Trump Attorney Tacopina: Team Will 'Dissect', Challenge Charges

Former President Donald Trump's legal team plans to challenge "every potential issue" with the indictment against him in Manhattan, but not during Tuesday's arraignment, one of his attorneys, Joe Tacopina, said Sunday.

"We’re not doing anything at the arraignment because that would be showmanship and nothing more because we haven’t even seen the indictment yet," Tacopina said on CNN's "State of the Union." "We will take the indictment, we will dissect it, the team will look at every — every — potential issue that we will be able to challenge and we will challenge it."

Trump's first appearance is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, where he will be presented with the charges the Manhattan grand jury approved against him. The indictment remains sealed until Tuesday, but according to several reports, Trump could be facing at least 30 criminal counts in connection with his reimbursement of $130,000 in hush money his former "fixer" and attorney Michael Cohen paid in 2016 to adult film star Stormy Daniels, who has claimed to have had an affair with Trump a decade earlier.

Trump admits he repaid the money to Cohen, but denies that he did anything wrong in what he calls a "private" matter. He also denies the Daniels affair.

Tacopina said Tuesday's arraignment, in theory, "should be like hundreds of other arraignments that I have done in that building over the course of my career…you walk in. You see a judge. You plead not guilty. You set a schedule, and you leave."

But Trump's arraignment is unprecedented, particularly as the Secret Service will be involved in being there to protect him, said Tacopina.

"I honestly don't know how this is going to go, but hopefully as smoothly as possible," he said. "And then we begin the battle to right this wrong because it's a day that in my opinion, the rule of law in the United States has died."

Tacopina added that he doesn't think there will be a so-called "perp walk," but still he expects the prosecution will be "trying to get every ounce of publicity out of this that they think they can get."

But Tuesday remains "very much up in the air," beyond the fact that "we will very loudly and proudly say not guilty," he said.

The Manhattan District Attorney's office investigation began under former prosecutor Cy Vance and was presented for an indictment by current DA Alvin Bragg.

Trump's team is expected to argue that the payments to Daniels took place 7 years ago, and outside the statute of limitations, and to push back against accusations that Trump's businesses made false entries in the documentation about the repayments.

"They’re not false entries, but assuming they were, they’re misdemeanors way beyond the statute of limitations, so they had to cobble them together to try and get a felony," Tacopina told CNN.

Tacopina also said, in an interview on ABC's "This Week," that a request to move the case to a different New York City borough isn't on the table yet, and for that matter, has not been discussed "whatsoever."

"It’s way too premature to start worrying about venue changes until we see the indictment and grapple with the legal issues," he said.

Trump has also accused Justice Juan Merchan, who oversaw last year's criminal trial against the Trump Organization, of being biased, but Tacopina told ABC he doesn't agree.

"I don’t believe the judge is biased," said Tacopina. "I mean, the president is entitled to his own opinion…I'm not his PR person. I'm not his spokesperson. He’s entitled to his own opinion...do I think the judge is biased? Of course not. How could I subscribe to that when I've had no interactions with this judge that would lead me to believe he’s biased?"

Meanwhile, Tacopina said his client is gearing up for a battle.

"This is something that we believe is a political persecution and I think people on both sides of the aisle believe that it’s a complete abuse of power," he said. "He’s a tough guy, you know, and he’s someone who’s going to be ready for this fight. We’re ready for this fight. And I look forward to moving this thing along as quickly as possible to exonerate him."

Tacopina added that a case would not have been brought against Trump if he wasn't running for the White House.

"This case is not even legally sufficient," he argued. "Factually, it’s a joke and it won’t survive a challenge of law in the courtroom."