Are the walls closing in again on President Trump?
Trump received 'no notification' other than 'illegal leaks' about possible arrest next week
What is the process to arrest former President Trump if indicted in New York while he lives in Florida?
If former President Trump were to be indicted on state charges in Manhattan, New York, while residing in Miami, Florida, the following process might apply:
The state of New York would have to issue an arrest warrant for Mr. Trump, which would be based on the charges brought against him.
The warrant would then need to be transmitted to the appropriate law enforcement agencies, such as the FBI or the US Marshals Service, who would be responsible for executing the warrant.
Once the warrant has been issued and transmitted to the relevant agencies, law enforcement officials would then be authorized to arrest Mr. Trump on behalf of the state of New York, regardless of where he is located in the US.
If Mr. Trump is arrested in Florida, he would then be subject to extradition to New York. Extradition is a legal process whereby a person accused of a crime is transferred from one jurisdiction to another, typically under a formal agreement between the two jurisdictions.
The process of extradition can involve multiple steps, including an extradition hearing to determine whether the individual should be transferred, and a decision by the Governor of Florida on whether to honor the extradition request.
What can Governor DeSantis do?
In the United States, the process of extraditing an individual from one state to another is governed by the Uniform Criminal Extradition Act (UCEA), which has been adopted by almost all states, including Florida.
Under the UCEA, the Governor of the state where the individual is located (in this case, Florida) has the authority to decide whether or not to approve the extradition request made by the state seeking to extradite the individual (in this case, New York). The Governor's decision is based on the information provided in the extradition request, and the Governor may request additional information or evidence to support the request.
If the Governor decides to approve the extradition request, he would issue a warrant for the individual's arrest and authorize the individual's transfer to the requesting state. If the Governor denies the extradition request, the individual may challenge the decision in court.
It is worth noting that the Governor's decision to approve or deny an extradition request is not a criminal or legal judgment on the guilt or innocence of the individual in question. The Governor's role is to determine whether or not the extradition request satisfies the legal requirements for extradition, such as whether the charges are valid, whether the individual is the person named in the request, and whether the individual was in the requesting state at the time of the alleged crime.
What if extradition is denied?
If the Governor of Florida does not approve the extradition request made by New York, the requesting state has a few options.
Firstly, the state of New York may try to negotiate with the Governor of Florida to reconsider the decision or provide additional information or evidence to support the extradition request.
If negotiation and additional evidence are unsuccessful, the state of New York may seek to challenge the Governor's decision in court. The individual subject to the extradition request may also have the right to challenge the Governor's decision in court, through a writ of habeas corpus, which is a legal action that allows a person who is detained or imprisoned to seek relief from unlawful detention.
If the courts determine that the Governor's decision was arbitrary or contrary to the law, they may order the extradition to proceed. However, if the courts uphold the Governor's decision, the individual may not be extradited from Florida to New York.
Instances where NY Governors denied extradition to another state:
In 1970, New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller denied an extradition request from California for Black Panther Party leader Eldridge Cleaver.
In 1981, New York Governor Hugh Carey denied an extradition request from Texas for a man named Norman J. Haglund.
In 1981, New York Governor Hugh Carey denied an extradition request from Louisiana for a man named Henry Kidd.
In 1996, New York Governor George Pataki denied an extradition request from Pennsylvania for a man named Leonard Peltier.
Florida Governors have also denied extradition requests in some cases. Here are some examples in chronological order:
In 1989, Florida Governor Bob Martinez denied an extradition request from Georgia for a woman named Brenda Lee Tarver, who was accused of kidnapping her own child from the child's father. Governor Martinez cited concerns about the potential for bias in the Georgia judicial system.
In 1991, Florida Governor Lawton Chiles denied an extradition request from Mississippi for a man named Howard Mechanic, who was accused of securities fraud. Governor Chiles cited concerns about the fairness of the legal proceedings in Mississippi.
In 1997, Florida Governor Lawton Chiles denied an extradition request from Michigan for a man named Jesse Timmendequas, who was wanted in Michigan for failing to register as a sex offender. Governor Chiles denied the request because Timmendequas was already serving a sentence in Florida for similar offenses.
In 2001, Florida Governor Jeb Bush denied an extradition request from California for a woman named Julie Belshe, who was wanted for stealing $1.7 million from a California real estate company. Governor Bush denied the request because the alleged crime was not a felony under Florida law.
The case against President Trump was settled according to the FEC regarding the Stormy Danials case
In 2018, President Trump's former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty to violating campaign finance laws by arranging hush money payments to two women who claimed to have had affairs with then-candidate Trump. One of those women was adult film actress Stormy Daniels, who allegedly had an affair with Trump in 2006.
Cohen claimed that he made the payments at the direction of Trump, who was identified in court documents as "Individual-1." While Trump has denied the affairs and any knowledge of the payments at the time they were made, the payments could be seen as an attempt to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election, and thus a violation of campaign finance laws.
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) investigated the payments, and in 2019, it found that Cohen's payments to Daniels constituted both a loan to the Trump campaign and an in-kind contribution, both of which violated campaign finance laws. The FEC fined the Trump campaign $375,000 for the violations.
Indictment expected Tuesday, March 21st
According to a spokesperson for former President Donald Trump, he has received no official notification of his potential arrest next week for alleged hush money payments made as a presidential candidate in 2016, except for "illegal leaks" to the press. The spokesperson accused Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg of being funded by George Soros and leading a witch-hunt against the former president. The statement follows reports that the district attorney's office is preparing to issue an indictment. Trump denied the reports and called for his supporters to protest and take back the nation. The potential indictment is part of the yearslong investigation into the alleged hush money scandal involving porn star Stormy Daniels.