Attorney Joe Tacopina on Tuesday insisted that former President Trump will not plead guilty once he appears in court for arraignment after being indicted on criminal charges in New York.
“One thing I can assure you of as I sit here today: There will be no guilty plea in this case. That’s one thing I can guarantee you,” Tacopina said on “Good Morning America,” when asked whether the president would consider pleading guilty to a misdemeanor “to make this go away.”
Trump is set to be arraigned Tuesday afternoon, when he’ll hear the specific charges against him — which are still behind a sealed indictment — and enter a plea. Tacopina has repeated that Trump will not plead guilty.
The lawyer also said he thinks the case will “go away” without seeing a jury, and that his team will likely make motions to dismiss and argue selective prosecution.
Trump, who is campaigning for another White House term in 2024, is the first former or current U.S. president to face criminal charges.
Tacopina also dismissed the possibility of a judge imposing a gag order to prevent parties from publicly discussing the case.
“It can’t happen in this case … The defendant is the leading Republican candidate for the office of the president of United States and will be campaigning. Hard to put a gag order when he is going to be fielding questions about his current legal situation,” Tacopina said.