Former President Donald Trump arrived at the Manhattan courthouse a little before 1:30 p.m. Tuesday for his arraignment in the Stormy Daniels hush-money case.
He arrived by motorcade after overnighting at Trump Tower – raising his fist to cameras as he departed the luxury office and apartment building.
Trump, 76, spent the day huddled in his 26th floor office in Trump Tower with aides, CNN said.
His lawyer, Joe Tacopina, told the local New York Fox affiliate Tuesday morning that he spent ‘all night’ with Trump in the run-up to Tuesday’s unprecedented legal proceeding.
The former president arrived in New York Monday and will return to Mar-a-Lago Tuesday night, to deliver a statement to the press. He’s also expected to talk to reporters coming in and out of the courtroom.
Former Presdient Donald Trump holds up his fist as he departs Trump Tower to appear in court after being indicted by a Manhattan grand jury
Former President Donald Trump is captured leaving Trump Tower early Tuesday afternoon and head to his arraignment in lower Manhattan
Trump is captured leaving Trump Tower for his afterrnoon in court Tuesday after being indicted by a Manhattan grand jury. The indictment will be unsealed once Trump arrives in court
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg arrived at court Tuesday morning ahead of the former president.
Speaking with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos ahead of Trump’s historic arraignment on Tuesday, Tacopina said Trump will not be pleading guilty to a misdemeanor to make the Daniels hush-money case disappear and didn’t believe the Daniels’ hush-money case pursued by Bragg, would see a jury trial.
He also said he couldn’t see how Trump could abide by a gag order.
‘Here you have something uniquely different,’ Tacopina said on GMA. ‘The defendant is the leading Republican candidate for the office of the president of the United States and will be campaigning. Hard to put a gag order when he’s going to be fielding questions about his current legal situation.’
Trump has been defiant ahead of the arraignment, declaring himself to be the victim of weaponized legal system and a political target by Democrats who don’t want to see him win another term in the White House.
Trump raged on Truth Social Monday night after longtime D.C. journalist Michael Isikoff, writing for Yahoo News, reported that the former president would be charged with 34 felony counts – but spared handcuffs and a mugshot.
‘Wow! District Attorney Bragg just illegally LEAKED the various points, and complete information, on the pathetic Indictment against me,’ Trump posted to Truth Social.
‘I know the reporter, and so, unfortunately, does he,’ Trump added, pointing to Isikoff.
Isikoff became a national figure during the 1990s as the first D.C. reporter to know about President Bill Clinton’s affair with intern Monica Lewinsky.
‘This means that he MUST BE IMMEDIATELY INDICTED,’ Trump said of Bragg, a Democrat. ‘Now, if he wants to really clean up his reputation, he will do the honorable thing and, as District Attorney, INDICT HIMSELF. He will go down in Judicial history, and his Trump Hating wife will be, I am sure, very proud of him!’
The case involves a $130,000 hush-money payment that his then-attorney Michael Cohen made to Daniels in the final days of the 2016 campaign.
Cohen said he made the payment at Trump’s direction and it was to ensure Daniels would not go public with her story of a sexual encounter with the married Trump.
The alleged affair happened in 2006, long before Trump entered politics and when he was married to Melania. It was shortly after she gave birth to their son Barron.
Trump denies both the affair and any legal wrongdoing.
He’s also called Bragg a ‘racist in reverse.’
He also claims Bragg is funded by Jewish billionaire George Soros, who many conspiracy theorists claim is using his money to control world events.
‘Bragg is a (Soros) Racist in Reverse, who is taking his orders from D.C. I beat them TWICE, doing much better the second time, and despite their DISINFORMATION campaign, they don’t want to run against ‘TRUMP’ or my GREAT RECORD!’ Trump wrote on his TruthSocial platform last month.
Soros, who made his fortune in hedge funds, said he never contributed to Bragg’s election campaign. Soros has become a figure of hate for Trump and his allies.
The former president also pushed for the case to be moved from Manhattan to the more Republican-friendly Staten Island just hours before his historic arraignment.
Trump tore into the judge’s supposed anti-Trump sentiment on Truth Social and said the new location would be ‘very fair and secure.’
He also noted that the Judge Juan Merchan’s daughter, Loren Merchan, worked for Vice President Kamala Harris’ 2020 presidential campaign, deepening the alleged bias against him.
Judge Merchan’s daughter Loren worked as the director of digital for Harris’ 2020 presidential campaign. She was with the campaign from February 2019 until December of the same year.
Loren Merchan concluded her work with the campaign to move to fill the same role at Authentic, a digital strategies firm for progressives.
A supporter of former US president Donald Trump argues with opponents outside the Manhattan District Attorney’s office in New York City on April 4, 2023
Protesters clashing outside of One Hogan Place, New York, NY, Tuesday April 4th, 2023.
Chaos at the courthouse: Trump fan Juliet Germanotta, dressed in a denim jacket and a MAGA hat, throws herself over a Trump banner outside the courthouse
Germanotta got back on her feet and began arguing with one of his critics after trying to tear down an anti-Trump sign outside the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse
And polls show Trump’s strategy may be working as he is more popular than ever with Republican voters and getting a massive political boost as he seeks a second term in the White House.
National polls, as well as state surveys in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, show voters are still supporting his third bid for president.
Trump is leading his closest competition, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, by double digits.
DeSantis originally took a few digs at Trump – saying he didn’t know what went into paying hush money to porn stars – but as polls showed Trump’s popularity, the Florida governor switched tactics, saying he block New York if it attempted to extradite Trump.
The former president voluntarily went to Manhattan and appeared in court, meaning an extradition attempt was not needed. Other Republicans have spoken in Trump’s defense, saying the former president is a victim of politics.
Additionally, Trump’s campaign said it’s raised $8 million dollars since news of his pending indictment broke. On Tuesday morning, it sent out another appeal, titled ‘My last email before arrest.’
A conviction would not prevent Trump from running for or winning the presidency in 2024.
Defiance and defensive attacks are the corner stones of any Trump strategy – tactics he has used throughout his business career, during his two presidential runs, and throughout his time in the White House.
It helped him when he was impeached twice by the U.S. House of Representatives – but he was never convicted in the U.S. Senate.
The former president faces other possible indictments: the Justice Department is investigating him on two separate cases: the discovery of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago home and attempts to overturn the 2020 election results. The state of Georgia is also investigating Trump’s attempts to overturn the election results there.
Ahead of Tuesday’s hearing, Trump called on his supporters to protest his arraignment.
Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (pictured bottom left in sunglasses) was swarmed by a huge scrum of the media and protesters as she appeared for a rally outside the court hosting Donald Trump’s indictment
The firebrand Trump ally was drowned out as she tried to speak in a park opposite the court by anti-Trump protesters screaming ‘Nazi’ and ‘go back to Georgia b****’
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgia Republican and who is a close Trump ally, held a rally at the park across from the courthouse.
‘President Trump is joining some of the most incredible people in history being arrested today. Nelson Mandela was arrested, served time in prison. Jesus! Jesus was arrested and murdered by the Roman government,’ Greene told Right Side Broadcasting Network as she drove around New York with her boyfriend, RSBN reporter Brian Glenn.
Greene was heckled by New Yorkers on the scene, calling her a litany of insults including ‘Nazi’ and a ‘fucking b****!’
Disgraced Rep. George Santos also made a surprise appearance.
Greene said the case was a ‘travesty’ and that it should ‘never happen in America ever’. But her words could barely be heard as counter-protesters took to the streets, screaming back at her.
The only other president to be charged with a crime was Ulysses S. Grant, who was arrested in 1872 for speeding in his horse and buggy near Logan Circle in Washington, D.C.
He was taken to jail and had to pay a $20 fine.
