Former President Donald Trump entered not guilty pleas on 34 criminal counts, including felony charges of falsifying business records, in a Manhattan courtroom, where he became the first former president in U.S. history to face criminal prosecution.
The charges were handed down by a grand jury convened by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Bragg’s office has been investigating the circumstances surrounding a payment made on Trump’s behalf to an adult film star in 2016 in exchange for her silence about an alleged affair, which Trump has denied.
The arraignment capped a day of spectacle surrounding Trump’s surrender at Manhattan Criminal Court. His Secret Service motorcade left Trump Tower in midtown Manhattan for the courthouse shortly after 1 p.m., cutting through New York traffic with a police escort as spectators looked on. When his motorcade arrived, Trump waved to the crowd and cameras before entering the courthouse to turn himself in. He was expected to have his fingerprints taken while in custody, but didn’t have his mug shot taken and wasn’t placed in handcuffs.
More than an hour after arriving, Trump entered the courtroom where a judge was overseeing his arraignment hearing. No video recording was allowed in the courtroom, but a handful of photographers were briefly permitted to take pictures. One photo shows Trump seated at the defense table, flanked by his attorneys.
Trump became the first former president in U.S. history to be charged with a crime, and the case could have serious ramifications for his ongoing bid for the White House as it unfolds over the coming months. He has maintained his innocence and denounced the Manhattan district attorney’s probe as a politically motivated “witch hunt.”
The former president is expected to then be released and return home to Florida, where he is set to deliver remarks to supporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Tuesday evening.
CBS News