The former president enters court as an accused felon.
For about two hours, for the first time in his life, Donald Trump was not a free man. He turned himself in to authorities in Manhattan Criminal Court around 1:30 p.m. On Tuesday, a seminal moment in American history began: a former president was arrested.
After giving the thumbs-up, although his photo was not taken, Trump took a few steps outside behind a black door, where photographers briefly caught his face in a navy suit, white shirt and red earrings. recipe. In the courtroom, the 76-year-old defendant sat with his hand on his lap next to the lawyers defending him.
When asked by Judge Joan Murchan how he pleaded guilty to 34 counts of first-degree falsifying business information, Trump replied, "Not guilty."
The case focuses on Trump's alleged role in ordering payments to Stormy Daniels, through Trump's former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen, to defend his 2016 campaign years before the porn star's allegations. Prosecutors allege that business records were falsified in retaliation for Cohen - anything from joining Trump
Sitting behind the prosecutor's desk, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Berg took notes in a spiral notebook marked with security. A few days ago, Trump shared a photo of himself with a bat and Bragg, who received at least one death threat after Trump was known to have threatened him, started his campaign. When prosecutors were asked to address the threatening social media posts, Judge Marchan ordered Trump's defense attorneys to advise their client not to speak publicly about the incident. Marchan urged prosecutors to give their witnesses the same advice, speaking specifically to Daniels and the expected witness, Cohen.
Marchan ordered the release of Trump himself, and members of the Secret Service removed the former president, who had been with him throughout the crisis. They sped off in black cars to LaGuardia Airport, where Trump made a surprise arrival at LaGuardia Airport the day before on his private jet from Mar-a-Lago.
Trump's campaign to return to power led to his impeachment as Republican officials and voters rallied behind him, seeing him as the victim of a Democratic attorney general. "witch hunt". He has raised millions of dollars for his campaign since predicting his "arrest" weeks ago and returned to Florida to turn the day entirely into a campaign speech.
The case was the hottest in town - with Trump traveling to New York as if he were OJ Simpson. In Manhattan, media began queuing for access to the courthouse 24 hours before the hearing, where helicopters flew into the early hours of Tuesday. Outside, many of Trump's supporters held a demonstration to show their support for the former president, as he had read a few weeks ago, although the protesters drowned them out with special guest Marjorie Taylor Green.
