
UPDATE 7 p.m.
Donald Trump relaunched his 2024 campaign Tuesday, just hours after becoming the first former U.S. president to confront felony charges in what prosecutors allege was a hush-money scheme to protect his reputation before the 2016 election.
In a surprisingly brief appearance at his gilded country club sanctuary in Florida, Trump reprised familiar grievances that spanned the full spectrum of his legal troubles, lingering only briefly on the historic charges he now faces.
"I never thought anything like this could happen in America," the former commander-in-chief said from his Mar-a-Lago podium on a stage bedecked in American flags.
"The only crime that I've committed is to fearlessly defend our nation from those who seek to destroy it."
Trump has been showing strength in the polls in recent weeks, adding credulity to his frequent claim that he's the clear front-runner in the race to secure the Republican nomination for president in 2024.
And he's been fundraising mercilessly off of his current legal quandary, including with a T-shirt offering Tuesday featuring a fake mug shot — Trump was not photographed by court officials — and the words, "Not guilty."
Trump sounded more defensive about the two other cases that are amassing against him: an investigation into the removal of classified documents from the White House and his effort in the days following the 2020 election to convince officials in Georgia to overturn his defeat.
"This fake case was brought only to interfere with the upcoming 2024 election and it should be dropped immediately," he said of the latter.
UPDATE: 2:36 p.m.
Donald Trump conspired to illegally influence the 2016 election through a series of hush money payments designed to stifle claims that could be harmful to his candidacy, prosecutors said Tuesday in unsealing a historic 34-count felony indictment against the former U.S. president.
The payments, said Assistant District Attorney Christopher Conroy, were part of “an unlawful plan to identify and suppress negative information that could have undermined his campaign for president.”
Trump, stone-faced and silent as he entered and exited the Manhattan courtroom, said “not guilty” in a firm voice while facing a judge who warned him to refrain from rhetoric that could inflame or cause civil unrest.
The next court date is Dec. 4, though it is not clear if he will be required to appear.
The broad contours of the case have long been known, but indictment contains new details about a scheme that prosecutors say involved payoffs to two women, including a porn star, who said they had extramarital sexual encounters with him years earlier, as well as to a Trump Tower doorman who claimed to have a story about a child he alleged the former president had out of of wedlock.
UPDATE: 1:19 p.m.
A judge has warned former President Donald Trump to refrain from rhetoric that could inflame or cause civil unrest.
Trump, speaking briefly during his arraignment, told the judge he was pleading “not guilty” and was advised of his rights by the judge.
Judge Juan Merchan also warned Trump that he could be removed from the courtroom if he is disruptive, but Trump spoke only a few times to respond to questions.
He’s next due in court in December, but his lawyers asked for him to be excused from attending the hearing in person because of extraordinary security proceedings.
UPDATE: 12:29 p.m.
Former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty Tuesday to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, according to two law enforcement officials familiar with the matter.
The plea came during a brief arraignment in a lower Manhattan courtroom as Trump faced a grand jury indictment arising from a hush money payment to a porn actor during Trump's 2016 campaign.
The two officials who confirmed the plea spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press because prosecutors had not yet released the indictment publicly.
The arraignment, though procedural in nature, amounts to a remarkable reckoning for Trump after years of investigations into his personal, business and political dealings. The case is unfolding against the backdrop not only of his third campaign for the White House but also against other investigations in Washington and Atlanta that might yet produce even more charges.
A silent and stone-faced Trump, his lips pursed in apparent anger, entered the courtroom shortly before 2:30 p.m. without saying anything. Minutes earlier, he narrated his feelings in real time, describing the experience as “SURREAL” as he traveled from Trump Tower to lower Manhattan to face a judge as the first former president in American history to be criminally prosecuted.
UPDATE: 11:43
A stone-faced Donald Trump entered the courtroom shortly before 2:30 p.m. without saying anything.
UPDATE: 11:03 a.m.
Former President Donald Trump surrendered to authorities Tuesday at a Manhattan courthouse ahead of his arraignment on criminal charges stemming from a hush money payment to a porn actor during his 2016 campaign.
Wearing his signature dark suit and red tie, Trump turned and waved to crowds outside the building before heading inside to be fingerprinted and processed — a remarkable reckoning after years of investigations into his personal, business and political dealings and an extraordinary moment in U.S. history.
He arrived at court in an eight-car motorcade that took him from Trump Tower in Midtown Manhattan through the main north-south highway on the east side of the city, past landmarks such as the United Nations. Along the way, the voluble ex-president posted on his social media platform: “Heading to Lower Manhattan, the Courthouse. Seems so SURREAL — WOW, they are going to ARREST ME. Can’t believe this is happening in America. MAGA!”
UPDATE: 10:29 a.m.
Former President Donald Trump arrived Tuesday at a Manhattan courthouse ahead of his arraignment on criminal charges stemming from a hush money payment to a porn actor during his 2016 campaign.
Trump pumped his fist as he exited Trump Tower minutes earlier, then traveled in an eight-car motorcade down a highway along the East River to the downtown courthouse, where's he expected to surrender to authorities. He’s expected to be fingerprinted and processed, and his mug shot may be taken — a remarkable reckoning after years of investigations and an extraordinary moment in U.S. history.
The booking and appearance before Judge Juan Merchan should be relatively brief — though hardly routine — as Trump learns for the first time the charges against him. Trump will plead not guilty, according to his lawyers, and is expected to enter the plea himself, as is standard in the court.
Merchan has ruled that TV cameras won't be allowed in the courtroom.
Trump, who was impeached twice by the U.S. House but was never convicted in the U.S. Senate, is the first former president to face criminal charges. The nation's 45th commander in chief will be escorted from Trump Tower to the courthouse by the Secret Service and may have his mug shot taken.
“He is strong and ready to go,” Trump lawyer Joe Tacopina told The Associated Press. Earlier, Tacopina said in a TV interview that the former president wouldn't plead guilty to lesser charges, even if it might resolve the case. He also said he didn't think the case would make it to a jury.
New York police said they were ready for large protests by Trump supporters, who share the Republican former president’s belief that the New York grand jury indictment and three additional pending investigations are politically motivated and intended to weaken his bid to retake the White House in 2024. Journalists often outnumbered protesters, though.
ORIGINAL STORY: 10:19 a.m.
Donald Trump departed Trump Tower on Tuesday ahead of his arraignment on criminal charges stemming from a hush money payment to a porn actor during his 2016 campaign.
Trump, who pumped his fist to supporters, was believed to be headed to a Manhattan courthouse, where he was due to surrender to authorities — a remarkable reckoning after years of investigations and an extraordinary moment in U.S. history. He’s expected to be fingerprinted and processed, and his mug shot may be taken.
The booking and appearance before Judge Juan Merchan should be relatively brief — though hardly routine — as Trump learns for the first time the charges against him. Trump will plead not guilty, according to his lawyers, and is expected to enter the plea himself, as is standard in the court.
Merchan has ruled that TV cameras won't be allowed in the courtroom.
Trump, who was impeached twice by the U.S. House but was never convicted in the U.S. Senate, is the first former president to face criminal charges. The nation's 45th commander in chief will be escorted from Trump Tower to the courthouse by the Secret Service and may have his mug shot taken.
“He is strong and ready to go,” Trump lawyer Joe Tacopina told The Associated Press. Earlier, Tacopina said in a TV interview that the former president wouldn't plead guilty to lesser charges, even if it might resolve the case. He also said he didn't think the case would make it to a jury.
New York police said they were ready for large protests by Trump supporters, who share the Republican former president’s belief that the New York grand jury indictment and three additional pending investigations are politically motivated and intended to weaken his bid to retake the White House in 2024. Journalists often outnumbered protesters, though.
Trump, a former reality TV star, has been hyping that narrative to his political advantage, saying he raised more than $8 million in the days since the indictment on claims of a “witch hunt.” His campaign released a fundraising request titled “My last email before arrest” and he has repeatedly assailed the Manhattan district attorney, egged on supporters to protest and claimed without evidence that the judge presiding over the case “hates me” — something his own lawyer has said is not true.
Trump is scheduled to return to his Palm Beach, Florida, home, Mar-a-Lago, on Tuesday evening to give remarks, punctuating his new reality: submitting to the dour demands of the American criminal justice system while projecting an aura of defiance and victimhood at celebratory campaign events. At least 500 prominent supporters have been invited, with some of the most pro-Trump congressional Republicans expected to attend.
A conviction would not prevent Trump from running for or winning the presidency in 2024.
Inside the Manhattan courtroom, prosecutors led by New York’s district attorney, Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, are expected to unseal the indictment issued last week by a grand jury. This is when Trump and his defense lawyers will get their first glimpse of the precise allegations against him.
The indictment contains multiple charges of falsifying business records, including at least one felony offense, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press last week.
After the arraignment, Trump is expected to be released by authorities because the charges against him don’t require that bail be set.
The investigation is scrutinizing six-figure payments made to porn actor Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal. Both say they had sexual encounters with the married Trump years before he got into politics. Trump denies having sexual liaisons with either woman and has denied any wrongdoing involving payments.
The arraignment will unfold against the backdrop of heavy security in New York, coming more than two years after Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in a failed bid to halt the congressional certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s win.
Trump was defiant ahead of his arraignment. He used his social media network to complain that he was going to court in a heavily Democratic area, declaring, “KANGAROO COURT” and “THIS IS NOT WHAT AMERICA WAS SUPPOSED TO BE!” He and his campaign have repeatedly assailed Bragg and even trained scrutiny on members of Bragg's family.
Despite that, the scenes around Trump Tower and the courthouse where Trump will stand before a judge did not feature major unrest. Police tried to keep apart protesters supporting the former president and those opposing him by confining them to separate sides of a park near the courthouse using metal barricades.
Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, one of Trump’s staunchest supporters in Congress, staged a brief rally at the park, but the scene was so chaotic that it was hard to hear her over the crush of reporters and protesters.
“We’re the party of peace,” Greene said, thanking those Trump supporters present. “Democrats are communists.”
Embattled Republican New York Rep. George Santos also showed up in solidarity with Trump, saying, “I want to support the president."
“I think this is unprecedented and it’s a bad day for democracy,” Santos said, suggesting that future prosecutors could target Biden and other presidents with other cases, which “cheapens the judicial system.”
One demonstrator hoisted a sign reading "Trump or death 1776 2024,” but others carried placards showed images of Trump in prison.
The public fascination with the case was evident Monday as national television carried live images of Trump’s motorcade from his Mar-a-Lago club to a private, red, white and blue Boeing 757 stenciled with his name. From there, Trump was flown to New York, where cameras followed his motorcade into Manhattan and he spent the night at Trump Tower as he prepared to turn himself in.
The former president and his aides are embracing the media circus. After initially being caught off guard when news of the indictment broke Thursday evening, Trump and his team are hoping to use the case to his advantage. Still, they asked the judge in a Monday filing to ban photo and video coverage of the arraignment.
New York’s ability to carry out safe and drama-free courthouse proceedings in a case involving a polarizing ex-president could be an important test case as prosecutors in Atlanta and Washington conduct their own investigations of Trump that could also result in charges. Those investigations concern efforts to undo the 2020 election results as well as the possible mishandling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.
Many top Republicans, including some of Trump’s potential rivals in next year’s GOP presidential primary, have criticized the case against him. Biden, who has yet to formally announce that he’s seeking reelection next year, and other leading Democrats have largely had little to say about it.
Prosecutors insist their case against Trump has nothing to do with politics.