Secret Service won't allow police to cuff Donald Trump, prosecutor says

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Darragh Roche

By Darragh Roche

US News Reporter

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Former President Donald Trump is facing potential charges from the Manhattan District Attorney's office related to an alleged 2016 hush money payment to Stormy Daniels.
Dave Aronberg, the state attorney for Palm Beach County, Florida, said that the Secret Service would not allow local law enforcement to put their hands on Trump if he is arrested.
Trump's lawyer Joseph Tacopina has said that he will surrender to face charges if he's indicted.

The Secret Service may not allow law enforcement to handcuff former President Donald Trump if he is arrested as part of a potential indictment, according to a Florida prosecutor.

Dave Aronberg, state attorney for Florida's Palm Beach County, has said that it was more likely that the former president would travel to New York and surrender to face any charges.

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Speculation has mounted in recent days that the Manhattan District Attorney's office will indict Trump on charges related to an alleged 2016 hush money payment to adult film actor Stormy Daniels.

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"The district attorney's office will be working with the Secret Service to get Trump to surrender to authorities," Aronberg told Scripps News on Monday.

"The Secret Service is not going to allow local law enforcement to put their hands on the former president. So what they'll do is Trump would conceivably surrender to New York, go up to New York with Secret Service, and then get processed up there, get fingerprinted, get his mug shot, and then get released without any cash bail. Just being released on his own recognizance," the prosecutor added.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has not yet announced any charges against the former president but Trump predicted his own arrest over the weekend, saying he could be arrested as early as Tuesday.

Any potential charges in New York would stem from a grand jury investigation of the alleged $130,000 hush money payment to Daniels, who has said she had an affair with Trump in 2006.

Trump has denied having sex with Daniels, denied any wrongdoing and strongly attacked the probe.

Aronberg, a Democrat, also told Florida's WPBF on Tuesday that he has "always thought an indictment of the former president is likely because you have four investigations into his alleged criminal conduct, but I think the New York case is actually the least of the four, but it's the one that's going to go first, and New York prosecutors have given every indication that it's coming later this week."

Trump is also facing a probe by Special Counsel Jack Smith relating to the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot, as well his alleged mishandling of classified documents discovered at his Mar-a-Lago residence, while a grand jury in Georgia is examining whether or not he pushed for 2020 election results to be overturned there.

As a former president, Trump continues to have Secret Service protection and he's currently resident in Palm Beach County, Florida. If he's charged, he will have to present himself in New York or face potential extradition from Florida to New York.

Trump's lawyer Joseph Tacopina has said the former president will surrender to face charges if he's indicted by the grand jury in the case but Trump has also called for protests against his potential arrest.

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