New York City will today play host to the biggest show on earth – Donald Trump’s arraignment on felony charges relating to hush money payments to porn star.
The former president is expected to leave Trump Tower for the downtown courthouse in Manhattan at 10.30am today, flanked by a Secret Service and NYPD motorcade that will trigger rolling road closures.
He will make his way past protesters who spent the night lining up outside his home – some had come to show their support. Others were there to celebrate the charges.
At the courthouse, journalists from around the world lined up through the night to ensure their space in the courtroom.
The indictment – the first against any former US president – has been met with glee among Trump’s political enemies and disgust among many Republicans, who see it as nothing more than a biased attempt by left-wing prosecutors to stop him from returning to office.
The case has bolstered support among his die-hard donors and fans; in Massachusetts and New Hampshire Trump now leads main rival Ron DeSantis.
Since the indictment was handed down last Thursday, Trump’s team says he has raised a record $8million in donations.
Members of the world’s media lined up outside last night to ensure a space in the courtroom this morning
Reporters and photographers camped outside the courthouse last night
Reporters, photographers and line holders for news agencies wait in line to get into the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse, after former U.S. President Donald Trump’s indictment by a Manhattan grand jury following a probe into hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniel
Members of the media line up outside Manhattan Criminal Court overnight on Monday ahead of Trump’s appearance tomorrow
The former president arriving at Trump Tower yesterday. His attorney said he intends to ‘loudly and proudly’ plead not guilty today
Reporters began lining up outside the court at 2pm on Monday – 21 hours ahead of the hearing.
By 6am there were more than 120 in line with dozens of TV cameras pointing at the courthouse and 20 satellite trucks parked on the streets.
Reporters had eaten pizza and bagels during the night and handed out bananas down the line in the morning.
Police barricades lined all the streets around the court with half a dozen officers on every corner.
In the building there were two overflow rooms for the press and public with a capacity of 260 people.
Judge Merchan banned TV cameras from the courtroom after Trump’s lawyers objected, but he did allow still photographers in court.
Photographers were allowed to shoot from the corridor leading to the courtroom as well.
Reporters have also been banned from using electronics in the courtroom, the judge ruled, saying that anyone caught using a phone or laptop would have it confiscated.
The ruling came after Trump’s lawyers argued against cameras in court because it would create a ‘circus-like atmosphere’
Trump will today depart Trump Tower at around 10.30am. His motorcade of Secret Service and NYPD officers will trigger rolling road closures throughout Manhattan. He will reach the courthouse at around 11.10am, where he will be first be booked. That will involve having his fingerprints taken. A mugshot is unlikely but not out of the question. Then, he will appear before Judge Juan Merchan. He will ‘loudly and proudly’ plead not guilty. Trump is then expected to return to LaGuardia airport in Queens at 3pm. He will fly back to Mar-a-Lago, where he is expected to give an address at 8.15pm
A view from the around of Trump Tower in New York City after former US President Donald Trump arrives Trump Tower in New York City from Florida estate on Monday
A protester holds a placard outside Trump Tower in New York on Monday, April 3, 2023
Anti-Trump protesters were seen outside of Trump Tower in New York City last night
A protester holds a sign reading ‘Lock Him Up!’ as he stands outside of a media area near Trump Tower, in New York on April 3, 2023.
Police guard the entrance to the Manhattan District Attorney’s offices outside Manhattan Criminal Court, Tuesday, April 4, 2023
They claimed it could raise security concerns and was ‘inconsistent with President Trump’s presumption of innocence’.
According to Trump’s legal team – which changed dramatically last night on the eve of the hearing – greater media access would prejudice proceedings and ‘detract from the dignity and decorum of the proceedings’.
In his ruling Judge Merchan said: ‘That this indictment involves a matter of monumental significance cannot possibly be disputed.
‘Never in the history of the United States has a sitting or past President been indicted on criminal charges.
‘Mr Trump’s arraignment has generated unparalleled public interest and media attention.
‘The populace rightly hungers for the most accurate and current information available. To suggest otherwise would be disingenuous.
‘Unfortunately, although genuine and undoubtedly important, the interests of the News Organizations must be weighed against competing interests’.
Members of the New York City Clergy Association hold an evening prayer for peace in front of Manhattan Criminal Courthouse on April 03, 2023 in New York City
An inflatable caricature of Trump as a rat was erected near Trump Tower yesterday at the General William Tecumseh Sherman Monument next to Central Park
An anti-Trump protester in a jail jumpsuit and plastic mask outside Trump Tower yesterday
Along with journalists were tourists who became caught up in the chaos surrounding Trump Tower
A law enforcement officer stands guard outside Manhattan Criminal Courthouse, after Former U.S. President Donald Trump’s indictment by a Manhattan grand jury following a probe into hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels, in New York City, U.S., April 4, 2023
Trump, who was impeached twice by the U.S. House but was never convicted in the U.S. Senate, will become 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.
The former reality-TV star has been hyping that narrative to his political advantage, raising millions of dollars since the indictment on claims of a ‘witch hunt.’
He has personally assailed the Manhattan district attorney, egged on supporters to protest, and claimed without evidence that the judge presiding over the case ‘hates me’ – something Trump’s own lawyer has said is not true.
Trump is scheduled to return to his Florida home, Mar-a-Lago, this evening to hold a rally, 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.
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, 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 includes 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 President Joe Biden’s win.
Though police said they had no intelligence suggesting any violence was likely, they were on high alert for any potential disruptions.
‘While there may be some rabble rousers thinking of coming to our city tomorrow, our message is clear and simple: Control yourselves,’ Mayor Eric Adams said at a news conference Monday.
Trump pollster John McLaughlin said the former president would approach the day with ‘dignity.’
‘He will be a gentleman,’ McLaughlin said. ‘He’ll show strength and he’ll show dignity and … we’ll get through this and win the election.’
A crowd of Trump supporters and press members gathered along 5th Avenue outside the barricaded Trump Tower yesterday
A bulked-up NYPD presence was seen on Fifth Avenue on Monday
Barricades were set up around Trump Tower on on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan on Monday ahead of Trump’s arrival
A protester holds a sign reading ‘Arrest Biden’ in front of Manhattan’s DA office
Protesters and bystanders lined the streets yesterday as Trump arrived in NYC ahead of his arraignment today
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 his red, white and blue Boeing 757. From there, he was flown to New York, where he was expected to spend the night at Trump Tower before turning himself in the following day.
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.
Though prosecutors routinely insist that no person is above the law, bringing criminal charges against a former president carries instant logistical complications.
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.
Top Republicans, including some of Trump’s potential rivals in next year’s GOP presidential primary, have decried the case against him. President Joe 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.
Trump’s former U.N. ambassador, Nikki Haley, was campaigning on Monday near the U.S.-Mexico border as part of her presidential bid and suggested that coverage of the former president’s indictment was distracting from other key issues, like immigration.
But even she added, ‘You’ve got a liberal prosecutor that’s doing political revenge against a former president.’
Prosecutors say their case against Trump has nothing to do with politics.
