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Donald Trump Set to Speak from Florida after Arraignment

Former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Waco Regional Airport, Saturday, March 25, 2023, in Waco, Texas. (AP)
Former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Waco Regional Airport, Saturday, March 25, 2023, in Waco, Texas. (AP)
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Donald Trump Set to Speak from Florida after Arraignment

Former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Waco Regional Airport, Saturday, March 25, 2023, in Waco, Texas. (AP)
Former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Waco Regional Airport, Saturday, March 25, 2023, in Waco, Texas. (AP)

Former US President Donald Trump will speak in Florida on Tuesday evening, his office said, after his arraignment in New York City on historic charges brought after an investigation into a 2016 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.

Trump is expected to be arraigned, fingerprinted and photographed in a New York courthouse on Tuesday afternoon as he becomes the first former president to face criminal charges.

Joe Tacopina, a Trump lawyer, told CNN's "State of the Union" program on Sunday that it was likely his defense attorneys will move to dismiss the charges, after they see them.

Word of the indictment surfaced on Thursday though the specific charges against Trump arising from an investigation led by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, have not been made public. Susan Necheles, a Trump attorney, said on Friday Trump will plead not guilty.

Trump, who has launched a 2024 campaign to regain the presidency, plans to fly to New York on Monday from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and spend the night at Trump Tower before appearing in court on Tuesday, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters last week.

The former president plans to return to Florida after the court appearance and will deliver remarks at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach at 8:15 p.m. (0015 GMT on Wednesday), his office said in a statement on Sunday.

The Trump campaign declined to comment on what he would say on Tuesday night. A source familiar with the matter said the Republican businessman-turned-politician was likely to focus on what he feels is his political persecution and "the political weaponization of the justice system to manipulate an election."

Trump is expected to appear on Tuesday before Justice Juan Merchan of the criminal court in Manhattan. Merchan also presided over a criminal trial last year in which Trump's real estate company was convicted of tax fraud, though Trump himself was not charged.

Trump has lashed out at both Bragg and Merchan.

"We're not doing anything at the arraignment because that would be showmanship and nothing more - because we haven't even seen the indictment," Tacopina said. "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," Tacopina added.

Ahead of the indictment, a grand jury in Manhattan heard evidence about a $130,000 payment to Daniels in the waning days of the 2016 presidential campaign. Daniels has said she was paid to keep silent about a sexual encounter she had with Trump in 2006. Trump has denied that this encounter took place.

The former president's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, has said he coordinated with Trump on the payments to Daniels and to a second woman, former Playboy model Karen McDougal. Trump has denied having had sexual relationships with either woman, but has acknowledged reimbursing Cohen.

Cohen pleaded guilty to a campaign-finance violation in 2018 and served more than a year in prison. Federal prosecutors said he acted at Trump's direction.

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Earthquake Measuring 6.2 Shakes Istanbul and Injures More than 150 People

People with their belongings sit in a park after a powerful earthquake in Istanbul, Türkiye, 23 April 2025. (EPA)
People with their belongings sit in a park after a powerful earthquake in Istanbul, Türkiye, 23 April 2025. (EPA)
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Earthquake Measuring 6.2 Shakes Istanbul and Injures More than 150 People

People with their belongings sit in a park after a powerful earthquake in Istanbul, Türkiye, 23 April 2025. (EPA)
People with their belongings sit in a park after a powerful earthquake in Istanbul, Türkiye, 23 April 2025. (EPA)

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.2 shook Istanbul and other areas Wednesday, prompting widespread panic and scores of injuries in the Turkish city of 16 million people, though there were no immediate reports of serious damage.

More than 150 people were hospitalized with injuries sustained while trying to jump from buildings, said the governor's office in Istanbul, where residents are on tenterhooks because the city is considered at high risk for a major quake.

The earthquake had a shallow depth of 10 kilometers (about 6 miles), according to the United States Geological Survey, with its epicenter about 40 kilometers (25 miles) southwest of Istanbul, in the Sea of Marmara.

It was felt in the neighboring provinces of Tekirdag, Yalova, Bursa and Balikesir and in the city of Izmir, some 550 kilometers (340 miles) south of Istanbul. Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said the earthquake lasted 13 seconds and was followed by more than 50 aftershocks - the strongest measuring 5.9.

The quake started at 12:49 p.m. during a public holiday when many children were out of school and celebrating in the streets of Istanbul. Panicked residents rushed from their homes and buildings into the streets. The disaster and emergency management agency urged people to stay away from buildings.

More than 150 injured  

"Due to panic, 151 of our citizens were injured from jumping from heights," the Istanbul governor's office said in a statement. "Their treatments are ongoing in hospitals, and they are not in life-threatening condition."

Many residents flocked to parks, school yards and other open areas to avoid being near buildings in case of collapse or subsequent earthquakes. Some people pitched tents in parks.

"Thank God, there does not seem to be any problems for now," President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at an event marking the National Sovereignty and Children’s Day holiday. "May God protect our country and our people from all kinds of calamities, disasters, accidents and troubles."

Leyla Ucar, a personal trainer, said she was exercising with her student on the 20th floor of a building when they felt intense shaking.

"We shook incredibly. It threw us around, we couldn’t understand what was happening, we didn’t think of an earthquake at first because of the shock of the event," she said. "It was very scary."

Senol Sari, 51, told The Associated Press he was with his children in the living room of their third floor apartment when he heard a loud noise and the building started shaking. They fled to a nearby park. "We immediately protected ourselves from the earthquake and waited for it to pass," Sari said. "Of course, we were scared."

They later were able to return home calmly, Sari said, but they remain worried that a bigger quake will some day strike the city. It's "an expected earthquake, our concerns continue," he said.

‘My children were a little scared’  

Cihan Boztepe, 40, was one of many who hurriedly fled to the streets with his family in order to avoid a potential collapse. Boztepe, standing next to his sobbing child, told AP that in 2023 he was living in Batman province, an area close to the southern part of Türkiye where major quakes struck at the time, and that Wednesday's tremor felt weaker and that he wasn’t as scared.

"At first we were shaken, then it stopped, then we were shaken again. My children were a little scared, but I wasn’t. We quickly gathered our things and went down to a safe place. If it were up to me, we would have already returned home."

Türkiye’s Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said authorities had not received reports of collapsed buildings. He told HaberTurk television that there had been reports of damage to buildings.

The NTV broadcaster reported that a derelict and abandoned former residential building had collapsed in the historic Fatih district, which houses the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque.

Education Minister Yusuf Tekin announced that schools would be closed on Thursday and Friday in Istanbul.

"In line with the need for a safe space, our school gardens are open to the use of all our citizens," Tekin said.

Urban reconstruction projects  

Türkiye is crossed by two major fault lines, and earthquakes are frequent.

A magnitude 7.8 earthquake on Feb. 6, 2023, and a second powerful tremor hours later, destroyed or damaged hundreds of thousands of buildings in 11 southern and southeastern provinces, leaving more than 53,000 people dead. Another 6,000 people were killed in the northern parts of neighboring Syria.

Istanbul was not impacted by that earthquake, but the devastation heightened fears of a similar quake, with experts citing the city’s proximity to fault lines.

In a bid to prevent damage from any future quake, the national government and local administrations started urban reconstruction projects to fortify buildings at risk and launched campaigns to demolish buildings at risk of collapse.

On Wednesday, long queues formed at gas stations as residents, planning to leave Istanbul, rushed to fill up their vehicles. Among them was Emre Senkay who said he might leave in the event of a more severe earthquake later in the day.

"My plan is to leave Istanbul if there is a more serious earthquake," he said.