Trump Will Forego Certain Aspects of Routine Arrest

In the morning on Tuesday, in The Big Apple, the city that never sleeps is having even more trouble than usual.

In just a few wee hours, Donald Trump will be appearing at court after having been indicted on controversial charges, and under unprecedented circumstances.

But the former President won’t be treated like any random criminal off of the streets, as authorities are planning to forego certain aspects of the indictment process.

Donald Trump will be placed under arrest on Tuesday and informed that he has been charged with 34 felony counts for falsification of business records, according to a source who has been briefed on the procedures for the arraignment of the former president.

A New York City police arrest report summarizing the charges against Trump will then be prepared and entered into the court system before he is led into a courtroom to be formally arraigned on the charges, none of which are misdemeanors.

As for the optics:

But, the source said, Trump will not be put in handcuffs, placed in a jail cell or subjected to a mug shot — typical procedures even for white-collar defendants until a judge has weighed in on pretrial conditions. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office, which has been consulting with the Secret Service and New York City court officials, concluded there was no reason to subject the former president to handcuffs or a mug shot.

The stated reason for handcuffing defendants is that they might be a flight risk or a threat to the district attorney or court personnel, neither of which was judged to be relevant to the handling of a former president protected at all times by a phalanx of Secret Service agents.

Some conservative pundits have suggested, rather astutely, that a mugshot and “perp walk” could serve Donald Trump on the campaign trail, as the presumptive GOP nominee for 2024 continues to play the role of DC disruptor.