Former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s investigation of hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels amid the 2016 presidential campaign. Trump entered the plea Tuesday in New York during an unprecedented and extraordinary court proceeding.
The one-term commander-in-chief entered the plea during an unprecedented and extraordinary hour-long Manhattan court proceeding. Trump, in his trademark blue suit, white shirt and red tie, remained uncharacteristically quiet inside the courtroom and out, uttering just two words.
“Not guilty,” the native New Yorker responded when asked for a plea to the charges.
Stay tuned here for live updates.
8:30 p.m. EST
Hours after entering a not-guilty plea in New York, Trump began an angry speech at his Mar-a-Lago, Fla., property declaring his innocence and attacking Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
“The only crime that I have committed is to fearlessly defend our nation from those who seek to destroy it,” he said before supporters.
It was not known how long Trump planned to speak. The major networks opted not to broadcast it.
6:40 p.m. EST
Former President Donald Trump returned to South Florida on Tuesday evening after an early afternoon court appearance in New York where he pleaded not guilty to 34 felony charges.
He landed at Palm Beach International Airport at about 6:40 p.m. almost 30 hours after he departed PBIA for the trip to New York for his first appearance in court after last week’s indictment by a Manhattan grand jury.
The Trump campaign said he would speak beginning at 8:15 p.m.
6:23 p.m. EST
At a later news conference, the district attorney explained the case was about more than the payoff to porn star Daniels, money disguised as legal services paid to Trump’s former fixer, Michael Cohen.
“It’s not just about one payment,” said Braggs, noting the investigation unearthed Trump’s repeated lies. “It is 34 business records — 34 false statements in business records concealing criminal conduct. It is not just that one $130,0000 wire payment.”
5:06 p.m. EST
As Trump jetted back to Mar-a-Lago, his legal team stayed behind in NYC to address the indictment and answer questions from the media.
“Today is not a happy day,” said Trump’s newest attorney, Todd Blanche. “Today is a very sad day for this country. I think that what you saw in the indictment that was unsealed today is exactly what has been talked about for the past seven years and the district attorney has turned what is actually a completely political issue into a political prosecution and it’s not a good day.”
Blanche said there was little new in the indictment.
“The indictment itself is boilerplate,” he said. “It doesn’t allege any federal crime, any state crime that’s been violated. It doesn’t allege what the false statement is. And it’s really disappointing. It’s sad, and we’re going to fight it. We’re going to fight it hard.”
4:39 p.m. EST
Trump’s private plane is airborne and headed back to Florida, where he is scheduled to give remarks about his indictment at his Mar-a-Lago compound.
4:13 p.m. EST
The indictment of Donald Trump was unsealed on Tuesday. The documents containing the 34 accusations of falsifying business records can be found here.
4:07 p.m. EST
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who attended the hearing Tuesday, issued a statement afterward.
“The People of the State of New York allege that Donald J. Trump repeatedly and fraudulently falsified New York business records to conceal crimes that hid damaging information from the voting public during the 2016 presidential election,” Bragg said afterward in a statement.
And Acting Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan asked Trump to “please refrain from damning statements that are likely to incite violence or civil unrest.”
3:30 p.m. EST
After about 40 minutes before a judge, Trump exited the courtroom, not saying a word to reporters in the hallway as he made his way outside.
3 p.m. EST
Donald Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to DA Alvin Bragg’s investigation of hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels amid the 2016 presidential campaign, according to multiple reports.
2:50 p.m. EST
A mugshot reportedly wasn’t taken but that didn’t stop former President Trump’s re-election team from making one — and slapping it on a T-shirt.
While Trump awaited a reading of the charges in Manhattan Criminal Court, members of the Trump 2024 presidential election campaign sent out a blast offering a T-shirt with a mocked-up mug shot for $47.
“Do you stand with President Trump, friend?” the pitch from his campaign asked. “Please make a contribution of $47 or more to WIN in 2024 and we’ll send you your very own ‘Not Guilty’ T-shirt for free.”
2:31 p.m. EST
Wearing his standard blue dress coat and red tie, a stern-faced Donald Trump left District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office and walked into a Manhattan Criminal Court courtroom, not responding to questions from reporters in the hallway.
His attorney preceded him into the courtroom a few minutes earlier.
2:20 p.m. EST
The White House says President Joe Biden isn’t paying much attention to his predecessor’s day in court.
Biden’s spokeswoman insisted he’s got getter things to do than follow every step of his predecessor’s arrest and arraignment.
“The president is going to focus on the American people, like he does every day,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at her daily press briefing. “This is not something that’s a focus for him.”
2:12 p.m. EST
Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg has just left his office and is heading to the courtroom.
2 p.m. EST
About a dozen D.A. Bragg staffers have exited the doors that lead from the D.A.’s office to the courtroom. One of them was a D.A. financial crime analyst, according to CNN.
1:57 p.m. EST
Former President Trump is in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office, where he will be taken into custody and fingerprinted.
It remains unclear if a mugshot will be taken.
1:40 p.m. EST
For decades, no one ever expected to see a former U.S. president hauled into court to face criminal charges — including the one about to be indicted in Manhattan Criminal Court.
“Seems so SURREAL — WOW, they are going to ARREST ME,” former President Trump wrote on his Truth Social website as his SUV made its way down the FDR Drive. “Can’t believe this is happening in America.”
“MAGA!” he wrote, citing his constantly coined “Make America Great Again” slogan.
1:30 p.m. EST
Trump, 76, arrived at Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office to surrender at about 1:20 p.m. Tuesday as he becomes the first former president in the history of the United States to face criminal charges.
He is expected to be fingerprinted and processed, but it remained unclear whether authorities would require him to take a mug shot.
The exact charges against Trump will be unsealed at Trump’s expected arraignment at 2:15 p.m. EST, though they are expected to deal with how Trump handled, and accounted for, hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election, among other items.
Various reports have put the number of charges at upwards of two dozen, with at least one felony in the mix. The Associated Press reported late Friday that Trump faces a number of charges involving falsifying business records.
Trump will next make his way from Bragg’ office to the Manhattan criminal court building, where his legal team has already said he plans to plead not guilty to the charges.
1:25 p.m. EST
The NYPD closed down the south-bound FDR Drive as Trump made his way from Trump Tower to Manhattan Criminal Court.
The former president’s black SUV was surrounded by six black SUVs and was led by an NYPD cruiser as he made his way to his appointment with history.
At Manhattan Criminal Court, cops were creating a larger frozen zone in preparation for the former president’s arrival.
1:20 p.m. EST
Former President Trump has left Trump tower and is heading to lower Manhattan. He and his entourage was seen heading east on E. 56th St., heading toward the FDR Drive.
1:10 p.m. EST
The NYPD’s coverage of the streets around Manhattan Criminal Court was being overseen by the city’s highest-ranking NYPD officer.
NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey was seen walking through the crowds at both the dueling protests and outside the Manhattan courthouse.
As of 1 p.m., no arrests have been made, according to an NYPD spokesman.
12:50 p.m. EST
This Don doppelganger really gets around!
A Trump impersonator flanked by fake secret service agents, was spotted rolling past Worth and Centre streets, about a block from Manhattan Criminal Court.
It’s believed to be the same impersonator who passed by Trump Tower about an hour ago.
His Cadillac was followed by a pick-up truck adorned with Trump flags.
Meanwhile, about 300 pro-Trump supporters continue to protest outside of Manhattan Criminal Court, outnumbering anti-Trump protesters by at least two-to-one.
Both sides are outnumbered by the hundreds of reporters and photographers.
12:45 p.m. EST
Cops in Midtown have begun moving the barricades outside of Trump Towers in preparation for the former president’s motorcade to depart.
Meanwhile back in Manhattan Criminal Court, Staten Island artist and Trump supporter Scott LoBaido, who was accused of dousing the sidewalk outside of DA Bragg’s office with red paint last year as a protest of the prosecutor’s policies, blamed “the radical left” for Trump’s indictment as a stalemate continued between pro-and anti-Trump supporters.
“For years in this country, we fluctuated. We go left like we did in the 60s and 70s, in the 80s we were a little more conservative. But of late, the radical left took it to the effing moon and you cannot do that,” he said, adding that the potential felony charges will only help Trump.
“(It will) wake up the masses in this country,” he said. “These people — I don’t care how many Ambien or valium think you’re gonna give them — these people are not going back to sleep. And the only way to fix this mess is for the radical left to pull back their (expletive) reins and get us back to normal.”
11:50 a.m. EST
While there is no sign that former commander in chief and his entourage have left Trump Tower in Midtown, a man in a Trump mask riding in the back of a limo caused quite a stir among reporters camped out there.
Thinking he was the real deal, photographers started approaching the limo as it rolled down Fifth Ave., only to realize that Trump’s mug was made of rubber.
11:40 a.m. EST
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green (R-Georgia) left the protest at Manhattan Criminal Court after speaking to a group of pro-Trump supporters for about 10 minutes.
She was followed out by a group of counter-protesters that included Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-Bronx), city Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and Democratic City Council members Chi Osse and Sandy Nurse.
“New York City stood up to Marjorie Taylor Greene today to let her know: Get the hell out of here,” Bowman said.
Osse told The News he thinks Greene should be locked up along with Trump.
“She has no place here in New York. She deserves to go to jail as well. Get Marjorie Taylor Greene out of Congress and into a prison ASAP,” he said, adding that she should be locked up “for supporting the insurrection.”
“She was someone that incited the violence that took place at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021,″ he added. “Because of that, she’s complicit in the crimes that happened on that day.”
11:30 a.m. EST
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green (R-Georgia) warned a gathering crowd of Trump supporters that they were next to be targeted by Bragg, who she called “a tool for the Democrats.”
“Every American should make a stand [against] the injustice, the corruption and the communist Democrats,” Greene said. Her words were nearly drowned out by torrents of boos and cheers from both pro- and anti-Trump protesters.
“This is election interference,” she said of the indictment. “(Bragg is) trying to hijack the 2024 election. This is a travesty. This should never happen in America, every American should be concerned,” she said.
“They will come after you tomorrow,” she said.
11:05 a.m. EST
Cops are bringing in more barricades to corral protesters outside Manhattan Criminal Court as anti-Trumpers scream “Lock him up!” and singing “Na na na na. Hey! Hey! Hey! Goodbye!”
Anti-Trump protesters are outnumbered by Trump supporters.
“One of the things I’ve learned is that Trump supporters and the religious right and the Proud Boys don’t believe in statistics, they don’t believe in polls,” said Karen Irwin, a Hell’s Kitchen resident on the anti-Trump side who was waving a large anti-Trump flag. “They believe they outnumber us and they believe they are the ones who run America.”
Irwin said that the Trump indictment is “a celebration” of sorts.
“We’re taking a tiny little win here,” she said.
Pro-Trump protesters were a mix of die hard Trump fans who claim that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg “doesn’t care about real New Yorkers.”
“I’m here because I want to show the hypocrisy of Alvin Bragg,” said Danna Morgan, 27, who was wearing a “Make the NYPD Great Again” hat. “Every day there’s something happening on the streets of New York City and he’s (either) A, lowering charges or B, just letting them off.”
“If he’s gonna be a DA halfway he should be a DA full way not pick and choose,” she added.
10:51 a.m. EST
Former President Donald Trump Tuesday called for his criminal case to be moved to Staten Island, calling Manhattan a “VERY UNFAIR VENUE!” because some neighborhoods voted overwhelmingly for President Biden.
Just hours before his expected arraignment, Trump trashed the borough where he lived for decades as far too Democratic to give him a fair shake.
“This case should be moved to nearby Staten Island,” he said. “Would be a very fair and secure location for the trial.”
Trump lashed out again at Judge Juan Merchan, branding him as “highly partisan,” a “Trump hater” and a “kangaroo court.” He derided Merchan for his handling of a separate tax fraud case in which a jury last year convicted the Trump Organization and fined the firm $1.6 million.
“He was an unfair disaster on a previous Trump related case,” the former president said. “Wouldn’t recuse, gave horrible jury instructions and impossible to deal with during the witch hunt trial.”
10:50 a.m. EST
Dueling protests outside Manhattan Criminal Court are in full swing with pro-Trump protesters out numbering anti-Trumpers.
But the anti-Trump protesters are making up for it in volume, especially after Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene arrived to lend her support for the former president.
Anti-Trumpers whistled loudly and banged on drums in order to drown out the approximately 150 Trump supporters.
The two sides were lined up across from each other, blocked by barricades.
10 a.m. EST
Disgraced Rep. George Santos (R-Long Island) briefly joined pro-Trump protesters outside Manhattan Criminal Court. But he wasn’t welcomed by everyone in attendance.
The embattled Republican legislator, who has admitted to lying about his background and has been mocked by late night comics and mostly shunned by his own party’s leaders, is expected to speak at Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s nearby pro-Trump rally later Tuesday morning.
Santos chatted with a few protesters before disappearing into the crowd. One protester yelled a profanity at him as he left, but he didn’t respond.
Last week, Santos took to Twitter, saying he was “deeply disturbed” by the indictment.
“Weaponizing the justice system to target a political rival is a clear danger to our country and democracy,” he wrote. “DA Alvin Bragg should focus on prosecuting crime in NYC, not executing political witch hunts.”
9:30 a.m. EST
As pro-Trump protesters began setting up a gigantic banner outside Manhattan Criminal Court, an anti-Trump protester stormed the group and tried to rip up the banner in front of dozens of reporters.
A blonde woman wearing a red “Make America Great Again” was knocked off her feet during a tug-of-war over the banner.
“Go to your own side,” one Trump supporter screamed, according to a video captured by a Buzzfeed News reporter.
NYPD Community Affairs cops quickly intervened, pulled her away from the Trump supporters and put her back in the anti-Trump area.
A Trump supporter screamed out at the silver-haired woman, calling her a “Soros puppet!” as she was escorted back to her side.
9 a.m. EST
A phalanx of security surrounded Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg as he arrived at Manhattan Criminal Court on Tuesday morning.
An NYPD police cruiser led him down the street as a black SUV covered the rear. More than a dozen court officers and security guards covered the street as Bragg and his entourage entered his building.
8:50 a.m. EST
Former President Donald Trump is expected to address the media at Manhattan Criminal Court both before and after his impending arraignment, one of his attorneys told CNN.
Chris Kise, said that the former commander in chief expressed his desire to speak to the cameras outside the courtroom when the attorney visited Trump Monday night.
Kise also said that Trump was “upbeat” with the arraignment looming.
“(He) is as determined as ever to fight off drivers of injustice,” Kise said.
On Monday night it was reported that Trump wouldn’t speak on the indictment until he was back in Mar-a-largo, Fla., later Tuesday, where he expects to address a room full of supporters for his re-election campaign.
On Tuesday morning lawyers from District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office and Trump’s attorneys were still hammering out the details of a protective order to cover the documents that will be turned over in the case, Kise said.
8:30 a.m. EST
Before Trump’s expected arrival at Manhattan Criminal Court, firebrand Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene will be holding a pro-Trump rally at Collect Pond Park at 10:30 a.m. EST The park, which was once an open sewer, is on Leonard Street between Centre and Lafayette streets, a stone’s throw away from the court house.
Greene is expected to lambast Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, Mayor Eric Adams and other city politicians during her rally. In anticipation, Adams publicly warned her on Monday, saying she and other pro-Trump protesters should be on their best behavior while in the five boroughs.
A counter protest, led by Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-Yonkers) will be held on Leonard and Lafayette streets at 10 a.m. EST. The event is being billed as an “Emergency Noise Demonstration” that will drown out Greene’s protest.
Greene has already started taking shots at the city and Mayor Adams, who she called “delusional” on Twitter Monday night.
A few hours later, she expressed disgust over the conditions of the streets near her hotel, comparing New York City to the fictional “Gotham City” in Batman. “Mayor Adams and Disgraced DA Alvin Bragg should be ashamed of themselves,” she wrote.
7:20 a.m. EST
The New York Police Department has already closed off several streets near Manhattan Criminal Court in the spots where Trump’s motorcade is expected to arrive and depart, according to the Associated Press. Several area streets are open for now, but are lined with barricades that can be put in place in a moment’s notice.
At the same time, New York federal immigration court announced that it will be closed today “due to large crowds of people and associated street closures.” Hearings that were scheduled to take place on Zoom will continue as scheduled, the court said.
6 a.m. EST
Reporters from media outlets across the globe camped out on the sidewalk outside Manhattan Criminal Court throughout the night Monday to secure a spot inside the courtroom where former President Donald Trump will be arraigned on a raft of criminal charges linked to the hush money payments to Daniels.
Contributing: Anna Gratzer, Josephine Stratman, Harry Parker, Ellen Moynihan, Chris Sommerfeldt, Emma Seiwell,Thomas Tracy and David Goldiner, New York Daily News.
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