WEST PALM BEACH, United States, April  3, 2023 (BSS/AFP) - Donald Trump
left Florida on Monday for New York where he will surrender to criminal
charges, taking the United States into uncharted and potentially volatile
territory.

The 76-year-old Republican, the first American president ever to be
criminally indicted, will be formally charged Tuesday over hush money paid to a
porn star during the 2016 election campaign.

Dozens of people, many waving pro-Trump banners and American flags, lined
the route as Trump's motorcade raced from his Florida mansion to the airport
where he boarded his private Boeing 757 emblazoned with his name on the
fuselage.

Trump was seen waving to the press as he boarded the plane, bound for the
city where he made his name, and where he hopes to use his appearance before a
judge to rouse support for his 2024 White House bid.

"HEADING TO NEW YORK. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!," Trump posted on his
social media platform Truth Social, minutes before he took off at 1 pm (1700
GMT).

"WITCH HUNT, as our once great Country is going to HELL!"
New York police were on high alert ahead of Trump's arrival, with security
cordons and Secret Service agents outside Trump Tower and the criminal court
where he will appear before a judge Tuesday afternoon.

New York Mayor Eric Adams warned that anyone protesting violently during
Trump's historic arraignment will be "arrested and held accountable, no matter
who you are."

"While there may be some rabble rousers thinking about coming to our city
tomorrow our message is clear, is simple: 'control yourselves'," the mayor told
a press conference, adding that there were no specific, credible threats.

As part of his arraignment, Trump will undergo the standard booking
procedure of being fingerprinted and photographed, likely to result in one of
the most famous mugshots of the modern era.

- 'Up in the air' -

There is no roadmap for a former president's surrender to court
authorities, and it remains to be seen whether the famously unpredictable Trump
will follow the script, or find a way to upend events.

"It's all up in the air," Trump lawyer Joe Tacopina said on CNN Sunday.
But a "perp walk" -- in which a defendant is escorted in handcuffs past
media cameras -- is unlikely for an ex-president under US Secret Service
protection, Tacopina said.

"Hopefully this will be as painless and classy as possible for a situation
like this."

But Trump, who has denounced the legal proceedings as a "witch hunt" and
"political persecution, is girding for battle, Tacopina added.

A grand jury indicted Trump last week in the case brought by Manhattan
District Attorney Alvin Bragg, an elected Democrat.

The specific charges will be revealed during Tuesday's hearing. They
revolve around the investigation of $130,000 paid to pornographic actress
Stormy Daniels just days before Trump's election win.

Trump's former lawyer and aide Michael Cohen, who has since turned against
his ex-boss, says he arranged the payment to Daniels in exchange for her
silence about a tryst she says she had with Trump in 2006.

Trump, who was already married to his wife Melania at the time, denies the
affair.

Legal experts have suggested that if not properly accounted for, the
payment could result in misdemeanor charges for falsifying business records
that could be raised to felonies if it was intended to cover up a campaign
finance violation.

The Daniels case is only one of several investigations threatening Trump.

- Republicans unite? -

An independent prosecutor is looking into any potential role Trump played
in the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the US Capitol, as well as his handling
and keeping of classified documents after he left the White House.

In the swing state of Georgia, Trump is under investigation for pressuring
officials to overturn Joe Biden's 2020 victory there -- including a taped phone
call in which he asked the secretary of state to "find" enough votes to reverse
the result.

Biden, knowing anything he might say could fuel Trump's complaints of a
politically "weaponized" judicial system, is one of the few Democrats
maintaining silence over the indictment of his political rival.

Republicans have largely rallied around Trump, including his rival in the
party's presidential primary, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who called the
indictment "un-American."

But some Republicans bristled at the prospect of a twice-impeached
president facing multiple legal probes seeking the party's nomination.
Some observers believe the indictment bodes ill for Trump's 2024 chances,
while others say it could boost his support.

A CNN poll Monday found that 94 percent of Democrats surveyed approved of
the grand jury's decision to indict Trump while 79 percent of Republicans
disapproved.