Trump faces criminal charges in court after historic indictment

Former President Donald Trump said he "never thought anything like this could happen in America" Tuesday night after he was arraigned in New York City.

The former president emerged to a crowd of his supporters accompanied by the song "Proud to be an American." The crowd chanted "USA" as he made his way to a microphone.

He mentioned the 2020 presidential election, current President Joe Biden and claimed "our country is going to hell" to which the audience applauded.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office has been investigating Trump in connection with his alleged role in a hush money payment scheme and cover-up involving adult film star Stormy Daniels that dates to the 2016 presidential election.

The indictment by a New York grand jury was unsealed Tuesday, providing the public and Trump’s legal team with details about the charges against him for the first time. Trump on Tuesday pleaded not guilty to 34 felony criminal charges.

Former President Donald Trump is delivering remarks from his Mar-A-Lago property in Florida following his arraignment in New York City earlier Tuesday.

Prosecutors alleged Trump was part of an unlawful plan to suppress negative information, including an illegal payment of $130,000 that was ordered by the defendant to suppress information that would hurt his campaign.

Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony criminal charges of falsifying business in the first degree.

Joe Tacopina, an attorney for Donald Trump, said the former president wanted to utter the words “not guilty” himself during his arraignment Tuesday.  

Tacopina said the defense team was not expecting the indictment to come without specifics about the alleged underlying crimes. 

“What really wasn’t expected was that they were going to hand down and indictment without specifying what these alleged underlying crimes were,” Tacopina said. “It's shocking to me that a state prosecutor would try and prosecute something as thin as this and prosecute a violation of federal election laws when they're state prosecutors, which further enhances the position we have taken all along that this is a political persecution, political prosecution, and the weaponization of the justice system which honestly makes me ill.”

Tacopina repeated his strong belief that this case won’t even get to trial. “I don't think we are going to get to a jury. I think this case is going to fall on the law way before we get there.” 

Former President Donald Trump, speaking to supporters after his arraignment, criticized the indictment leveled against him in New York Tuesday, saying he’s “going through a fake investigation” that “turned out to be a sham.” 

Trump’s remarks came on call organized by faith leaders and supporters, during which he briefly spoke out against the investigation by the Manhattan district attorney. 

He continued, “and it’s turning out to be that. And we have others down the line. But we’ve been winning them for eight years now, ever since we came down the golden escalator, as they call it, at Trump Tower.” 

Trump's brief remarks also included him touting his appointment of Supreme Court justices and his support of religion during his presidency.

Trump became the first former president to face criminal charges Tuesday when he was arraigned in a New York courtroom following an indictment returned last week by a grand jury.  

Trump is slated to hold an event at Mar-a-Lago later this evening that gives the 2024 Republican presidential hopeful a chance to more fully respond to the charges. 

Former President Donald Trump has arrived at the Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Florida, after pleading not guilty to 34 criminal charges in a Manhattan courtroom Tuesday afternoon.

Trump’s personalized Boeing 757 landed at 6:40 p.m. ET.

The former president is expected to speak later tonight from Mar-a-Lago.

On a warm spring day in New York City, police barricades kept loud pro- and anti-Trump protesters apart in a small park near the courthouse where former President Donald Trump was arraigned, with NYPD officers standing in the middle as some demonstrators shouted insults and profanities at one another.

On the side filed with hundreds of supporters of the former president earlier this afternoon, a man strummed chords on a violin as he stood next to a protester holding a sign saying, "Trump didn’t start any wars!" 

"Lock him up!" said a sign carried by one protester on the other side. "Trump is the definition of depravity," read another sign. 

The Naked Cowboy, a singing guitar player who usually poses with tourists in Times Square wearing only his briefs, stopped by to show his support for the former president. He took pictures with backers of the former president. 

Denise Gumora, a 62-year-old fitness instructor from Manhattan, held up a small placard that had "45" written on it for the former president.

"Leave that man alone," said Gumora, a lifelong Democrat and former Bernie Sanders supporter who turned to Trump after Sanders’ failed presidential bid.

Another Trump backer, Florida state Rep. Anthony Sabatini, a Republican who is running for Congress, said he traveled to New York for the protest, leaving his wife and their 16-day-old baby back in the Sunshine State. 

Sabatini, who had called for the defunding of the FBI after the agency’s search of the former president’s Mar-a-Lago home, said he thinks the indictment actually helps Trump’s presidential bid.

"I think what the DA has done is put more of a focus on Donald Trump and his message, more than ever before," he said. "They just amplified it probably tenfold."

On the anti-Trump side of the barricades, one protester wore a Trump mask and a prison jumpsuit. Some banged cowbells and drums as marijuana smoke wafted in the air. 

Community activist David Galarza Santa held up a roll of paper towels as a reminder of the day Trump visited Puerto Rico and hurled rolls of paper towels at survivors of Hurricane Maria.

"Now he can use it dry up his crocodile tears," Galarza Santa said of Trump. 

The Manhattan district attorney’s office has been investigating former president Donald Trump in connection with his alleged role in a hush money payment scheme and cover-up involving adult film star Stormy Daniels that dates to the 2016 presidential election.

The indictment by a New York grand jury was unsealed Tuesday, providing the public and Trump’s legal team with details about the charges against him for the first time. Trump on Tuesday pleaded not guilty to 34 felony criminal charges.

Here’s what we know about Trump’s indictment so far:

What's in the indictment? The investigation by the Manhattan district attorney’s office began when Trump was still in the White House and relates to a $130,000 payment made by Trump’s then-personal attorney Michael Cohen to Daniels in late October 2016, days before the presidential election, to silence her from going public about an alleged affair with Trump a decade earlier. Trump has denied the affair.

Prosecutors on Tuesday alleged Trump was a part of an illegal conspiracy to undermine the integrity of the 2016 election. They allege he was part of an unlawful plan to suppress negative information, including the $130,000 payment.

The reason he committed the crime of falsifying business records was in part to “promote his candidacy,” prosecutors alleged. Trump is not charged with criminal conspiracy.

Each criminal charge Trump is facing relates to a specific entry among the business records of the Trump Organization, according to the indictment. Prosecutors accuse Trump of repeatedly causing false entries in the business records.

Trump's response: Trump was caught off guard by the grand jury’s decision to indict him, according to a person who spoke directly with him. While the former president was bracing for an indictment, he began to believe news reports that a potential indictment was weeks – or more – away. The former president has repeatedly denied wrongdoing in the matter and continued his attacks on Bragg and other Democrats following news of the indictment.

Next appearance: The next in-person hearing date for Trump’s case in New York is set for December 4 as of now.

Read more here.

Courtroom sketch artist Christine Cornell illustrated former US President Donald Trump in the Manhattan court for his historic arraignment. Trump personally pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

Meanwhile, sketch artist Elizabeth Williams documented the moment the court's clerk read the charges.

And sketch artist Jane Rosenberg sketched the former president sitting with his legal team.

Donald Trump posted his reaction to his Tuesday arraignment on Truth Social, promoting his expected 8:15 p.m. ET remarks.