Trump Attorney Hopes Boss’ NYC Arrest Is ‘Painless And Classy’

An attorney for Donald Trump said he hopes that the former president’s upcoming arraignment on charges related to hush money payments made to a porn star is “as painless and classy as possible.”

“I anticipate them trying to get every ounce of publicity out of this that they can get,” attorney Joe Tacopina said of New York prosecutors in an interview Sunday with CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Trump is scheduled to appear in a Manhattan courthouse on Tuesday where he will learn of the charges that a grand jury has approved against him. Though those charges have not been publicly unsealed, they’re said to include multiple charges of falsifying business records and at least one felony offense, the Associated Press reported citing two people familiar with the matter.

Tacopina, in an interview with ABC News’ “This Week,” said that though he hasn’t seen the charges, he doesn’t believe the case against Trump will “survive a challenge of law in a courtroom.”

“We do all know that it has to do with a confidential settlement agreement, a completely legal confidential settlement agreement with Stormy Daniels,” he said of a $130,000 payment that was made to the porn star during the 2016 presidential campaign. “Michael Cohen and her attorney signed that together. Donald Trump did not,” Tacopina said.

Cohen, Trump’s former attorney and fixer, later pleaded guilty to violating federal campaign finance law in connection with the payment.

Tacopina said Trump’s legal team won’t immediately move to dismiss the case when he is arraigned on Tuesday. They’ll instead review the charges and then determine their next move.

As for what people could see on Tuesday, Tacopina said he doesn’t know whether Trump will have a mugshot taken or if, while in custody, he will be led out in public by authorities, in what’s called a “perp walk.”

“What I hope is that we get in and out of there as quickly as possible, that it’s, at the end of the day, a typical arrangement where we stand before the judge, we say, ‘not guilty,’ we set schedules to file motions and whatnot or discovery and we move forward and get out of there,” he told ABC News.

Cohen, who recently testified in the hush money case, said he personally expects “total mayhem” during the arraignment on Tuesday.

“This is his worst fear: being mugshotted, fingerprinted, being referred to as a felon,” Cohen said of Trump in an interview Sunday with CBS News’ “Sunday Morning.” “He’s petrified.”

Cohen last week also said that he hopes Trump’s arrest is “classy” so that the country isn’t “made into the laughingstock of the world.”

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a once staunch ally of Trump, also said that he doesn’t believe that the charges can be spun towards Trump’s benefit.

“All this bravado from the Trump camp is baloney,” the former prosecutor told ABC News’ “This Week” in a separate interview.

“He’s going to have to be mugshotted, fingerprinted, and he’s going to face a criminal trial in Manhattan. He’s not gonna be able to avoid it. You can’t make that a good day,” he said.