Donald Trump is set to make his first speech since being charged by a grand jury over hush money paid to a porn star.
An announcement from his 2024 campaign said he will speak from his Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Florida on Tuesday April 4 at 8.15 pm.
This will be just hours after he is set to surrender himself to the DA's office in New York.
The former president faces charges over hush money paid during the 2016 presidential campaign to silence claims of an affair with porn star Stormy Daniels.
He was formally indicted by a Manhattan grand jury and is expected to hand himself in to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office in New York on Tuesday.
The indictment document and the details of the charges remain sealed for now.
Trump is the first former US president to face criminal charges
He has denied any wrongdoing and has repeatedly attacked the investigation, called the indictment “political persecution” and predicted it would damage Democrats in 2024.
Trump himself is running to be President in 2024 and any trial would likely drag through the campaigning period.
In a statement confirming the charges, defence lawyers Susan Necheles and Joseph Tacopina said Trump “did not commit any crime. We will vigorously fight this political prosecution in court.”
Trump has previously admitted reimbursing his lawyer for a $130,000 payment made just before the 2016 election to Stormy Daniels as part of a settlement about her alleged 2006 sexual encounter with Trump.
Daniels said the two had sex in 2006 after meeting at a celebrity golf tournament at Lake Tahoe in Nevada.
She was 27 at the time and Trump wass 60. His wife Melania had recently given birth to their son.
Trump, however, has denied any sexual encounter and claims the payment was in no way connected with the campaign he went on to win.
Trump was seen waving and giving a thumbs up to photographers from the back of a limo driving out of the Trump International Golf Club in Palm Beach, Florida, on Saturday.
He could be seen through the limo’s tinted windows giving a thumbs up wearing his signature MAGA cap.
He is set to hand himself in to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office in New York on Tuesday.
When booked the former president will be read the standard Miranda warning - told that he has the right to remain silent and the right to an attorney.
A mugshot will be taken but Trump is unlikely to be handcuffed, something typically used on suspects who are thought to be a flight risk.
There is no playbook for booking an ex-president with U.S. Secret Service protection.
As a former president, Trump is entitled to protection from secret agents unless he says he doesn’t need it.
He has kept his detail, so agents would need to be by his side at all times.
