As former US President Donald Trump reportedly faces a court appearance over his indictment some time on 4 April, his team of legal experts is said to be eying New York’s borough of Staten Island as a more favorable venue for a potential criminal case than Manhattan.
Trump's lawyers, along with his advisers and allies, believe that the southernmost of New York City's five boroughs - which is known to be more conservative - might offer Trump a fairer, less biased trial, according to sources cited by a US publication.
"There is no way he gets a fair jury," an adviser was cited as saying in reference to Manhattan's predominantly Democratic-voting population.
However, Trump’s lawyers will purportedly hold off from any definite decisions on attempting to relocate the case until familiarizing themselves with the charges in the sealed indictment by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
On 30 March, a grand jury in Manhattan voted to indict the Republican former POTUS in alleged connection with hush payments made to an adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election. The indictment is still under seal but, according to reports, it includes more than 30 counts related to business fraud.
According to media reports, the top charge in the indictment secured by Bragg is that of falsifying business records "in the first degree". The latter is a class E felony and is considered more serious than a misdemeanor charge. A Class E felony in New York can result in a sentence of between one and five years.
Donald Trump has vehemently denied any wrongdoing, as well as the alleged affair with Daniels, while slamming Bragg and other Democrats after news of the indictment broke.
"I believe this witch hunt will backfire massively on Joe Biden... The American people realize exactly what the Radical Left Democrats are doing here. Everyone can see it. So our Movement, and our Party – united and strong – will first defeat Alvin Bragg, and then we will defeat Joe Biden, and we are going to throw every last one of these crooked Democrats out of office so we can MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!" the former president said in a statement on 30 March.
Trump, who is expected to appear in court on Tuesday for his arraignment, according to US media reports, also vowed he would appeal the indictment.
Meanwhile, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is Trump's possible Republican rival in the run up to the 2024 presidential election, also weighed in on the dubious legal accusations targeting Trump. DeSantis let loose a barrage of punches aimed at Bragg - the Democrat whose election campaign was bankrolled by billionaire regime-change funder George Soros. Slamming the DA as nothing short of a "menace to society,” he went on:
“This guy is all about politics. His whole thing is he doesn’t want people to be in jail, he wants to downgrade felonies to misdemeanors... And then he turns around, does a flimsy indictment against a former president of the United States. All these legal gymnastics to act like this is a felony – when almost every other time, he’s trying to take the felonies and downgrade them.”
The 44-year-old governor had previously stated that Florida will not assist in an extradition request for former President Donald Trump because of the doubtful circumstances surrounding Bragg, who was believed to be stretching the law to target a political opponent.
It should be noted that this is the first time a court has sought to indict a former US President, wielding for this purpose an array of highly questionable legal accusations.