Donald Trump’s lawyer has said the former president’s “knees don’t buckle” and there is “zero” chance he will take a plea deal in the face of historic criminal charges.

In an interview with Sky News’ US partner NBC News, Joe Tacopina said his client is “ready to fight” and was not going to “hole up” in his exclusive Mar-a-Lago golf resort in Florida.

He was speaking as Trump faces a mug shot, finger-printing and a court appearance after being indicted by a grand jury in New York over an alleged hush money payment to an adult film actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential election campaign.

Live updates: Prosecutors launch criminal case against Trump

It is claimed the $130,000 (£105,000) payment was made in exchange for Daniels’ silence claims of an extramarital sexual encounter a decade earlier.

The 76-year-old is the first former US president to face criminal charges in court, even as he makes a bid to retake the White House in 2024 from Joe Biden.

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Trump will want circus of New York court appearance

The prospect of Trump appearing before a judge early next week threatens to further divide the world’s most
powerful country.

Even before news of the indictment broke, he had been seeking to use the legal threats to raise money and rally his staunchest supporters.

Trump, who tried to overthrow an election defeat and whose false claims of poll fraud sparked the deadly assault on the US Capitol on 6 January 2021, has signalled he will continue to campaign.

The Republican tycoon has denied any wrongdoing and repeatedly criticised the investigation led by Democrat district attorney Alvin Bragg, branding the indictment “political persecution”.

Pressed over whether the ex-president would take a plea deal, Mr Tacopina said: “Zero, zero. First of all, I’m not taking a plea deal to anything.

“But president Trump will not take a plea deal in this case. It’s not going to happen. There’s no crime.”

He added: “His knees don’t buckle. So I think he’s now in the posture that he’s ready to fight this.”

Mr Tacopina said he did not “specifically” know about the nature of the charges against Trump but added the indictment “centres around a legal, very common confidentiality agreement that was signed years ago”.

“It’s nothing more than that which is really what makes this shocking,” he added.

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He argued the decision to indict Trump will have “wide-reaching ramifications” and one that “endangers the rule of law for all Americans”.

“Today It’s Donald Trump, tomorrow it’s a Democrat, the day after it’s your friend, the day after that it’s you or me,” he told NBC.

A spokesman for the Manhattan district attorney’s office said prosecutors had contacted Trump’s defence team to coordinate a surrender.

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