Former President Donald Trump, who was charged with 34 felonies for fabricating company records, entered a not guilty plea and became the first American president to do so.
Trump responded “not guilty” to the allegations that he participated in a $130,000 hush payment to porn star Stormy Daniels in order to silence her regarding her allegations of an affair while he was seated stony-faced in Manhattan Criminal Court on Tuesday afternoon.
Maximum prison time for all related counts is 136 years.
Trump was processed and had his fingerprints taken, but neither a mugshot nor handcuffs were taken.
Trump did not address the media on his way into the Manhattan district attorney’s office or courthouse, or on his way out around 3.27pm.
His lawyers, Joe Tacopina, Todd Blanche and Susan Necheles, walked out of 100 Centre Street after Trump’s motorcade departed and spoke to the media briefly.
‘It’s not a good day,’ said Trump’s newly hired attorney Todd Blanche. ‘I don’t expect this to happen in this country… to somebody who was president of the United States.’
Trump was frustrated with the events that unfolded after a grand jury on Thursday voted to indict him, said Blanche, and added that the charges are ‘completely political’.
‘We’re going to fight it,’ Blanche said. ‘Fight it hard.’
As the indictment was unsealed, the crowd – a mix of anti-Trump protesters and fans who wore MAGA hats and clutched 2024 campaign flags – were quiet. There was no notable reaction even in the minutes after it was revealed that Trump was charged with 34 counts.
A Trump supporter, David Rem of Queens, the ex-president’s hometown, held a Trump flag and shouted, ‘We love you Donald, we love you’.
‘I think the charges are nonsense and I ask people just to think about this one fact,’ Rem, 53, told Metro.co.uk.
‘If Donald Trump would’ve announced a month ago that he was not going to run as a Republican candidate, this whole carnival and circus and kangaroo court, would not even have been here today.’
The crowd dispersed quickly after Trump was whisked away from the vicinity, but some Trump opponents stuck around.
Nadine Seiler, 57, who traveled from Waldorf, Maryland, held a large banner that read ‘Trump indicted’ on one side and ‘finally Trump is arrested’ on the other.
‘They charge him with 34 but we know he probably did about 100 but I’m good with that,’ Seiler told Metro.co.uk.
In the early afternoon before Trump’s arrival, people crowded around along a gate at a park outside the courthouse where hundreds of media members camped out waiting.
Protesters waved flags occasionally and blew horns but were largely calm as they waited for Trump’s arraignment and processing.
On Tuesday morning, Trump supporters and opponents clashed at a park outside Manhattan Criminal Courthouse.
His arraignment came more than two weeks after Trump claimed he would be arrested and called on his followers to protest.
Posting on his Truth Social platform on March 18, Trump wrote that ‘illegal leaks’ from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office indicate that ‘THE FAR & AWAY LEADING REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE & FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, WILL BE ARRESTED ON TUESDAY OF NEXT WEEK’.
In the days following, law enforcement officials met at the New York Police Department headquarters to discuss security around Trump’s court appearance.
Notably, Trump’s indictment comes as he makes a 2024 presidential bid.
There were recent indications that an indictment was forthcoming.
Daniels and her lawyer in mid-March revealed that they had met with prosecutors at the request of the district attorney’s office.
‘Stormy responded to questions and has agreed to make herself available as a witness, or for further inquiry if needed,’ tweeted Clark Brewster last week.
Daniels shared Brewster’s post and wrote: ‘Thank you to my amazing attorney (who also always spells my name correctly) for helping me in our continuing fight for truth and justice.’