The evidence includes transcripts of grand jury testimony taken in both Washington and Florida, copies of closed-circuit television footage obtained by the government and copies of interviews of Trump “conducted by non-government entities, which were recorded with his consent and obtained” by the prosecution team of special counsel Jack Smith.

news Jun 20

Trump Classified Documents Trial Date Set for Aug. 14

Donald Trump Jun 12

Who is Aileen Cannon, the Colombian-born judge raised in Miami that will oversee Trump's documents case?

The interviews include an audio-recorded July 2021 meeting with a writer and publisher at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club in which Trump, according to the indictment, showed and described a Pentagon “plan of attack” that he said was prepared for him by the Defense Department. Also turned over to Trump’s lawyers are public statements he made that are referenced in the indictment.

Trump was indicted this month on 37 felony charges, including 31 counts under the Espionage Act that accuse him of willfully retaining national defense information. He has pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing.

The sharing of information and evidence between parties is routine in a court case so that lawyers can prepare a defense. Earlier this week, a federal magistrate imposed a protective order to restrict the public disclosure of evidence that Trump receives through the information-sharing process, known as discovery.

The judge in the case, Aileen Cannon, set an initial trial date of Aug. 14, though that date is expected to slip considerably given the complicated disputes ahead over the scope of evidence in the case.

Here’s a look at the charges, the special counsel’s investigation and how Trump’s case differs from those of other politicians known to be in possession of classified documents:

What happened in court?

Trump’s lawyer entered a not-guilty plea for him, and the former president was released on his own recognizance without no bail. He will not have to surrender his passport or have his personal travel restricted.

He scowled at times during the 50-minute hearing, but was otherwise expressionless. He folded his arms, fiddled with a pen and crossed his fingers back and forth as he listened.

Trump leaned over to whisper to his attorneys before the hearing began but did not speak during the proceedings. He remained seated while his lawyer Todd Blanche stood up and entered the plea on his behalf. “We most certainly enter a plea of not guilty,” the lawyer told the judge.

Blanche objected to barring the former president from talking to witnesses, including his co-defendant, valet Walt Nauta, saying that they work for him and he needs to be able to communicate with them. After some back and forth, Magistrate Judge Jonathan Goodman said Trump cannot talk to them about the case except through his lawyers, but he can talk to them about their jobs.

Nauta was granted bond with the same conditions as Trump. He did not enter a plea because he does not have a local attorney. He will be arraigned June 27 before Chief Magistrate Judge Edwin Torres, but he does not have to be present.

Court records don’t indicate when the next hearing in Trump’s case will be.

Unlike Trump’s arraignment in New York, no photographs were taken because cameras aren’t allowed in federal court. There were, however, sketch artists, and theirs will be the only images from the actual courtroom appearance.

Security remained tight outside the building, but there were no signs of significant disruptions despite the presence of hundreds of protesters. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said on Fox News that there were no arrests or “major incidents.”

What happened after court?

Before heading to the airport, Trump’s motorcade took a detour to Versailles Restaurant in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood, where a small crowd of supporters awaited him. Posing for photos and saying “food for everyone,” Trump commented briefly on his case.

“I think it’s going great,” he said. “We have a rigged country. We have a country that’s corrupt.”

Several religious leaders at the restaurant prayed over him for a moment.

Afterward, Trump flew back to his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club, where he gave a speech to hundreds of cheering supporters, many clad in red “Make America Great Again” hats.

“This day will go down in infamy,” Trump said, describing the federal prosecution against him as “the most evil and heinous abuse of power in the history of our country.”

What are the charges?

Trump faces 37 counts related to the mishandling of classified documents, including 31 counts under an Espionage Act statute pertaining to the willful retention of national defense information. The charges also include counts of obstructing justice and making false statements, among other crimes.

Trump is accused of keeping documents related to “nuclear weaponry in the United States” and the “nuclear capabilities of a foreign country,” along with documents from White House intelligence briefings, including some that detail the military capabilities of the U.S. and other countries, according to the indictment.

Prosecutors allege Trump showed off the documents to people who did not have security clearances to review them and later tried to conceal documents from his own lawyers as they sought to comply with federal demands to find and return documents.

The top charges carry penalties of up to 20 years in prison.

How did the case against Trump come about?

Officials with the National Archives and Records Administration reached out to representatives for Trump in spring 2021 when they realized that important material from his time in office was missing.

According to the Presidential Records Act, White House documents are considered property of the U.S. government and must be preserved.

A Trump representative told the National Archives in December 2021 that presidential records had been found at Mar-a-Lago. In January 2022, the National Archives retrieved 15 boxes of documents from Trump’s Florida home, later telling Justice Department officials that they contained “a lot” of classified material.

That May, the FBI and Justice Department issued a subpoena for remaining classified documents in Trump’s possession. Investigators who went to visit the property weeks later to collect the records were given roughly three dozen documents and a sworn statement from Trump’s lawyers attesting that the requested information had been returned.

But that assertion turned out to be false. With a search warrant, federal officials returned to Mar-a-Lago in August 2022 and seized more than 33 boxes and containers totaling 11,000 documents from a storage room and an office, including 100 classified documents.

In all, roughly 300 documents with classification markings — including some at the top secret level — have been recovered from Trump since he left office in January 2021.

More Trump indictment coverage:

Donald Trump Jun 10

From Mar-A-Lago to the courthouse: A timeline of events leading to Donald Trump's 2nd indictment

Donald Trump Jan 10

Biden Classified Docs vs. Trump Classified Docs: Here Are the Key Differences

Didn’t President Joe Biden and Former Vice President Mike Pence have classified documents, too?

Yes, but the circumstances of their cases are vastly different from those involving Trump.

After classified documents were found at Biden’s think tank and Pence’s Indiana home, their lawyers notified authorities and quickly arranged for them to be handed over. They also authorized other searches by federal authorities to search for additional documents.

There is no indication either was aware of the existence of the records before they were found, and no evidence has so far emerged that Biden or Pence sought to conceal the discoveries. That’s important because the Justice Department historically looks for willfulness in deciding whether to bring criminal charges.

A special counsel was appointed earlier this year to probe how classified materials ended up at Biden’s Delaware home and former office. But even if the Justice Department were to find Biden’s case prosecutable on the evidence, its Office of Legal Counsel has concluded that a president is immune from prosecution during his time in office.

As for Pence, the Justice Department informed his legal team earlier this month that it would not be pursuing criminal charges against him over his handling of the documents.

What about Hillary Clinton’s emails?

In claiming that Trump is the target of a politically motivated prosecution, some fellow Republicans have cited the Justice Department’s decision in 2016 not to bring charges against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Trump’s Democratic opponent in that year’s presidential race, over her handling of classified information.

Clinton relied on a private email system for the sake of convenience during her time as the Obama administration’s top diplomat. That decision came back to haunt her when, in 2015, the intelligence agencies’ internal watchdog alerted the FBI to the presence of potentially hundreds of emails containing classified information.

FBI investigators would ultimately conclude that Clinton sent and received emails containing classified information on that unclassified system, including information classified at the top secret level. Of the roughly 30,000 emails turned over by Clinton’s representatives, the FBI has said, 110 emails in 52 email chains were found to have classified information, including some top secret.

After a roughly yearlong inquiry, the FBI closed the investigation in July 2016, finding that Clinton did not intend to break the law. The bureau reopened the inquiry months later, 11 days before the presidential election, after discovering a new batch of emails. After reviewing those communications, the FBI again opted against recommending charges.

At the time, then-FBI Director James Comey condemned Clinton’s email practices as “extremely careless,” but noted that there was no evidence that Clinton had violated factors including efforts to obstruct justice, willful mishandling of classified documents and indications of disloyalty to the U.S.

Does a federal indictment prevent Trump from running for president?

No. Neither the charges nor a conviction would prevent Trump from running for or winning the presidency in 2024.

Hours before Trump was set to answer to 37 felony counts that accuse him of willfully retaining classified records, supporters and detractors had gathered outside the courthouse.

But demonstrators were noticeably few hours before the appearance — far outnumbered by the hundreds of journalists from the U.S. and around the world who had converged on downtown Miami for the historic occasion.

That recalled the scene in New York, where Trump was arraigned in April on a separate criminal case involving hush money he’s accused of paying during the 2016 presidential campaign. Then, there were far more reporters than demonstrators for and against the former president.

TRUMP INDICTMENT

Trump Indictment Jun 12

Trump indictment: What to expect from federal court ahead of history-making hearing in Miami

news Jun 13

Trump Indictment Live Updates: Ex-President Raises Money for Campaign After Arraignment

Trump himself had encouraged supporters to join a planned protest Tuesday at the Miami courthouse. By the time he arrived, the crowd had grown bigger, but there were few incidents reported.

At one point, a small group of pro-Trump supporters and anti-Trump protesters were squabbling in front of the courthouse as they awaited the former president’s appearance. A man with “Trump sucks” spray-painted on his jacket and pants shouted at supporters of the former president as they passed by while a man held a homemade “Free Trump” banner behind others who shouted at him.

Dozens of supporters wrapped themselves in Trump flags or campaign merchandise as they milled about near the courthouse. The scene included what is now a staple of a Trump appearance or rally. People selling T-shirts with Trump’s face in a mock mugshot, with large letters reading “NOT GUILTY,” others hawking hats, but also, fitting for Miami, mangoes.

When the motorcade bringing Trump arrived outside the courthouse, a demonstrator wearing a prison outfit who’d been holding a “LOCK HIM UP” sign approached the vehicles but was led away by police.

Dominic Santana, who showed up in the jailhouse uniform complete with handcuffs and a plastic ball and chain, said he “wanted to join the circus.”

Santana came to the U.S. as a child from Cuba and retired in Miami after decades of operating an eatery in the New York area. The 61-year-old considers himself a political independent and says his mother and daughter voted for Trump.

“A fellow New Yorker can spot a rat a mile away,” he said. “Frankly, he should’ve been locked up ages ago.”

Santana was later taken away in handcuffs after approaching the Trump motorcade as it left the courthouse. Jail records show he was booked on charges of resisting officers without violence and obstructing traffic.

Among those who arrived early Tuesday in Miami were father and son Florencio and Kevin Rodriguez, who came to the U.S. 15 years ago as asylum seekers fleeing Cuba. Wearing a shirt bearing the slogan “Jesus is my savior, Trump my president,” the younger Rodriguez, Kevin, said it is possible that Trump is guilty of illegally retaining classified documents.

But he questioned the fairness of the proceedings in light of what he said was prosecutors’ lax attitude toward President Joe Biden and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. They’ve both been accused of mishandling classified intelligence and not appeared in court, though they also have not faced accusations of intentionally hiding their actions, like Trump has.

“Even if he’s guilty, we will still support him,” Rodriguez said, noting the Trump administration’s staunch opposition to Cuba’s government, “We never abandon our amigos — those who love this country and our liberty.”

Jack Kaplan said he drove two hours from Fort Pierce, where the judge assigned to the case is based, to counter the large number of Trump supporters who had already started showing up outside the federal courthouse in Miami.

Toting a copy of the indictment affixed to a clipboard and a sign reading “Trump is Toast,” the 68-year-old retired car dealer said he’ll celebrate with a $1,400 bottle of Mouton Rothschild red wine if the former president goes to prison.

“I’ve already get the bottle sitting in my wine cooler,” said Kaplan as a Trump supporter carrying a sign reading “Keep America Great” walked by coolly. “I’m going to have a big party.”

Madelin Munilla, 67, who came to Miami a child when her parents fled Fidel Castro’s revolution in Cuba, carried a sign with a photo of Biden alongside other leaders such as Castro, comparing the U.S. president with those who had their opposition put in jail.

“This is what they do in Latin America,” she said.

Republican 2024 presidential primary candidate Vivek Ramaswamy was among those gathered outside the courthouse to support Trump. Ramaswamy echoed what other high-profile Republicans including Trump rivals like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have said in calling the Trump indictment politicized.

Meanwhile, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, wearing a T-shirt with a police logo, toured the nearby media encampment and said he didn’t expect any disturbances.

“So far, so good,” Suarez said. “It’s still early, but the crowd seems to be under control and everyone respectful and peaceful. Let’s hope it remains that way.”

Suarez is considering a presidential run and has suggested he could make his intentions known during a speech Thursday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California.

Authorities had a massive presence at and around the courthouse, with multiple agencies on the ground including Department of Homeland Security Officials.

Miami Police Chief Manuel Morales said his department was ready whether 5,000 or 50,000 people show up on Tuesday.

“Make no mistake about it, we are taking this event extremely serious,” Morales said at a news conference Monday. “We know that there is a potential of things taking a turn for the worst but that’s not the Miami way.”

At one point Tuesday morning, police said they responded to a suspicious object that was found not far from the courthouse. Authorities were seen closing off an area with what appeared to be a flat screen TV with an anti-media message on it sitting on a sidewalk.

Police later gave an all-clear for the item.

This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser.

Inside the courtroom, Trump, seated with his hands crossed, sat at the same table as Walt Nauta, his personal aide who is charged as his co-conspirator. Trump wore a red tie and sat stone-faced through the proceeding.

The history-making arraignment, centering on charges that Trump mishandled government secrets that as commander-in-chief he was entrusted to protect, kickstarts a legal process that will unfold at the height of the 2024 presidential campaign and carry profound consequences not only for his political future but also for his own personal liberty.

Trump approached his arraignment with characteristic bravado, posting social media broadsides against the prosecution from inside his motorcade and insisting as he has through years of legal woes that he has done nothing wrong and was being persecuted for political purposes. He sat inside the courtroom with his arms crossed as a lawyer entered a not guilty plea on his behalf in a brief arraignment that ended without him having to surrender his passport or otherwise restrict his travel.

But the gravity of the moment was unmistakable as he answered to 37 felony counts that accuse him of willfully retaining classified records that prosecutors say could have jeopardized national security if exposed, and the trying to hide them from investigators who demanded them back.

Trump delivered remarks Tuesday evening after flying to his Bedminster, New Jersey, resort. He called the federal charges against him “election interference.” Trump made a similar argument when he was indicted in Manhattan over hush-money payments.

The remarks, with live coverage only from his favored cable channel, were rife with errors and falsehoods that went unchallenged in the moment.

It’s the second criminal case Trump is facing as he seeks to reclaim the White House in 2024. He’s also accused in New York state court of falsifying business records related to hush-money payments made during the 2016 campaign.

Trump has denied wrongdoing in both cases and slammed the prosecutions as politically motivated.

Supporters arrive at courthouse, but not in large numbers

Security was tight outside the Wilkie D. Ferguson federal courthouse Tuesday ahead of the former president’s court appearance.

But Trump supporters were noticeably few hours before the appearance — far outnumbered by the hundreds of journalists from the U.S. and around the world who have converged on downtown Miami for the historic occasion.

That recalled the scene in New York, where Trump was arraigned in April on a separate criminal case involving hush money he’s accused of paying during the 2016 presidential campaign. Then, there were far more reporters than demonstrators for and against the former president.

Among those who arrived early Tuesday in Miami were father and son Florencio and Kevin Rodriguez, who came to the U.S. 15 years ago as asylum seekers fleeing Cuba. Wearing a shirt bearing the slogan “Jesus is my savior, Trump my president,” the younger Rodriguez, Kevin, said it is possible that Trump is guilty of illegally retaining classified documents.

But he questioned the fairness of the proceedings in light of what he said was prosecutors’ lax attitude toward President Joe Biden and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. They’ve both been accused of mishandling classified intelligence and not appeared in court, though they also have not faced accusations of intentionally hiding their actions, like Trump has.

“Even if he’s guilty, we will still support him,” Rodriguez said, noting the Trump administration’s staunch opposition to Cuba’s government, “We never abandon our amigos — those who love this country and our liberty.”

Implications for the former president

The case is laden with political implications for the 76-year-old Trump, who currently holds the dominant spot in the early days of the 2024 Republican presidential primary. But it also poses profound legal impact given the prospect of a years-long prison sentence. Even for a defendant whose post-presidential life has been dominated by investigations, the documents probe has stood out for both the apparent volume of evidence amassed by prosecutors and the severity of the allegations.

It's also a watershed moment for a Justice Department that until last week had never before brought charges against a former president. Attorney General Merrick Garland, an appointee of President Joe Biden, sought to insulate the department from political attacks by handing ownership of the case last year to a special counsel, Jack Smith, who on Friday declared, “We have one set of laws in this country, and they apply to everyone.”

The arraignment, though largely procedural in nature, is the latest in an unprecedented public reckoning this year for Trump, who faces charges in New York arising from hush money payments during his 2016 presidential campaign as well as ongoing investigations in Washington and Atlanta into efforts to undo the results of the 2020 race. He's sought to project confidence in the face of unmistakable legal peril, attacking Smith as “a Trump hater,” pledging to stay in the race and scheduling a speech and fundraiser for Tuesday night at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club.

“They’re using this because they can’t win the election fairly and squarely,” Trump said Monday in an interview with Americano Media.

A federal grand jury in Washington had heard testimony for months in the documents case, but the Justice Department filed it in Florida, where Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort is located and where many of the alleged acts of obstruction occurred. Though Trump is set to appear Tuesday before a federal magistrate, the case has been assigned to a District Court judge he appointed, Aileen Cannon, who ruled in his favor last year in a dispute over whether an outside special master could be appointed to review the seized classified documents. A federal appeals panel ultimately overturned her ruling.

It's unclear what defenses Trump is likely to cite as the case moves forward. Two of his lead lawyers announced their resignation on the morning after his indictment, and the notes and recollections of another attorney, M. Evan Corcoran, are cited repeatedly throughout the 49-page charging document, suggesting that prosecutors may see him as a key witness.

More: Trump Indictment

Donald Trump Jun 12

Who is Aileen Cannon, the Colombian-born judge raised in Miami that will oversee Trump's documents case?

Donald Trump Jun 9

What's in Trump's indictment? Read the 49-page document

Trump has said he's looking to add to his legal team though no announcements were made Monday. But that matters because, under the rules of the district, defendants are required to have a local lawyer for an arraignment to proceed.

The Justice Department unsealed Friday an indictment charging Trump with 37 felony counts, 31 relating to the willful retention of national defense information. Other charges include conspiracy to commit obstruction and false statements.

The indictment alleges Trump intentionally retained hundreds of classified documents that he took with him from the White House to Mar-a-Lago after leaving the presidency in January 2021. The material he stored, including in a bathroom, ballroom, bedroom and shower, included material on nuclear programs, defense and weapons capabilities of the U.S. and foreign governments and a Pentagon “attack plan,” the indictment says. The information, if exposed, could have put at risk members of the military, confidential human sources and intelligence collection methods, prosecutors said.

Beyond that, prosecutors say, he sought to obstruct government efforts to recover the documents, including by directing personal aide Walt Nauta — who was charged alongside Trump — to move boxes to conceal them and also suggesting to his own lawyer that he hide or destroy documents sought by a Justice Department subpoena.

Tucker reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Jill Colvin in New York, Adriana Gomez Licon in Miami and Terry Spencer in Doral, Florida, contributed to this report.

This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser.

Trump arrived at Miami International Airport on Monday afternoon before spending the night at his golf resort in Doral.

Here’s what you can expect on Tuesday, and what else we know so far:

What will this process look like?

Sometime around mid-day Tuesday, Trump will be taken from Doral to the federal courthouse in downtown Miami where he has a scheduled 3 p.m. appearance before a federal magistrate to hear the charges against him.

Trump is expected to enter the federal courthouse in Miami through an underground tunnel, where he will be processed and fingerprinted by federal Marshals and the FBI.

He won’t be handcuffed and it is not known yet if a mugshot will be taken.

Trump is expected to waive the reading of the indictment, and magistrate judge Jonathan Goodman will set conditions of release.

Trump could be let go on his own recognizance with an unsecured personal surety — a promise to pay a hefty sum set by the judge in the event he doesn’t show up for court.

Other accused criminals often have to surrender their passports in federal court, but we don’t know if that will apply to the former president.

It’s possible that Trump will also be arraigned and enter his not-guilty plea Tuesday.

This would usually require a local attorney admitted in the district, and so far he has not hired one. However, the judge could let it go forward anyway.

What will be happening outside the courthouse?

There will be a large law enforcement presence at and around the Wilkie D. Ferguson, Jr. Courthouse on Northeast 1st Avenue.

Miami Police said Northeast 1st Avenue wil be shut down between 3rd and 5th streets, with traffic delays expected.

Authorities have been preparing for the hearing and for protests at the courthouse. By Tuesday morning, some protesters had gathered.

Who is the judge presiding over this case?

Judge Aileen Cannon will be the trial judge overseeing the case, however, she will not be involved in this stage.

Instead, magistrate judge Jonathan Goodman will preside over the arraignment of the former president on Tuesday.

Cannon will, however, have the authority to review the magistrate’s ruling upon motion by either side.

Cannon was nominated to the federal bench in 2019 by then-President Trump and confirmed by the Senate in 2020. She was randomly selected amongst four federal judges in South Florida.

The Colombian-born, Miami-raised judge will handle the case as it goes forward.

What happens after Tuesday’s hearing?

The whole process on Tuesday — from processing to release — could take around 90 minutes or so.

After that, Trump is expected to travel back to New Jersey after the hearing, where he will attend a fundraiser for the 2024 Presidential campaign.

In New Jersey, Trump is expected to deliver remarks.

He will also celebrate his 77th birthday on Wednesday.

Judge Cannon was nominated to the federal bench in 2019 by then President Trump and confirmed by the Senate in 2020. She was randomly selected amongst four federal judges in South Florida.

The Fort Pierce-based judge has already ruled favorably for Trump during an earlier hearing of Trump’s civil case challenging the FBI seizing the classified documents in Mar-a-Lago last year. She would later be rebuked by an appellate court and those favorable decisions were overturned.

Cannon will be the trial judge overseeing the case and will not be present on Tuesday’s hearing. Instead, magistrate judge Jonathan Goodman will preside over the arraignment of the former president.

She will, however, have the authority to review the magistrate’s ruling upon motion by either side.

“This will be the most consequential and most watched prosecution in American history,” said Stephen Gillers, a professor of legal ethics at New York University School of Law to NBC News. “Will enough of the public accept the verdict, whatever it is? Or will they see any result as political? Answers to those questions are as important as the verdict.”

Having graduated magna cum laude from the University of Michigan School of Law, Cannon began her legal career as a clerk for Federal Appeals judge in Iowa, and then at the offices of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, an elite law firm based out of Washington D.C.

In 2013, Cannon returned to Florida where she began her work as a federal prosecutor in the Southern District of Florida in the major crimes and appellate divisions.

In 2020, Trump nominated her as a federal judge with the backing of Sen. Marco Rubio, where she pledged to uphold the rule of law during her confirmation hearing.

When FBI agents raided Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in 2022 for the classified documents, Cannon was, as well, randomly assigned to oversee the case.

Cannon made some controversial rulings in that first case, where she ruled in favor of Trump’s request to appoint a ‘Special Master’ to review whether the documents taken by the FBI and Department of Justice, were protected by executive privilege. She also temporarily blocked parts of the DOJ’s investigation into the documents.

Here’s what we know on the 42-year-old judge:

• Born in Cali, Colombia to a Cuban mother, who fled the island during the 1959 Communist revolution, and a father from Indiana.
• She was raised in Miami and attended Ransom Everglades, a private school in Coconut Grove, where she participated in after school sports such as swimming and water polo.  
• After high school, she went on to study at Duke University in North Carolina, spending a semester in Spain and began interning for El Nuevo Herald during the summer of 2002.
• She would later earn her law degree magna cum saude from the University of Michigan.
• She joined the Federalist Society as a law student in 2005 and has maintained ties to the group throughout her career.
• She has practiced law for 15 years and while most of her career has been spent as a federal prosecutor, she has limited trial experience due to her focus on appellate work.
• She is based out of Fort Pierce

Trump, who remains the front-runner for the 2024 GOP nomination despite his mounting legal woes, is expected to use speeches at two state party conventions to rail against the charges and amplify his assertions that he is the victim of a politically motivated “witch hunt” by Democratic President Joe Biden’s Justice Department.

The indictment unsealed Friday charged him with 37 felony counts in connection with his hoarding of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Trump is accused of willfully defying Justice Department demands to return classified documents, enlisting aides in his efforts to hide the records and even telling his lawyers that he wanted to defy a subpoena for the materials stored at his residence. The indictment includes allegations that he stored documents in a ballroom and bathroom at his resort, among other places.

The most serious charges carry potential prison sentences of up to 20 years each, but first-time offenders rarely get anywhere near the maximum sentence and the decision would ultimately be up to the judge.

For all that, Trump can expect a hero’s welcome this weekend as he rallies his fiercest partisans and aims to cement his status as his party’s leading presidential candidate.

“Trump is a fighter, and the kinds of people that attend these conventions love a fighter,” said Jack Kingston, a former Georgia congressman who supported Trump’s White House campaigns in 2016 and 2020.

Former Vice President Mike Pence also plans to address North Carolina Republicans, making it the first time that he and his former boss would have appeared at the same venue since Pence announced his own campaign this past week.

Trump has insisted he committed no wrongdoing, saying, “There was no crime, except for what the DOJ and FBI have been doing against me for years.”

The indictment arrives at a time when Trump is continuing to dominate the primary race. Other candidates have largely attacked the Justice Department — rather than Trump — for the investigation. But the indictment’s breadth of allegations and scope could make it harder for Republicans to rail against these charges compared with an earlier New York criminal case that many legal analysts had derided as weak.

A Trump campaign official described the former president’s mood as “defiant” before the state visits. But aides were notably more reserved after the indictment’s unsealing as they reckoned with the gravity of the legal charges and the threat they pose to Trump beyond the potential short-term political gain.

The federal charging document alleges that Trump not only intentionally possessed classified documents but also boastfully showed them off to visitors and aides. The indictment is built on Trump’s own words and actions as recounted to prosecutors by lawyers, close aides and other witnesses, including his professing to respect and know procedures related to the handling of classified information.

The indictment includes 37 counts, 31 of which pertain to the willful retention of national defense information, with the balance relating to alleged conspiracy, obstruction and false statements. It could result in a yearslong prison sentence.

Trump is due to make his first federal court appearance Tuesday in Miami. He was charged alongside Walt Nauta, a personal aide whom prosecutors say moved boxes from a storage room to Trump’s residence for him to review and later lied to investigators about the movement. A photograph included in the indictment shows several dozen file boxes stacked in a storage area.

The case adds to deepening legal jeopardy for Trump. In March, he was indicted in New York in a hush money scheme stemming from payouts made to a porn actor during his 2016 campaign, and he faces additional investigations in Washington and Atlanta that also could lead to criminal charges.

But among the various investigations he has faced, the documents case has long been considered the most perilous threat and the one most ripe for prosecution.

Trump’s continued popularity among Republican voters is evident in how gingerly his primary rivals have treated the federal indictment.

Pence, campaigning in New Hampshire on Friday, said he was “deeply troubled” that Trump had been federally indicted because he believes it will further divide the nation. Pence urged his audience to pray for Trump, his family and all Americans, and promised that if he were elected president, he would uphold the rule of law and “clean house at the highest level” of the Department of Justice.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Trump’s leading GOP rival, decried the “weaponization of federal law enforcement” and “an uneven application of the law.” Without offering any specific allegation, DeSantis took aim at two favorite Republican targets — Hillary Clinton and Biden’s son, Hunter — and suggested they have escaped federal accountability because of such “political bias.”

In remarks at the North Carolina GOP convention on Friday night, DeSantis didn’t mention Trump by name but again made the comparison to Clinton.

“Is there a different standard for a Democratic secretary of state versus a former Republican president?” DeSantis asked. “I think there needs to be one standard of justice in this country. … At the end of the day, we will once and for all end the weaponization of government under my administration.”

Kari Lake, a Trump loyalist who lost the governor’s race in Arizona last year, used her speech to Georgia Republicans on Friday night to repeat Trump’s false claims of a rigged 2020 election and she suggested that the indictment was another way to deny him the presidency.

“He’s doing so well in the polls that they decided they can’t stop him. So what do they do? They indict him on completely bogus charges,” Lake said. “The illegitimate Biden administration wants to lock our beloved President Trump for more than 200 years. Wow.”

Among the declared Republican contenders, only Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson had explicitly called for Trump to end his candidacy.

Hours after his historic arrest in Manhattan, former President Donald Trump lashed out in a speech Tuesday night at each of the prosecutors currently investigating him.

Trump called Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who obtained a grand jury indictment charging the ex-president with nearly three dozen felony counts of falsifying business records, a “criminal” who should “resign.”

Department of Justice Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is leading two probes that are eyeing the ex-president for potential crimes, is a “lunatic,” Trump told a crowd at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida.

Trump said that Fani Willis, the Fulton County district attorney who is investigating possible election interference in Georgia by him and his allies, is “doing everything in her power to indict me.”

And Trump called New York Attorney General Letitia James, the first Black woman to hold that title, a “racist in reverse” as he blasted the $250 million civil fraud lawsuit that James filed against him, several of his adult children, and the Trump Organization.

Trump’s belligerent remarks about his legal foes — meant to demean them and raise questions about their motivations — also underscored the scope of the peril he potentially faces in multiple courtrooms.

Those cases and investigations show no signs of slowing down.

But neither does Trump, a 76-year-old who remains the leading contender for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

In fact, his political operation has been fundraising aggressively off the news of his indictment in Manhattan, reportedly raising $10 million in less than five days.

Here’s what to know about the Trump investigations.

Manhattan hush money case

Trump on Tuesday became the first ex-president in U.S. history to be arrested and arraigned on criminal charges.

He pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records during his appearance in Manhattan Supreme Court.

In that case, Trump is accused of orchestrating a multiyear “catch and kill” scheme to purchase and suppress negative news about him, then falsifying business records to conceal that conduct.

Bragg alleges that the scheme was intended to boost Trump’s chances in the 2016 presidential election, which he went on to win against Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee.

Bragg identified three hush money payments that were part of the alleged scheme, two of which involve women who say they had sex with Trump while he was married years before 2016.

Porn star Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, was paid $130,000 by Trump’s then-attorney Michael Cohen less than two weeks before Election Day.

Trump then reimbursed Cohen for the payment in monthly installments in 2017. Those payments were characterized in Trump Organization business records as being for legal services.

Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to facilitating to Daniels and a second woman, Karen McDougal, at Trump’s behest before the 2016 election. The ex-Playboy model McDougal received $150,000 from American Media Inc., publisher of The National Enquirer, whose CEO David Pecker had agreed to help Trump’s campaign.

AMI also paid $30,000 to a former Trump Tower doorman who claimed to have a story about Trump fathering a child out of wedlock, prosecutors said.

Cohen has since become a vocal critic of his former boss and testified before the grand jury hearing evidence in Bragg’s probe.

The alleged scheme to conceal payments from the public “violated New York election law, which makes it a crime to conspire to promote a candidacy by unlawful means,” Bragg told reporters after Trump’s arraignment.

At that court proceeding, Judge Juan Merchan gave Trump’s legal team until Aug. 8 to file motions in the case.

Prosecutors will have until Sept. 19 to respond.

Merchan scheduled an in-person hearing on Dec. 4 to review those motions. That is just two months before the official start to the presidential primary season, with Republican contests in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Jan. 6 special counsel probe

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in November appointed Smith, a former federal prosecutor, as special counsel to take charge of two ongoing criminal investigations of Trump.

One of those probes is examining whether Trump or others unlawfully interfered with the transfer of power following the 2020 presidential election, in which President Joe Biden defeated the incumbent Trump.

The investigation also is eyeing potentially illegal interference surrounding the certification of Biden’s electoral victory by a joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021.

Trump falsely asserted he won the 2020 contest. After the election, he spent weeks challenging his losses in key battleground states and spreading a wide array of baseless conspiracy theories about purportedly extensive election fraud.

As Congress was set to convene on Jan. 6 to confirm Biden’s victory, Trump staged a rally nearby and told a crowd of his supporters to “fight like hell” and march to the Capitol.

He also urged then Vice President Mike Pence, who was presiding over Congress that day, not to count some key votes for Biden.

Pence refused.

And shortly after the proceedings began, a mob of Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol, forcing the vice president and hundreds of lawmakers to flee their chambers for safety.

More than 1,000 people so far have been arrested on charges related to the riot, the Department of Justice said in March.

Last week, Trump appealed a judge’s ruling ordering a number of his top White House aides to testify before a grand jury in Smith’s probe, according to NBC.

On Wednesday, NBC reported that Pence, who had previously vowed to challenge a special counsel subpoena for his testimony, would not appeal a judge’s recent order for him to comply with that demand.

Mar-a-Lago special counsel probe

Smith is also leading an investigation of Trump for retaining classified documents and other government records that were stored at Mar-a-Lago after he left the White House in early 2021.

That probe is eyeing potential crimes for the removal of those records, which are required to be handed over to the National Archives when a president leaves office.

Smith is looking into the possible obstruction of that investigation, as well, in connection with reported efforts by Trump to thwart government officials from recovering the documents in 2022.

The FBI raided Mar-a-Lago in August after it learned that more presidential records remained on the premises beyond the 15 boxes of records it had retrieved in January 2022.

The Department of Justice said in court filings that it came to believe records were on the property despite an assertion from Trump’s lawyers in June 2022 that they had all been handed over.

The agents seized thousands of government records, including more than 100 documents with classified markings, in the raid.

Trump’s defense attorney Evan Corcoran reportedly appeared last month before a federal grand jury in Smith’s probe of the Mar-a-Lago documents. The development followed a federal judge’s invocation of the so-called crime-fraud exception in order to force the attorney to testify.

Georgia DA investigation

A special grand jury in Atlanta, which was investigating possible interference by Trump and his allies in the 2020 presidential election in Georgia, completed its work in January.

The grand jury was impaneled in January 2022 to hear evidence in Willis’ probe.

The panel’s forewoman recently told news outlets that the jurors recommended a range of charges against multiple people.

“You won’t be too surprised,” she told The New York Times when asked if Trump was on that list.

The grand jury was known to be focused on events that include a Jan. 2, 2021, phone call in which Trump urged Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes” for Trump.

Raffensperger, who is the state’s top election official, refused.

Georgia was one of several key swing states that helped secure Biden’s win over Trump in the election.

In a March court filing, Trump’s lawyers asked a judge to quash the grand jury’s final report and to bar any evidence from that panel from being used to prosecute the former president.

Portions of that final report that were released in February show the grand jury determined that at least one witness may have lied under oath.

New York civil case

Trump is also embroiled in a state-level civil fraud case filed by James, the New York attorney general.

In September, James announced a sweeping lawsuit against Trump, three of his adult children, and his business, the Trump Organization, alleging widespread fraud relating to years’ worth of false or misleading financial statements.

James accused Trump of massively overstating the values of his assets in statements to banks, insurance companies and the IRS in order to obtain more favorable loan and insurance terms for his company, and to benefit from tax deductions or credits.

James’ lawsuit seeks at least $250 million in damages. She also wants to permanently prohibit Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump from serving as an officer of a company in New York.

James also wants the Trump companies named in the suit barred from doing business in New York.

The attorney general said when she filed the suit that she asked for a federal investigation into Trump, saying her office obtained evidence of possible bank fraud.

As part of James’ lawsuit, a New York judge in November appointed an independent monitor to oversee the Trump Organization’s financial statements.

A trial in the case is scheduled for Oct. 2.

The judge presiding over former President Donald Trump’s historic New York City criminal arraignment a day ago, along with his family and the court itself, received unsubstantiated threats after the hearing, two sources familiar with the matter said Wednesday.

One official says there have been “dozens” of such threats recently to the judge and the judge’s chambers, though the official didn’t elaborate on the time frame.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who brought the unprecedented case against the ex-commander-in-chief, and other top officials in his office also continue to receive threats, according to one source. The unsubstantiated threats have come in the form of calls, email and letters.

The Manhattan DA’s office confirmed to NBC News that they have since taken down information on the “Meet our Team” section of their website, which had included executive bios.

The NYPD detail assigned to Bragg’s office is providing extra security to all impacted district attorney staff, including line prosecutors and top executives with the office, the sources said. Court security officers are providing additional protective measures to the presiding judge and court as a precaution, they added.

Investigations into the threats are active and ongoing, the sources say.

When asked about comments Trump and others have made about the judge and his family, a New York court spokesperson said neither the court nor the judge had any comment.

As for Trump, his lawyer said that the former president “heard the judge” when it comes to not saying or posting things online that could incite violence. But he also said that Trump a right to defend himself against allegations as he runs for reelection, and is allowed to point out potential political conflicts.

“Some of the judge’s family members work for Kamala Harris. That’s a relevant fact here,” said attorney Joe Tacopina. “It’s not an attack on the judge or certainly his family. No one is suggesting that anything should happen to the judge or his family.”

A stone-faced Trump pleaded not guilty Tuesday to the 34-count felony Manhattan grand jury indictment, which alleged he illegally influenced the 2016 election through a series of hush money payments. The charges cemented the 76-year-old Republican as the first U.S. president in history, sitting or former, to be criminally indicted.

He and his legal team have consistently denied wrongdoing.

Hundreds of people — from media to gawkers to supporters and protesters — flanked the streets outside the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse, where U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene was quickly whisked away by her security team as chaos intensified, and Trump Tower in midtown, where NYPD barricades have been in place since last week.

Read the full indictment here.

More Coverage

Trump Indictment Apr 4

Trump Indictment: Read the Full Document Here

Trump Indictment Apr 4

Trump Protest Outside NYC Arraignment Attracts MTG, George Santos

Trump Indictment Apr 4

Trump Pleads Not Guilty to 34-Count Felony Indictment in Manhattan Hush Money Case

In an indictment unsealed Tuesday, prosecutors say the 45th president falsified records about three hush-money payments in order to keep potentially damaging stories from coming to light as he campaigned for the presidency. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said it was his effort to cover up crimes related to the 2016 election that allowed prosecutors to elevate the charges to felonies.

The indictment, however, raises many thorny issues about state and federal law that could provide openings for the defense to attack the charges to try to get them tossed before the case even gets to trial.

Trump Indictment Apr 4

Trump Indictment: Read the Full Document Here

Trump Indictment Apr 4

Trump Pleads Not Guilty to 34-Count Felony Indictment in Manhattan Hush Money Case

Trump Indictment Apr 4

Stormy Daniels, the Doorman and a 2024 Trial: The Trump Indictment Top Takeaways

“The bottom line is that it’s murky,” said Richard Hasen, an expert in election law and professor at the University of California, Los Angeles law school. “And the district attorney did not offer a detailed legal analysis as to how they can do this, how they can get around these potential hurdles. And it could potentially tie up the case for a long time.”

Trump has railed against the charges, saying he did nothing wrong and the case is political persecution. In remarks from his Mar-a-Lago home just a few hours after his court appearance, he said, “This fake case was brought only to interfere with the upcoming 2024 election and it should be dropped immediately.”

In the end, the case isn’t about the tawdry details of the hush-money payments. It isn’t about the porn actor — Stormy Daniels — or Trump’s acrimonious relationship with his onetime lawyer-turned-government witness, Michael Cohen.

It’s about a presidential candidate using his money and influence to silence potentially damaging stories that might make voters choose another candidate, particularly as Trump’s reputation was suffering at the time from comments he’d made about women.

The 34 counts of falsifying business records would normally be misdemeanors, lower-level charges that would not normally result in prison time. But they were bumped up to felonies — which carry up to four years behind bars — because, Bragg says, they were done in an effort to commit or conceal other crimes.

The $130,000 payment to Daniels exceeded the federal cap on campaign contributions, Bragg said. He also cited a New York state election law that makes it a crime to promote a candidate by unlawful means.

“That is what this defendant did when he falsified business records in order to conceal unlawful efforts to promote his candidacy, and that is why we are here,” one of the case prosecutors, Chris Conroy, told the judge Tuesday.

Prosecutors filed a “statement of facts” that told their story of a scheme to protect Trump’s presidential prospects by buying and suppressing unflattering information about him. Still, some legal observers were surprised that the indictment itself wasn’t more specific about how each of the charges was elevated to a felony.

“There are an awful lot of dots here which it takes a bit of imagination to connect,” said Richard Klein, a Touro Law Center criminal law professor. Bragg said the indictment doesn’t specify the potential underlying crimes because the law doesn’t require it. But given the likelihood of Trump’s lawyers challenging it, “you’d think they’d want to be on much firmer ground than some of this stuff,” said Klein, a former New York City public defender.

Hasen said it’s not clear whether candidates for federal office can be prosecuted in cases involving state election laws. The defense may also argue the case can’t be brought in state court if it involves a federal election law.

Prosecutors, however, also alluded to another accusation involving tax law: that Trump’s scheme included a plan to mischaracterize the payments to Cohen as income to New York tax authorities.

“They did talk about tax crimes, and I think that could be potentially more compelling for the jury,” Renato Mariotti, a former federal prosecutor, said on ABC News. “It’s a safer bet than the campaign finance crimes.”

While the prosecution’s case is unusual, it’s not unwinnable, experts said.

Bragg is “going to bring in witnesses, he’s going to show a lot of documentary evidence to attempt to demonstrate that all these payments were in furtherance of the presidential campaign,” said Jerry H.​ Goldfeder, a veteran election lawyer in New York and the director of Fordham Law School’s Voting Rights and Democracy Project.

“It remains to be seen if he can prove it beyond a reasonable doubt,” Goldfeder said. But, he added, “Do not underestimate District Attorney Alvin Bragg and do not overestimate Mr. Trump.”

Trump’s lawyers have painted Trump as a victim of extortion who had to make the payments to prevent false and embarrassing information from coming out. But they say the payments had nothing to do with the campaign.

It’s similar to an argument made by former Sen. John Edwards, the Democrat accused of funneling nearly $1 million in under-the-table campaign contributions to hide his pregnant lover during his 2008 run for president. Edwards had argued that the payments were a personal matter, intended to keep things secret from his wife. A jury acquitted the Democrat on one charge and deadlocked on other counts. He wasn’t retried.

The New York case is just one of many legal worries for Trump. Georgia prosecutors are also investigating Trump’s attempts by Trump and his allies to overturn his 2020 election loss in in the state. And federal prosecutors are investigating whether classified documents were criminally mishandled at Trump’s Florida home, as well as efforts by Trump and his allies to undo the results of the presidential election.

“Bringing a failed prosecution is just going to enable him to claim that it’s a witch hunt,” Hasen said of Trump. “And it might convince some people that all of the potential criminal cases against Trump are full of spurious claims, whereas I think the other potential cases involving classified documents, the 2020 election, seem much stronger both legally and factually.”

Trump’s lawyers are certain to attack the credibility of Cohen, a convicted liar who is far from the ideal prosecution witness. The disbarred attorney has said that Trump directed him to arrange the payment of hush money to fend off damage to his White House bid.

But Cohen has also admitted in court to lying before, and Trump’s lawyers will no doubt try to use that to their advantage. Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to lying to Congress to cover up that he was negotiating the Moscow Trump Tower project on Trump’s behalf during his presidential campaign. Cohen pleaded guilty in a parallel federal case to campaign finance violations and other charges in connection to the hush-money payments.

After federal prosecutors declined to file charges against Trump in the hush money case, a former law enforcement official told The Associated Press that prosecutors harbored concerns over the reliability of Cohen as a witness. And federal prosecutors believed it was far from clear that Trump could be convicted of a campaign finance crime, even if a jury believed Cohen’s allegations that he directed the hush-money payments.

Trump has already indicated may try to have the case moved out of Manhattan, writing on social media Tuesday that it should be held in Staten Island. He called the borough — which is more conservative than the rest of New York City — “A VERY FAIR AND SECURE LOCATION.”

The former president may also argue that the statute of limitations — which is five years for most felonies in New York — has run out because the hush-money payments and Cohen’s reimbursements happened before then.

There were some extensions during the pandemic, and state law also can stop the clock when a potential defendant is continuously outside the state. Trump visited New York rarely over the four years of his presidency and now lives mostly in Florida and New Jersey. His lawyers could question whether the timeout applies to elected officials serving in Washington.

“This case has some very good issues for the defense to litigate,” said Duncan Levin, a New York City defense lawyer and former Manhattan prosecutor. “It’s not an open-and-shut case by any means.”

AP White House Correspondent Zeke Miller contributed to this report.

Trump pleaded not guilty, and his lawyer Todd Blanche told reporters the charges were “what we expected,” but the court filings from the Manhattan district attorney’s office did include some surprises.

Here are some highlights and key takeaways from the indictment and the arraignment:

Trump was hit with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree, a class E felony in New York. Each charge carries a maximum of four years in prison, which in most cases would be served concurrently. Legal analysts have said it is unlikely Trump would serve any prison time.

The charge can be a misdemeanor in New York, but it’s raised to a felony level if the act was committed to cover up a crime, which is what prosecutors allege happened. Each count accuses Trump of having acted “with intent to defraud and intent to commit another crime and aid and conceal the commission thereof.”

But nowhere in the indictment did Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg say what the other crime was. Much of the legal speculation about the case had centered on that, leaving legal pundits still wanting more information.

For more on this story, go to NBC News.

A slew of such images claiming to show the former president’s mug shot spread online Tuesday — even though Trump didn’t actually take one during his booking and arraignment in a Manhattan criminal court.

The fabricated images, at least some of which were created using artificial intelligence text-to-image generators, fooled some social media users looking to track down the visual symbol of Trump being charged for 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

Trump Indictment Apr 4

Trump Indictment: Read the Full Document Here

Trump Indictment Apr 4

Trump Pleads Not Guilty to 34-Count Felony Indictment in Manhattan Hush Money Case

Trump Indictment Apr 4

Stormy Daniels, the Doorman and a 2024 Trial: The Trump Indictment Top Takeaways

Trump, who pleaded not guilty to all charges, also raised money off his own fake mug shot, which his campaign plastered on a T-shirt in an email to supporters Tuesday. An email blast said that the shirt was “free” — after a $47 contribution to the campaign.

Here’s a look at the facts.

CLAIM: Images circulating on social media show mug shots of the former president captured on Tuesday.

THE FACTS: These images were created or manipulated to look like booking photographs.

After he was taken into custody on Tuesday, Trump was fingerprinted as part of the booking process, but his mug shot was not taken, according to two law enforcement officials.

Still, more than 10 fabricated images purporting to show Trump’s police photo circulated across Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok on Tuesday, some more realistic than others.

“On a level from 1-10 how happy are you that Trump has been ARRESTED?” wrote one Twitter user who shared a fake booking photo in a post that was liked more than 13,000 times.

The images circulating on social media depicted the former president in outfits ranging from a suit and tie to a T-shirt, and in front of numbered walls or gray and white backdrops.

Trump’s campaign also fabricated its own mug shot, which it emailed to supporters on an image of a T-shirt with the words “NOT GUILTY.” It was created by editing height markers and a slate with fake booking details into an existing headshot of the former president.

Some users sharing other variations acknowledged they had been created using AI tools — which were also behind a flood of fabricated images last month purporting to show Trump being violently arrested by New York City police officers.

Many of the bogus mug shots bore hallmarks of such synthetic artwork, such as nonsensical numbered text in the background instead of a height chart often seen in booking photos.

While some posts were shared in clear jest, AI images “lend themselves to context-collapse,” said Sam Gregory, executive director at Witness, a nonprofit working on using video technology for human rights.

That means if they lose their initial context as parody or satire, the images can circulate as misinformation or disinformation.

“Like other manipulated media, the speed of sharing exceeds the speed of fact-checking,” Gregory said, and “people share what they want to believe.”

Associated Press writers Michael Balsamo and Colleen Long in Washington contributed to this report.

Trump has been charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. He surrendered earlier Tuesday in Manhattan and pleaded not guilty to all charges.

A look at the three cases cited by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who outlined the charges:

TRUMP TOWER DOORMAN

Bragg first listed the incident involving a former Trump Tower doorman who was paid $30,000 after he claimed he had information about a child who Trump had out of wedlock. That doorman, Dino Sajudin, received the payment from the parent company of the National Enquirer in exchange for signing over the rights, “in perpetuity,” to a rumor that the president had fathered a child with an employee at Trump World Tower, a skyscraper he owns near the United Nations.

The contract between Sajudin and the American Media Inc. would penalize Sajudin for $1 million if he disclosed either the rumor or the terms of his agreement with the tabloid’s parent company. In an interview with The Associated Press in August 2017, the woman at the center of the rumor denied that she had had an affair with Trump.

Read More

Trump Indictment Apr 4

Trump Indictment: Read the Full Document Here

Trump Indictment Apr 4

Meet the Key Figures in the Donald Trump Indictment

KAREN MCDOUGAL

The prosecutor also cited the case of Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model who received $150,000 from American Media after claiming she had a 10-month affair with Trump in the mid-2000s. The money was to gain the rights to McDougal’s story but to never run it — a practice known as “catch and kill.” The National Enquirer’s parent company has acknowledged that the payments were done specifically to help Trump’s presidential campaign.

Bragg said Trump “explicitly” directed lawyer Michael Cohen, then working for the Trump Organization, to reimburse American Media in cash, then Cohen indicated to Trump that the payment should be made instead by a shell company. The alleged relationship between McDougal and Trump remained concealed until a Wall Street Journal report days before Election Day in 2016. Trump has denied her allegation.

STORMY DANIELS

The third case involves the porn actor Stormy Daniels, who was paid $130,000 in exchange for her silence about a sexual encounter with Trump at Lake Tahoe, Nevada, in 2006. Trump has denied the encounter.

Bragg said that 12 days before the election on Nov. 8, 2016, Cohen had wired $130,000 to Daniels’ lawyer by using a shell corporation funded through a Manhattan bank. Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, was paid after indicating she was willing to speak to either the National Enquirer or on television confirming the encounter.

Trump insisted to reporters on Air Force One in April 2018 that he didn’t know about the payment made to Daniels through Cohen. But Bragg said Tuesday that Trump reimbursed Cohen after his 2016 victory with money from two sources: a trust that held the Trump Organization’s assets and from his personal bank account.

The payoffs, and the way that Trump’s company accounted for one of them, are at the center of a grand jury investigation that led to a criminal indictment and could result in the first-ever criminal prosecution of a former U.S. president.

Here’s a look at key figures in the case:

STORMY DANIELS

A porn actor who’s also had bit parts in mainstream films like “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” and “Knocked Up,” Daniels was paid $130,000 to keep quiet about what she says was an awkward and unexpected sexual encounter with Trump at a celebrity golf outing in Lake Tahoe in 2006. Trump denies having sex with Daniels.

Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, was paid the money in the final weeks of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign after her representative said she was willing to make on-the-record statements to the National Enquirer or on television confirming a sexual encounter with Trump.

Daniels attempted to capitalize on her newfound notoriety after news of the payment became public, embarking on a nationwide strip club tour in 2018. During a stop in Columbus, Ohio, Daniels was arrested on suspicion of inappropriately touching an undercover officer, but the charges were dropped hours later.

Her former lawyer, Michael Avenatti, is serving 11 years in prison for extortion and fraud, including a conviction for stealing $297,000 in proceeds from Daniels’ 2018 book, “Full Disclosure.”

KAREN MCDOUGAL

A former Playboy model who said she had a 10-month affair with Trump in the mid-2000s, McDougal was paid $150,000 in 2016 by the parent company of the National Enquirer for the rights to her story about the alleged relationship. Trump denies any affair.

The story never ran. The company suppressed McDougal’s story until after the election, a dubious journalism practice known as “catch and kill.” American Media Inc. has acknowledged that its payments to McDougal were done specifically to assist Trump’s election bid and were made “in concert” with his campaign.

McDougal has said Trump tried to pay her after their first sexual tryst at a bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel in 2006. McDougal said she continued the relationship with Trump for about 10 months and broke it off in April 2007 because she felt guilty.

MICHAEL COHEN

A lawyer by training, Cohen worked for the Trump Organization from 2006 to 2017, serving as Trump’s fixer. He once proudly proclaimed he’d “take a bullet” for his boss.

Cohen took the lead in arranging the payment to Daniels, passing it through a corporation he established for the purpose. He says he was then reimbursed by Trump, whose company logged the payment and related bonuses as “legal expenses.”

A few months earlier, Cohen had also arranged for the publisher of the National Enquirer to make the similar $150,00 payment to McDougal for the rights to her story about an alleged affair with Trump.

Cohen made recordings of a conversation in which he and Trump spoke about the arrangement to pay McDougal through the tabloid publisher. At one point, Trump said: “What do we got to pay for this? One-fifty?” Trump denies the affair.

After Trump became president, Cohen held himself out as someone who could potentially advise corporate clients on the new administration, collecting hefty fees from companies seeking influence in the new White House.

Federal prosecutors in 2018 charged Cohen with evading taxes related to his investments in the taxi industry, with lying to Congress and with campaign finance violations related to the hush money payments.

Cohen, who blamed Trump for his legal problems, pleaded guilty and served about a year in prison before being released to home confinement because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He is now a key prosecution witness in the Manhattan district attorney’s investigation.

More Donald Trump Indictment Coverage

Donald Trump Apr 4

Trump Is Arraigned in an Extraordinary Court Appearance in Manhattan. What's Next?

Trump Indictment Apr 4

Trump Indictment: Read the Full Document Here

ALLEN WEISSELBERG

The longtime chief financial officer at the Trump Organization, Weisselberg made key decisions in how the company kept its books, but did not appear to be cooperating with the hush-money investigation.

During testimony before Congress in 2019, Cohen said it was Weisselberg who decided how to structure his reimbursement for the payment to Daniels. Cohen said Weisselberg paid the money out over 12 months “so that it would look like a retainer.”

Federal prosecutors gave Weisselberg limited immunity from prosecution in exchange for his grand jury testimony in their investigation of the payments. But the Manhattan district attorney’s office ultimately brought unrelated charges against Weisselberg for dodging income taxes on job perks he got from Trump’s company, including a rent-free apartment and a luxury car.

He pleaded guilty and is serving a short jail term set to expire in April.

DAVID PECKER

The National Enquirer’s former publisher and a longtime Trump friend, Pecker testified twice before the grand jury about the tabloid’s involvement in suppressing negative stories about Trump.

Pecker met with Cohen during Trump’s 2016 campaign and said the Enquirer’s parent company would help buy and bury potentially damaging stories about Trump’s relationship with women.

Pecker, who was the Enquirer’s chairman and chief executive at the time, agreed to keep Cohen apprised of any such stories. In June 2016, he alerted Cohen that McDougal’s lawyer had approached the publication seeking to sell her story about an alleged affair with Trump.

The Enquirer’s owner at the time, American Media Inc., then agreed to pay McDougal for “limited life rights” to the story of her relationship with “any then-married man.” The publisher said it would feature her on two magazine covers and print more than 100 of her articles in exchange for $150,000.

Cohen signed an agreement to buy the nondisclosure part of McDougal’s contract for $125,000 through a company he formed, but Pecker later called off the deal and told Cohen to tear up the agreement.

Federal prosecutors agreed in 2018 not to prosecute American Media in exchange for its cooperation in the campaign finance investigation that led to Cohen’s guilty plea and prison sentence. The Federal Election Commission fined the company $187,500, deeming the McDougal deal as a “prohibited corporate in-kind contribution.”

Pecker stepped down as CEO of the publisher in 2020.

ALVIN BRAGG

Manhattan’s first Black district attorney, Bragg became the first prosecutor anywhere to bring a criminal case against a former U.S. president. The Democrat inherited an investigation of Trump when he took office in January 2022.

Bragg grew up in Harlem during the 1980s crack cocaine epidemic, where he says he was held at gunpoint six times — three times by police. A graduate of Harvard Law School, he previously worked as a federal prosecutor, chief deputy state attorney general, civil rights lawyer and law school professor.

Bragg campaigned for office as a progressive reformer. He was elected with 83% of the vote in deep-blue Manhattan.

After taking office, Bragg paused an investigation into Trump’s business dealings that had been seen as gathering momentum toward a possible indictment. But after his prosecutors won a trial last year in which Trump’s company, the Trump Organization, was convicted of tax fraud, Bragg convened a new grand jury to examine the hush money payouts.

JOSEPH TACOPINA

A Brooklyn-born lawyer known for his sharp suits and celebrity clientele, Tacopina is the public face of Trump’s defense team.

Trump is just the latest big name to turn to Tacopina, whose past clients have included the rappers Meek Mill, Jay-Z and A$AP Rocky and baseball great Alex Rodriguez.

In recent weeks Tacopina has been making the former president’s case on TV news shows, questioning Bragg’s investigation and motives, challenging Cohen’s credibility as a star witness and suggesting Trump was extorted.

It wasn’t always like that. In a TV appearance in 2018, long before Tacopina started representing Trump, he told CNN that the payment to Daniels appeared to be “illegal” and a “potential campaign finance issue.” He told the network that claims Trump wasn’t aware of the payment didn’t “pass the straight-face test.”

Trump hired Tacopina in January, initially to defend him against a civil lawsuit brought by magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll, who says Trump raped her in the mid-1990s. That case is scheduled to go to trial next month.

Tacopina played ice hockey in college and later dabbled as a player agent. He owns S.P.A.L., a team in the second tier of Italian soccer.

SUSAN NECHELES

Necheles is a New York City defense lawyer who represented Trump’s company at its tax fraud trial last year and has been working behind-the-scenes on the former president’s criminal defense, meeting with prosecutors in an attempt to head off potential charges.

In the past she served as counsel to the late Genovese crime family underboss Venero Mangano, known as Benny Eggs, and defended John Gotti’s lawyer, Bruce Cutler, in a contempt-of-court case in the early 1990s. In recent years, the Yale Law School graduate has represented liquor heiress Clare Bronfman in the NXIVM cult case.

Like Tacopina, Necheles is a former Brooklyn prosecutor.

During the Trump Organization trial, she made a point of referring to Trump as “President Trump.”

“This is not a political statement,” she explained to jurors. “My parents were immigrants and migrants,” she continued. “And in my home we referred to all former presidents as presidents out of respect for the office, whether we supported him, or disagreed with him.”

MATTHEW COLANGELO

Bragg hired Colangelo in December to lead the investigation. They previously worked together on Trump-related matters as senior officials at the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James.

During his tenure with the attorney general’s office, Colangelo worked on a lawsuit that resulted in the closure of Trump’s charitable foundation for misusing funds. He was also part of a wave of state litigation against Trump administration policies, resulting in dozens of lawsuits that challenged everything from diluted environmental standards to changes to U.S. mail service ahead of the 2020 election.

After President Joe Biden took office, Colangelo joined the U.S. Justice Department and was temporarily its third in command. He then became a principal deputy to Associate U.S. Attorney General Vanita Gupta. Previously, Colangelo served as deputy assistant to President Barack Obama, was a deputy director of the National Economic Council and a chief of staff for the U.S. labor secretary.

JUAN MANUEL MERCHAN

A respected jurist and former prosecutor, Merchan is the judge in Trump’s criminal case — the latest in a string of Trump-related cases he’s presided over.

Merchan, an acting justice in the criminal division of New York’s trial court, was the judge in the Trump Organization’s tax fraud trial last year and a related case against the company’s longtime finance chief, Allen Weisselberg.

Merchan, 60, is the supervising judge of the grand jury that indicted Trump and is presiding over a border wall fraud case against longtime Trump ally Steve Bannon. He is also the judge of Manhattan’s mental health court.

Merchan steered the negotiations that led to Weisselberg’s guilty plea last summer, which called for him to testify against the Trump Organization in exchange for a five-month jail sentence.

During the company’s trial, Merchan was calm and considered but irked the defense with some rulings they felt were favorable to the prosecution.

Merchan, a graduate of Hofstra law school, worked in the trial and investigations divisions of the Manhattan district attorney’s office in the 1990s and held various roles in the state attorney general’s office before being appointed to the bench in 2006.

Merchan started as a family court judge in the Bronx. In 2009, he was appointed to the court of claims, which deals with lawsuits against the state, and assigned to his current role, as an acting justice in the trial court, which in New York is known as Supreme Court. He is not elected to the post.

Read the full Trump indictment and statement of facts below, and learn more here.

More Coverage

Trump Indictment Apr 4

Trump Surrenders for Historic Manhattan Arraignment

Donald Trump Apr 4

Who Is Trump Arraignment Judge? What to Know About Juan Merchan

This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser.

A stone-faced Donald Trump pleaded not guilty Tuesday in connection with a 34-count felony Manhattan grand jury indictment claiming he illegally influenced the 2016 election through a series of hush money payments, cementing him in history as the first U.S. president, sitting or former, to be criminally charged.

The 76-year-old Trump denied dozens of charges of falsifying business records for his alleged role in hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels as his 2016 presidential campaign wrapped up. The indictment was unsealed in a brief proceeding before Judge Juan Merchan, who presided over the trial of the Trump Organization’s former chief financial officer.

The statement of facts released alongside the indictment offers a more detailed account of the alleged crimes in Trump’s “catch and kill” scheme during a two-year period to keep potentially damning information from preventing the former president’s path to the White House.

As alleged by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, the charges arose from a series of checks that Trump or his company wrote during the presidential campaign to his lawyer and fixer for his role in making a payment to a porn actor who alleged an extramarital sexual encounter with Trump years earlier.

The payments were part of “an unlawful plan to identify and suppress negative information that could have undermined his campaign for president,” Assistant District Attorney Christopher Conroy said in court. They were made to “protect his candidacy,” Conroy added.

Read the full indictment here.

The broad contours of the case have long been known, but the indictment contains new details about a scheme that prosecutors say began months into his presidential candidacy in 2015, as his celebrity past collided with his presidential ambitions. It centers on payoffs to two women, including Daniels, who said they had extramarital sexual encounters with him years earlier, as well as to a Trump Tower doorman who claimed to have a story about a child he alleged the former president had out of of wedlock.

All 34 counts against Trump are linked to a series of checks that were written to Trump’s personal lawyer and problem-solver, Michael Cohen, to reimburse him for his role in paying off Daniels. Those payments, made over 12 months, were recorded in various internal company documents as being for a legal retainer that prosecutors say didn’t exist.

Cohen testified before the grand jury and is expected to be a star prosecution witness. Nine of those monthly checks were paid out of Trump’s personal accounts, but records related to them were maintained in the Trump Organization’s data system.

Prosecutors allege that the first instance of Trump directing hush money payments came in the fall of 2015, when a former Trump Tower doorman was trying to sell information about an alleged out-of-wedlock child fathered by Trump.

David Pecker, a Trump friend and the publisher of the National Enquirer, made a $30,000 payment to the doorman to acquire the exclusive rights to the story, pursuant to an agreement to protect Trump during his presidential campaign, according to the indictment. Pecker’s company later determined the doorman’s story was false, but at Cohen’s urging is alleged to have enforced the doorman’s confidentiality until after Election Day.

The investigation also concerns six-figure payments made to Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal. Both say they had sexual encounters with the married Trump years before he got into politics. Trump denies having sexual liaisons with either woman and has denied any wrongdoing involving payments.

Early reports from the courtroom had indicated the indictment included conspiracy charges, and prosecutors had alleged in court that Trump engaged in an “illegal conspiracy,” but those charges were not present in the released documents.

The former president is due back in court at the end of the year, in December. His lawyers asked about excusing Trump from attending in person due to the extraordinary security measures, but as of now, Trump is expected to appear. Judge Juan Merchan said he would not impose a gag order, for now, but did urge both sides to not say anything that may cause violence, or jeopardize the safety of individuals.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has not indicated whether he plans to seek jail time in the event of a conviction.

“At it’s core, this case today is one with allegations like so many of our white-collar cases, allegations that someone lied again and again to protect their interests,” Bragg explained at a press conference following the arraignment.

WHAT HAPPENED IN THE HEARING?

Prosecutors raised concerns about what they said were irresponsible social media posts they said targeted people in the case, including grand jury witnesses and Bragg. They specifically pointed to posts Trump made that warned of “potential death and destruction” if he were to be indicted.

The judge said he was not imposing a gag order at this point but asked both sides to refrain from making comments or engaging in comments that could lead to civil unrest.

Trump spoke briefly. He told the judge he was pleading “not guilty” to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records and he was advised of his rights. Trump stayed mostly still, his hands steepled or interlaced, and looked ahead during the proceedings that lasted just over an hour.

Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche said during the hearing: “He is absolutely frustrated, upset and believes that there is a great injustice happening in this courtroom today.”

At the conclusion of the hearing, Trump left the courtroom ignoring questions from reporters down the hall and left in his motorcade bound for LaGuardia Airport.

More Trump

Trump Indictment Apr 4

Meet the Key Figures in the Donald Trump Indictment

Apr 4

Manhattan DA Sheds New Light on National Enquirer Publisher's Efforts to Boost Trump 2016 Campaign

Donald Trump Apr 4

Trump Is Arraigned in an Extraordinary Court Appearance in Manhattan. What's Next?

When it finally came time to surrender, Trump waved to throngs of people, some decrying his indictment, others lauding it, as he headed into Manhattan Criminal Court, where hundreds gathered to bear as close witness as possible to the historic proceedings.

The former president was informed of his arrest, then processed, fingerprinted and arraigned on the 15^th floor, Part 59 in the Manhattan Criminal Court building. No mugshot was taken, sources said. He looked soberly at the reporters lining the hallway as he headed in for his arraignment, which happened in the same courtroom where Harvey Weinstein was tried and convicted of rape and sexual assault in February 2020.

Trump and his defense team have repeatedly and vociferously denied any wrongdoing.

As his motorcade headed to the courthouse, a 4-mile drive from Trump Tower earlier in the day, the former president posted a message on his Truth Social account that read, “Heading to Lower Manhattan, the Courthouse. Seems so SURREAL — WOW, they are going to ARREST ME. Can’t believe this is happening in America. MAGA!”

Hundreds of people — from media to gawkers to supporters and protesters — flanked the streets outside the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse, where U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene was quickly whisked away by her security team as chaos intensified, and Trump Tower in midtown, where NYPD barricades have been in place since last week.

The developments may have significant implications for the 2024 presidential election. The 76-year-old Trump has insisted he would continue to seek the Republican nomination even if the grand jury voted to indict.

Legally, an indictment does not block him from running. Prosecutors haven’t said if they planned to seek prison time in the event of a conviction, though that also wouldn’t preclude Trump from running for president or winning next year. Each count of falsifying business records, a felony, is punishable by up to four years in prison — though it’s not clear if a judge would impose any prison time if Trump is convicted. 

For a man whose presidency was defined by one obliterated norm after another, the indictment sets up yet another never-before-seen spectacle.

Trump Denial and Next Steps

Flanked by American flags, Trump delivered a campaign-style speech to cheering supporters at Mar-a-Lago Tuesday night. If his lawyers told him to stay away from talking about the indictment, and to stop criticizing Bragg, Trump did not follow their advice.

He was defiant, referring, among other things, to his two impeachment trials during his presidency. He called the New York indictment the latest in an “onslaught of fraudulent investigations.”

“This fake case was brought only to interfere with the upcoming 2024 election and it should be dropped immediately,” Trump said.

He said that “every single pundit said there’s no case,” adding that DA Bragg is a “criminal” for leaking grand jury information. Trump said Bragg should be prosecuted or “at a minimum” resign. He also lashed out at the judge presiding over the New York case, despite being warned hours earlier by the judge to refrain from rhetoric that could cause civil unrest.

It was not immediately clear if his comments could potentially get him into further legal trouble.

Among the room of supporters were defeated Arizona GOP gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake, voter fraud evangelist Mike Lindell and Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., and Ronny Jackson, R-Texas.

“We are a nation in decline, and now these radical left lunatics want to interfere in elections by using law enforcement,” Trump said. “We can’t let that happen.”

His speech was under 30 minutes, short by his standards, and Trump seemed more subdued than his normal boisterous self. But his words and accusations were as vitriolic as ever.

Eric Trump said in a tweet that the DA’s office is “spending an estimated $200 million of city funds” for the case, a number which includes the costs of more police being on put on duty. City Hall Spokesman Fabien Levy rejected that notion, saying “Neither Donald Trump nor Eric Trump have the slightest idea how math works.”

A spokesperson for the former president told NBC New York that Trump is focused on the reelection campaign, and touted a supposed surge in poll numbers even since news of the indictment broke out. When Trump has to go back to Manhattan for his next court date, the spokesman said “we’ll do this all over again.”

Trump’s team has denied wrongdoing throughout the investigation and vociferously did so again Tuesday. Tacopina said the former president didn’t commit any crime and vowed to “vigorously fight this political prosecution in court.”

Tacopina has accused prosecutors of “distorting laws” to try to take down the former president. He has described Trump as a victim of extortion who had to pay the money because the allegations were going to be embarrassing to him “regardless of the campaign.”

In a lengthy statement of his own issued the day of the grand jury vote, Trump echoed the claims his attorneys made earlier Thursday, calling the case “Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history.”

He also once again called the investigation a “Witch-hunt,” and went on to go after Bragg, whom he called “a disgrace…doing Joe Biden’s dirty work, ignoring the murders and burglaries and assaults he should be focused on.”

President Joe Biden, who has yet to formally announce that he’s seeking reelection next year, and other leading Democrats have largely had little to say about it.

Asked about the matter Tuesday, a White House spokesperson said the president was focused on the American people, not matters related to Trump.

Trump’s Legal Woes: Beyond the Manhattan Indictment

The indictment marks an extraordinary development after years of investigations into his business, political and personal dealings.

Even as Trump pursues his latest White House campaign, there is no question an indictment gives fodder to his longstanding critics.

Besides the hush money inquiry in New York, Trump faces criminal investigations in Atlanta and Washington over his efforts to undo the results of the 2020 election.

A Justice Department special counsel has also been presenting evidence before a grand jury investigating Trump’s possession of hundreds of classified documents at his Florida estate.

It is not clear when those investigations will end or whether they might result in criminal charges, but they will continue regardless of what happens in New York, underscoring the ongoing gravity – and broad geographic scope – of the legal challenges facing the former president.

On Tuesday from Mar-a-Lago, Trump took time to address some of the other potential legal problems he may face — which may put him in more legal jeopardy than the Manhattan charges.

He called on Atlanta prosecutors to “drop” a case into his effort to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia, condemned an ongoing federal investigation into his handling of classified documents, mocked a New York state investigation into his business and described special counsel Jack Smith — who is overseeing the federal probe into his handling of classified documents and his actions around the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol — as a “lunatic.”

Trump said that New York Attorney General Letitia James has “put our family through hell.”

“With all of this being said, and with a very dark cloud over our beloved country, I have no doubt nevertheless we will make America great again,” Trump said.

Eric Tucker, Michael R. Sisak, Jill Colvin and Michelle L. Price of the Associated Press, as well as NBC News’ Jonathan Allen and Allan Smith, contributed to this report

Speculation came down to the wire as to whether the 76-year-old would pose for a mugshot after he surrendered at the Manhattan district attorney’s office Tuesday afternoon.

Upon entering the courthouse, Trump was fingerprinted and shown the indictment before he walked into the courtroom with his attorneys for the scheduled arraignment. No mugshot was taken after his arrest.

Trump was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury Thursday on dozens of charges of falsifying business records for his alleged role in hush money payments to two women as his 2016 presidential campaign wrapped up.

The former president flew to the city Monday afternoon and stayed at Trump Tower overnight before heading to the courthouse Tuesday morning. He will be taken to a room on the 15th floor — with no handcuffs or stop in a holding cell.

The arraignment was expected to be brief, and then Trump was due to head back to Florida, where he had planned to deliver a speech from Mar-a-Lago Tuesday night.

As a precaution, all Supreme Court cases on the upper floors of the building cleared and security swept the building.

More Coverage

Trump Indictment Apr 4

Trump Surrenders for Historic Manhattan Arraignment

Trump Indictment Apr 4

Trump Protest Outside NYC Arraignment Attracts MTG, George Santos

Hundreds of onlookers, protestors, journalists and a few-attention seeking politicians swarmed the lower Manhattan courthouse where former President Donald Trump was scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday afternoon.

A morning “Rally for Trump” in support of the ex-president had been expected to draw numbers, including headlining speaker Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. The Republican lawmaker arrived amid the chaotic crowds of pro and anti-Trump supporters where she delivered brief remarks.

Shouting through a small handheld megaphone, Greene’s message to Trump’s supporters was essentially drowned out by the suffocating crowd of people and media gathered outside. Security whisked her away a few minutes later.

In an interview posted online, Greene said she planned to speak with media from a car and accused counter-protesters of assault for blowing whistles and shouting as she spoke. Whistles, NBC News reported, were being handed out by a Trump supporter: “We’re here to make noise.”

In an interview with NBC News from inside her car, Greene said that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is “not prosecuting President Trump, they’re persecuting him.”

The controversial Republican known for her extremist viewpoints had brief support from Rep. George Santos, who appeared among the courthouse chaos half an hour before the rally’s official start time. He left around 10 a.m. with no plan to return. During his “blink and “blink and you’ll miss it” appearance, the Long Island politician criticized Bragg and expressed his support for Trump.

“I’m not here for the cameras,” he insisted to reporters. “I want to support the president, just because I think this is unprecedented, and it’s a bad day for democracy.”

VIDEO: See the scene at Manhattan Criminal Court as Donald Trump arrived.

New York’s own Rep. Jamaal Bowman was among the crowd shouting as Greene left the Manhattan courthouse.

“Go back to your district. What are you doing here? You’re here for politics,” Bowman said.

The crowds grew larger as the hour drew closer to Trump’s arrival at the courthouse to become the first president in U.S. history to face criminal charges.

Demonstrators broke out into chants of “No one is above the law; Trump is not above the law.”

The crowd was small, by the standards of New York City protests, which routinely draw thousands. And fears that unruly mobs might force police to shut down swaths of the city proved to be unfounded, with security measures mostly disappearing within a couple of blocks.

Initial crowd estimates from police had Trump supporters outnumber his detractors by a margin of about 2-to-1. Both sides were separated by metal barriers. The size of the barricaded crowds may match the volume of press members covering the day, which have also swarmed the area.

Anti-Trump protestors unfurled a large banner saying “Trump Lies All the Time.” A brief scuffle broke out between pro and anti-Trump supporters, with the former tearing up a banner outside the courthouse. NBC News reports police intervened and separated the groups.

With the pall of the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection still looming large, the NYPD and its law enforcement partners at all levels of government have been preparing for any eventuality. At a press conference the day before, the head of the NYPD warned of rolling street closures and increased police presence, both likely to gum up movement around Manhattan.

Some may just want to stay out of the city -- especially if they intend to cause any disruption, Mayor Eric Adams added.

The Democrat and former police officer urged self-restraint for any protesters on either side who plan to converge on Manhattan this week. Adams specifically called out ardent Trump loyalist Greene, who tweeted last week she planned to come to New York to support him Tuesday.

"Control yourselves. This city isn't a playground for your misplaced anger," Adams said Monday. "People like MTG, who is known for spreading misinformation and hate speech, she stated that she's coming to our town. While you're here, be on your best behavior."

The former president had vocal support over the weekend in New York from a number of Republican allies, including possible presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis. The Florida governor took the stage in Long Island alongside Rep. Lee Zeldin to blast Bragg for what he called a "flimsy" indictment.

"They're trying to do all these legal gymnastics to try and act like it's a felony when almost every other time he's trying to take the felonies and downgrade them to misdemeanors," DeSantis said Saturday.

Some demonstrated after Trump told the globe he expected to be arrested, but those protests were largely muted. The NYPD has said there's no credible threat to the city at this point, and it has ordered every member of the department to report in full uniform Friday.

That mandate is a precautionary measure and covers about 36,000 NYPD officers and 19,000 civilian employees. It comes as top officials shore up security plans ahead of what potentially could be a busy weekend of pro- and anti-Trump demonstrations throughout the city, especially in front of Trump Tower in midtown Manhattan.

Trump Indictment Mar 30

Trump Was Indicted. So Now What? A Look at Next Steps

Trump Indictment Mar 31

How Donald Trump Indictment Could Impact the 2024 Presidential Election

Trump Indictment Mar 30

Trump Indictment: A Timeline of Events in the Hush Money Case

The Fifth Avenue location has continued to attract supporters, opponents and tourists who just want to see the scene.

An Eric Adams spokesman said, "The mayor is in constant contact with Commissioner Sewell about all public safety issues affecting the city. The NYPD continues to monitor all activity and there are no credible threats to the city at this time. The NYPD always remains prepared to respond to events happening on the ground and keep New Yorkers safe."

Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine also said he was bracing for whatever may come, tweeting last week that "NYPD and other law enforcement agencies have been planning and coordinating intensively for this moment. New York City is ready. If there is a Trump mob, they have lost the element of surprise."

Security is expected to be more intense in Lower Manhattan, where NYPD officers escorted District Attorney Alvin Bragg from his office last week. The kind of security needed to get the former president in and out of the same building poses an unprecedented logistical challenge the NYPD and the court system say they are prepared for.

The grand jury indictment has remained sealed and is expected to stay sealed until Trump's arraignment. Multiple sources say it includes about 30 counts of document fraud-related charges. Trump has denied wrongdoing.

This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser.

The judge denied video cameras in the courtroom, and while phones and laptops are permitted, they cannot be used during the hearing, which means no live coverage at the hearing. So who is the judge?

His name is Juan Merchan, an acting justice with the State Supreme Court since 2009. He also presided over the trial of the Trump Organization’s former CFO Allen Weisselberg.

Merchan, who started his career as an assistant district attorney in Manhattan, now has 16 years of experience on the bench. He worked in the State Attorney General’s office before he was appointed to the Bronx Family Court bench in 2006. The New York Times reports Merchan was born in Bogotá, Colombia, came to the U.S. when he was 6 years old.

Merchan grew up in Jackson Heights, Queens.

Trump’s case isn’t the first high-profile one Merchan has overseen. Back in 2012, he presided over the case of the woman known as the “soccer mom madam” — who made international headlines for allegedly running an Upper East Side call girl ring for millionaires.

More recently, Merchan also presided over the case of the Trump Organization’s former chief financial officer, as well as the tax fraud trial in which the family’s company was convicted of 17 counts, including conspiracy and falsifying business records. Merchan also saw Weisselberg’s sentencing. The ex-CFO is now serving time at Rikers.

BREAKING UPDATE: Trump Pleads Not Guilty to 34-Count Indictment in Manhattan

Donald Trump waved to throngs of people, some decrying his arrest, others cheering it, as he arrived at the Manhattan district attorney’s office Tuesday, where he surrendered ahead of a historic court moment that will see him become the first-ever criminally indicted U.S. president.

The one-time commander-in-chief posted a message on his Truth Social account as his motorcade left Trump Tower, writing, “Heading to Lower Manhattan, the Courthouse. Seems so SURREAL — WOW, they are going to ARREST ME. Can’t believe this is happening in America. MAGA!”

Details of the indictment, including whether it may include felony counts, have remained sealed since the grand jury vote late last week, though sources familiar with the matter say it includes about 30 counts of document fraud-related charges tied to the hush money investigation involving payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016.

Trump, who has blasted the district attorney’s probe as a “witch hunt” and called for Alvin Bragg’s removal from office, has consistently denied wrongdoing. Late Monday, the judge in his case, Judge Juan Merchan, ruled that no video cameras would be permitted inside court and while phones and laptops are OK, they cannot be used — meaning the public will have to wait until after the arraignment, which is expected to be brief, to learn the ramifications.

Trump attorney Joe Tacopina had said the defense may ask Merchan for a brief recess if the district attorney’s office provided a copy of the indictment when the former president and his team arrived at the building. That would afford Trump’s lawyers at least some time to review the paperwork before the arraignment, Tacopina said.

It appears that request was accommodated, which led to a minor delay in the scheduled arraignment. Separately, senior security officials say the upper floors of the courthouse are being cleared of all other operations and hearings. A security sweep will be conducted before members of the press are permitted into the building.

The 76-year-old Trump may issue a brief statement to reporters lining the hallway, where cameras are allowed, before he heads inside the courtroom, his lawyers said Tuesday morning.

The former president’s motorcade headed downtown just after 1 p.m. Tuesday, with the caravan departing from Trump Tower, where crowds converged throughout the day Monday and overnight for his arrival.

Once Trump formally surrendered, he was to be informed of his arrest by a member of the district attorney’s office, fingerprinted and arraigned on the 15^th floor, Part 59 in the Manhattan Criminal Court building, the same courtroom where Harvey Weinstein was tried and convicted of rape and sexual assault in February 2020.

The mugshot question remained up in the air as of late Monday, but as of Tuesday afternoon, it appeared none would be taken. While that would be part of the typical booking process, Trump isn’t your typical defendant.

Tacopina said Tuesday that the twice-impeached Trump wouldn’t plead guilty to lesser charges, even if it might resolve the case. He said he didn’t believe the case would ever make it to a jury, but he conceded, “Really, there’s a lot of mystery here because we’re doing something that’s never been done before.”

The former commander-in-chief will not be handcuffed, nor will he be kept in a holding cell, sources with knowledge of the plans have said. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has declined comment.

After the arraignment, Trump is expected to be released by authorities because the charges against him don’t require that bail be set. He will then return to LaGuardia Airport, where his private plane landed a day ago, and fly back to Florida ahead of an anticipated evening public address from Mar-a-Lago.

Trump Arraignment Draws Intense NYC Security

Rolling street closures are expected throughout Manhattan over the course of the day, and more roads may be shut down at the discretion of the NYPD. Mayor Eric Adams appeared alongside NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell ahead of the arraignment to urge people who choose to demonstrate to do so peacefully, including ardent Trump ally U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who tweeted last week her intent to rally outside court in person on Tuesday.

Hundreds, from media to gawkers to supporters and protesters are flanking the streets outside the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse and Trump Tower, where NYPD barricades have been in place since last week. An NYPD bus and other vehicles were added to the line of defense Monday and were expected to stay there for much of Tuesday.

The department's 36,000 officers and 19,000 civilian employees have been ordered to report in uniform and prepare to deploy as needed since Friday, and that precautionary mandate will likely remain in effect through early this week.

What Happens Next?

New York’s ability to carry out safe and drama-free courthouse proceedings in a case involving a polarizing ex-president could be an important test case as prosecutors in Atlanta and Washington conduct their own investigations of Trump that could also result in charges.

Those investigations concern efforts to undo the 2020 election results as well as the possible mishandling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.

Top Republicans, including some of Trump’s potential rivals in next year’s GOP presidential primary, have criticized the case against him. Trump has insisted he will run in 2024 regardless of the outcome of the case. Neither an indictment nor a conviction, even on a felony charge, would preclude him from tossing his hat in the ring once again.

Prosecutors haven't said whether they would seek jail time in the event of a conviction.

Meanwhile, Trump pollster John McLaughlin said the former president would approach arraignment day with "dignity."

“He will be a gentleman,” McLaughlin said. “He'll show strength, and he'll show dignity and ... we'll get through this and win the election.”

But Trump was also defiant. In a post late Monday night on his social media network, he lashed out at President Joe Biden, suggesting the current president should be facing legal troubles of his own.

Biden, who has yet to formally announce that he’s seeking reelection next year, and other leading Democrats have largely had little to say about it. Asked about the matter Tuesday, the White House said the president was focused on the American people, not matters related to Trump.

More Coverage

Trump Indictment Apr 4

Trump Protest Outside NYC Arraignment Attracts MTG, George Santos

Donald Trump Apr 4

Trump Heads Back to Mar-a-Lago After Pleading Not Guilty

Eric Tucker, Michael R. Sisak and Will Weissert of the Associated Press contributed to this report

This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser.

Trump pleaded not guilty to the 34-count felony indictment, which was unsealed early Tuesday afternoon.

After his court appearance, Trump, who has denied all wrongdoing, returned to LaGuardia Airport and headed back to Florida, where he is expected to deliver a public address from Mar-a-Lago Tuesday night. More on that here.

A day ago, Chopper 4 tracked his private plane live from Florida to LaGuardia. Track Tuesday’s action in the player above, which is expected to feature various live shots from Trump Tower to Manhattan Criminal Court and the airport.

More Coverage

Trump Indictment Apr 4

Trump Protest Outside NYC Arraignment Attracts MTG, George Santos

Trump Indictment Apr 4

Trump Surrenders for Historic Manhattan Arraignment

Discussions were ongoing around the plans well into Monday given the unprecedented nature of the logistics: Trump is the first U.S. president, sitting or former, to be criminally charged. His Secret Service detail has remained with him since he left office, and security of that profile has never had to lead someone into court for a grand jury indictment.

The mugshot question is still up in the air. Here’s what we know so far, according to NBC News sources as well as a source with direct knowledge of Monday’s meeting between Secret Service, court officers and the Manhattan district attorney’s office:

Will Trump be arrested? The former president is expected to surrender at the Manhattan district attorney’s office, at which point a member of that office will inform him he is under arrest pursuant to the indictment.

How will he be processed? Trump will be processed at 100 Centre Street, the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse. He will be fingerprinted there, the source told NBC News. No DNA will be taken. A potential mugshot is still up in the air. Sources indicated there was some concern it could be leaked, and it was not in the plans as of Monday night.

When will we know the charges? Customarily, an indictment is unsealed after the judge takes the bench and calls the case. It is expected that Trump will plead not guilty and he will be released without bail.

Then what? The former president will be escorted to a room on the 15th floor. He will not be handcuffed, nor will he stop in a holding cell.

Media will be kept at a distance for the 2:15 p.m. hearing — cellphones and laptops will be allowed inside court but cannot be used, NBC News has learned. Video cameras will not be allowed inside the courtroom; still photos will be allowed until the proceeding begins, then will have to leave. Cameras will be allowed in the hallway only. The arraignment is expected to be brief.

What does all that mean? There will be no live coverage from inside the courtroom, so the public will not be getting updates and will have to wait until the hearing is over in order to learn about what happened during the arraignment, which is expected to be brief.

The indictment will most likely not be read out loud during the hearing. The full details of the indictment, including all the charges Trump faces, will likely become available when the DA’s office posts the indictment document online or emails it to news media.

What will Trump do after the arraignment? Trump is expected to go directly from the courthouse to LaGuardia Aiport, where he is scheduled to fly back to Florida. Around 8:45 p.m. Tuesday, he is expected to deliver a public address from Mar-a-Lago. What he will say, or what he will be allowed to say, is still yet to be determined.

Before that time, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg will host a press conference of his own around 3:30 p.m. down at Centre Street.

More Coverage

Trump Indictment Apr 3

Former President Returned to Trump Tower Ahead of Expected Arraignment

His private plane departed Palm Beach around 1 p.m. Chopper 4 tracked it live as it landed at LaGuardia Airport, where Trump disembarked and traveled by motorcade just before rush hour to Trump Tower.

More Coverage

Trump Indictment Apr 3

Former President Returned to Trump Tower Ahead of Expected Arraignment

Former President Donald Trump‘s private plane landed at LaGuardia Airport Monday afternoon ahead of, as he shared on his social media platform, a “believe it or not” appearance in a Manhattan courtroom Tuesday, where he is expected to be the first sitting or former U.S. president in history to be arraigned on a criminal indictment.

The Republican, who has vowed to stay in the running for the 2024 presidential nomination despite the case (and can legally do so), traveled by motorcade to Trump Tower from the Queens hub Monday afternoon. Trump confirmed his travel plans on his Truth Social account earlier in the day, where he also called for his potential trial to be moved out of Manhattan and for District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s removal from office.

Watch his plane’s arrival at LaGuardia.

Trump lawyer Joe Tacopina said Sunday a discussion about possible venue change had not yet occurred (and sources say the judge would be unlikely to grant one). As for Bragg, Gov. Kathy Hochul would have to initiate a formal process to remove him, which does not appear in her plans. The Manhattan indictment has been sealed since the grand jury vote late last week, but multiple sources say it involves about 30 counts of document fraud-related charges.

The 23-member Manhattan panel had been considering charges around Trump’s alleged authorization of hush money payments one-time attorney and fixer Michael Cohen paid to porn Star Stormy Daniels during his 2016 presidential campaign to keep claims of an extramarital affair quiet. Multiple other investigations are ongoing.

The former president and his legal team have consistently denied wrongdoing in connection with them all. Trump is expected to return to Florida after Tuesday’s arraignment, where he will address the public from Mar-a-Lago.

Meanwhile, New York City is hunkering down for his stay. If you work in Manhattan and drive, the odds are against you.

Hundreds, from media to gawkers to supporters and protesters are expected to flank the streets outside the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse and Trump Tower, where NYPD barricades have been in place since last week. An NYPD bus and other vehicles were added to the line of defense Monday and are expected to stay there.

The department’s 36,000 officers and 19,000 civilian employees have been ordered to report in uniform and prepare to deploy as needed since Friday, and that precautionary mandate will likely remain in effect through early this week.

Trump Arraignment Details Emerge

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg arrived at the courthouse early Monday and did not comment to reporters. He has not shared any details regarding the charges he asked the grand jury to consider, but the district attorney will hold a press conference Tuesday afternoon. Sources familiar with the matter said Friday it includes about 30 counts of document fraud-related charges.

Trump and his defense team have repeatedly and vociferously denied any wrongdoing. He will be informed of his arrest, fingerprinted and arraigned on the 15^th floor, Part 59 in the Manhattan Criminal Court building, the same courtroom where Harvey Weinstein was tried and convicted of rape and sexual assault in February 2020.

It is directly across the hall from the room where Trump Corp and Trump Payroll Corp were found guilty in December 2022 of criminal tax fraud, conspiracy and falsifying business records. Attorney Susan Necheles defended the Trump Organization in that case and is expected to appear alongside Trump when he is arraigned. Expect street closures.

Trump’s attorneys have filed a request with the court to keep videographers and cameras out. Late Monday night, Judge Juan Merchan ruled that cellphones and laptops would be permitted inside court but will not be allowed to be used. Video cameras will not be allowed inside the courtroom; still photos will be allowed until the proceeding begins, then will have to leave. Cameras will be allowed in the hallway only.

So what does all that mean? There will be no live coverage from inside the courtroom, and the public will have to wait until the hearing is over in order to learn about what happened during the arraignment, which is expected to take place around 2:15 p.m. and should be brief.

The indictment will most likely not be read out loud during the hearing. The full details of the indictment, including all the charges Trump faces, will likely become available when the DA’s office posts the indictment document online or emails it to news media.

More Coverage

Trump Indictment Apr 3

No TV Cameras Allowed In Trump Courtroom, Phones and Laptops Can't Be Used; Mugshot TBD

Trump Indictment Apr 3

Former President Returned to Trump Tower Ahead of Expected Arraignment

Donald Trump Apr 2

Trump to Deliver Remarks Tuesday Night After His Arraignment

The developments may have significant implications for the 2024 presidential election. The 76-year-old Trump has insisted he would continue to seek the Republican nomination even if the grand jury voted to indict.

Legally, an indictment does not block him from running. Prosecutors haven’t said if they planned to seek prison time in the event of a conviction, though that also wouldn’t preclude Trump from running for president or winning next year.

For a man whose presidency was defined by one obliterated norm after another, the indictment sets up yet another never-before-seen spectacle — a former president being fingerprinted, then arraigned. It’s not clear if the public will see a mugshot, or if one will even be taken. Here’s why. For security reasons, his booking is expected to be carefully choreographed to avoid crowds inside or outside the courthouse.

While Trump and his lawyers prepared for his defense, Bragg late last week defended the grand jury investigation that propelled him toward trial, as congressional Republicans painted it all as politically motivated.

In a Friday letter, the Manhattan district attorney told three Republican House committee chairs that such claims are “misleading and meritless” and rebuffed congressional probing into the grand jury process, which by law is secret.

Learn more about the case background here.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has vowed to use congressional oversight to probe Bragg. Steil, Jordan and Comer have asked Bragg’s office for grand jury testimony, documents and copies of any communications with the Justice Department.

President Joe Biden has not commented on the indictment. The White House is not expected to release a statement.

Trump’s Legal Woes: Beyond the Manhattan Indictment

The indictment of Trump marks an extraordinary development after years of investigations into his business, political and personal dealings.

Even as Trump pursues his latest White House campaign, there is no question an indictment gives fodder to his longstanding critics.

Besides the hush money inquiry in New York, Trump faces criminal investigations in Atlanta and Washington over his efforts to undo the results of the 2020 election.

A Justice Department special counsel has also been presenting evidence before a grand jury investigating Trump’s possession of hundreds of classified documents at his Florida estate.

It is not clear when those investigations will end or whether they might result in criminal charges, but they will continue regardless of what happens in New York, underscoring the ongoing gravity – and broad geographic scope – of the legal challenges facing the former president.

Eric Tucker, Michael R. Sisak, Jill Colvin and Michelle L. Price of the Associated Press contributed to this report

Trump is set to deliver remarks at his Mar-a-Lago club after returning from Manhattan, where he is expected to voluntarily turn himself in.

Trump, a 2024 presidential candidate, is facing multiple charges of falsifying business records, including at least one felony offense, in the indictment handed down by a Manhattan grand jury last week, people familiar with the matter have told NBC and The Associated Press. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss information that is not yet public.

Trump’s indictment came after a grand jury probe into hush money paid during the 2016 presidential campaign to squelch allegations of an extramarital sexual encounter. The indictment itself has remained sealed, as is standard in New York before an arraignment.

In television interviews Sunday, Trump’s lawyer Joe Tacopina said he would pore over the indictment once he gets it, then devise the next legal steps. Any chatter on whether he would ask for a venue change or file a motion to dismiss is premature, he said, though it’s common for defense attorneys to do both.

“We’re way too early to start deciding what motions we’re going to file or not file, and we do need to see the indictment and get to work,” he told ABC’s “This Week.” “I mean, look, this is the beginning.”

The former president is expected to fly to New York on Monday and stay at his Trump Tower in Manhattan overnight ahead of his planned arraignment Tuesday, according to two people familiar with his plans who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss Trump’s travel.

Donald Trump Apr 1

Trump Indictment Ends Decades of Perceived Invincibility

Trump Indictment Mar 31

Trump Indicted on About 30 Counts of Document Fraud-Related Charges

He is expected to report to the courthouse early Tuesday morning, where he will be fingerprinted and have a mug shot taken. Investigators will complete arrest paperwork and check to see if he has any outstanding criminal charges or warrants.

Once the booking is complete, Trump will appear before a judge for an afternoon arraignment. That will take place in the same Manhattan courtroom where his company was tried and convicted of tax fraud in December and where disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein’s rape trial took place.

Officials from the Secret Service and the New York Police Department toured the courthouse Friday and met about security plans.

The unprecedented Manhattan grand jury indictment against former President Donald Trump contains about 30 counts of document fraud-related charges, two sources familiar with the matter said Friday, though a source with direct knowledge of the court proceedings says prosecutors aren’t expected to seek its unsealing until next week.

It’s at the discretion of District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office as far as when they seek to unseal the charges. Should prosecutors seek that before Tuesday, when sources say Trump is expected to appear in Manhattan Criminal Court in person for arraignment, they would have to file an unsealing application. A judge would then have to consider it.

At this point, it appears Bragg will follow normal procedure and wait for the indictment to be unsealed on Tuesday, the sources said. The situation is fluid, sources say, and subject to change.

According to two senior officials familiar with the matter, plans as of now are for Trump to fly to LaGuardia Airport Monday night, then stay overnight at Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue. He is expected to be driven down to the courthouse in lower Manhattan around 1 p.m. ahead of a court appearance at 2:15 p.m., officials said.

Sources say Trump will be arraigned on the 15^th floor, Part 59 in the Manhattan Criminal Court building, the same courtroom where Harvey Weinstein was tried and convicted of rape and sexual assault in February 2020.

It is directly across the hall from the courtroom where Trump Corp and Trump Payroll Corp were found guilty in December 2022 of criminal tax fraud, conspiracy and falsifying business records. Attorney Susan Necheles defended the Trump Organization in that case and is expected to appear alongside Trump when he is arraigned.

While he is in the courthouse, officials said there are no plans to handcuff Trump or put him in a holding cell. He will be brought to a back area where he will be fingerprinted, but officials said there is no photograph machine in that area, so there are currently no plans to take a mugshot of the former president. However, there is a chance a machine could be moved there by Tuesday, though some officials would rather not run the risk of having the photo leaked.

Joe Tacopina, an attorney for Trump, confirmed to NBC News that Bragg’s office had initially wanted Trump to turn himself in Friday, but Tacopoina said he and other Trump aides rebuffed the ask. Tacopoina said Secret Service needed more time to prepare, a claim Secret Service denies, according to NBC News sources.

Those sources said the Secret Service detail was prepared to transport Trump to New York at a moment’s notice, saying its members are simply responding to orders based on agreed-upon dates between the Trump defense team and Bragg’s office. Bragg’s office confirmed late Thursday that his team had reached out to Trump’s to coordinate his surrender. No arraignment date has been set officially. Thus, the grand jury indictment remains sealed for now.

Officials said that “dozens and dozens” of Secret Service agents are involved in the security for the event from the airport to the courthouse and Trump Tower, but they are reluctant to provide specifics on numbers of personnel. Trump is expected to head back to LaGuardia afterward for a planned fight out, but his travel plans after the arraignment are not set in stone — and while it is unlikely, the judge could set travel restrictions or conditions.

The Secret Service indicated they are “prepared for any option that the judge says” and also prepared if the Trump team wishes to make a statement where the former president would have a more visible role.

Some experts have said they believe Trump could be charged with falsifying business records, which can be a misdemeanor or a felony under New York law. To secure a conviction on the felony charge, prosecutors would have to prove that records were falsified with the intention of committing or concealing a second crime.

It’s not clear what prosecutors may allege as the second crime.

If Trump indeed turns himself in, expect a carefully choreographed and relatively quick process and release without bail (as is common in New York) — and with a focus on security. There is no playbook for booking an ex-president with U.S. Secret Service protection. Agents are tasked with the protection of former presidents unless and until they say they don’t need it. Trump has kept his detail, so agents would need to be by his side at all times.

It’s unlikely Trump would be paraded across a sidewalk in handcuffs or through a crowded court hallway, given security concerns, experts say. For most defendants, that would be typical, as would fingerprinting and a mugshot.

Bragg himself didn’t comment as he left his office Thursday night. NYPD has ordered all its officers to be in uniform and prepare to deploy accordingly as of Friday.

Trump Denial

Trump’s team has denied wrongdoing throughout the investigation and vociferously did so again Friday. He shouted in all capital letters on his social media platform that the Democrats have “LIED, CHEATED” and more to damage his 2024 presidential run.

Tacopina said during TV interviews Friday he would “very aggressively” challenge the legal validity of the Manhattan grand jury indictment. Trump himself, on his social media platform, trained his ire on a new target, complaining that the judge expected to handle the case, Juan Manuel Merchan, “HATES ME.”

Merchan also presided over the case of the Trump Organization’s former chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, as well as the tax fraud trial in which the family’s company was found guilty on 17 counts including charges of conspiracy and falsifying business records.

Tacopina has accused prosecutors of “distorting laws” to try to take down the former president. He has described Trump as a victim of extortion who had to pay the money because the allegations were going to be embarrassing to him “regardless of the campaign.”

In a lengthy statement of his own on Thursday in which he again denied the allegations, Trump echoed the claims his attorneys made earlier Thursday, calling the case “Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history.”

“The Democrats have lied, cheated and stolen in their obsession with trying to ‘Get Trump,’ but now they’ve done the unthinkable – indicting a completely innocent person in an act of blatant Election Interference,” Trump’s statement reads. “The Democrats have cheated countless times over the decades, including spying on my campaign, but weaponizing our justice system to punish a political opponent, who just so happens to be a President of the United States and by far the leading Republican candidate for President, has never happened before. Ever.”

As he has continuously done in the past, Trump once again called the investigation a “Witch-hunt.” He went on to go after Bragg, who he called “a disgrace…doing Joe Biden’s dirty work, ignoring the murders and burglaries and assaults he should be focused on.”

Legally, an indictment does not block Trump from running in 2024, as he has repeatedly vowed to do. Prosecutors have not said whether they intended to seek prison time in the event of a conviction, a development that also wouldn’t prevent Trump from seeking or winning the presidency.

A Brief Review of the Hush Money Case

The grand jury spent weeks meeting in secret to probe Trump’s involvement in a $130,000 payment made in 2016 to the porn actor Stormy Daniels to keep her from going public about a sexual encounter she said she had with him years earlier. Trump lawyer Michael Cohen paid Daniels, through a shell company before being reimbursed by Trump, whose company, the Trump Organization, logged the reimbursements as legal expenses.

Earlier in 2016, Cohen also arranged for former Playboy model Karen McDougal to be paid $150,000 by the publisher of the supermarket tabloid The National Enquirer, which then squelched her story.

Trump denies having sex with either woman.

Trump’s company “grossed up” Cohen’s reimbursement for the Daniels payment to defray tax payments, according to federal prosecutors who filed criminal charges against the lawyer in connection with the payments in 2018. In all, Cohen got $360,000 plus a $60,000 bonus, for a total of $420,000.

Cohen pleaded guilty to violating federal campaign finance law in connection with the payments. Federal prosecutors say the payments amounted to illegal, unreported assistance to Trump’s campaign. But they declined to file charges against Trump himself.

More Coverage

Donald Trump Mar 30

What Other Legal Troubles Donald Trump Faces Besides NY Hush Money Payments Case

Trump Indictment Mar 30

Donald Trump Indicted by Manhattan Grand Jury in Stormy Daniels Hush Money Case

Trump Indictment Mar 30

What Does Indict Mean? Things to Know About Donald Trump Indictment

D.C. police said Thursday that they’re not aware of any planned pro-Trump protests or demonstrations and are working closely with federal partners, including U.S. Capitol Police.

“[The Metropolitan Police Department] will continue to monitor and will plan accordingly with their federal law enforcement partners to ensure the safety of DC residents & visitors,” the agency said. “No change in department posture at this time.”

Preparations for potential protests began earlier this month. Short metal fencing was already standing around the U.S. Capitol complex when news of the indictment broke. The short, bike rack-style fences are set to remain up for the foreseeable future, but pedestrian access is still allowed.

D.C. Police Chief Robert Contee has said MPD is staying in communication with federal partners and seeking access to any relevant intelligence.

“Members of the Metropolitan Police Department stand ready to make sure that people who want to express their First Amendment rights — that they certainly can here in the nation’s capital,” Contee said earlier this month.

Trump is the first commander-in-chief in American history to be criminally indicted.

The District and its law enforcement agencies are well-versed in responding to First Amendment protests. But there still is the concern that the events of Jan. 6, 2021 — when U.S. Capitol Police were overwhelmed by a pro-Trump mob breaching the Capitol — never happen again.  

Trump was indicted by a Manhatten grand jury, and New York City police have ordered every member of the department to report in full uniform on Friday, NBC New York reports.

The indictment, an extraordinary development after years of investigations into Trump’s business, political and personal dealings, injects the Manhattan district attorney’s office into the heart of a national presidential race.

Arriving at a time of deep political divisions, the charges are likely to reinforce rather than reshape dueling perspectives of those who see accountability as long overdue and those who, like Trump, feel the Republican is being targeted for political purposes by a Democratic prosecutor.

As for his own take on the matter, Trump has previously said charges would actually help him in the 2024 presidential contest. In his response to the indictment, the former president continued attacks on the Manhattan district attorney, repeated claims of a stolen election and once again called the investigation a ‘witch hunt’ in his written statement. Read the Trump’s full response to the indictment here.

Trump Indictment Mar 30

Trump Indictment: A Timeline of Events in the Hush Money Case

Donald Trump Mar 30

What Other Legal Troubles Donald Trump Faces Besides NY Hush Money Payments Case

Trump Indictment Mar 30

What Does Indict Mean? Things to Know About Donald Trump Indictment

Longtime ally Lindsey Graham, senator from South Carolina, said earlier this month that District Attorney Alvin Bragg “has done more to help Donald Trump get elected.” On Thursday, he called the indictment “one of the most irresponsible decisions in American history by any prosecutor.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is said to be strongly considering joining the Republican field, called the indictment “un-American” in a statement Thursday night that pointedly did not mention Trump’s name. He also said in his tweet that Florida will not assist in an extradition request for Trump, although there have been no indications such a thing would be called for.

DeSantis has previously criticized the Trump investigation as politically motivated and “fundamentally wrong.” And in a world where GOP rivals fear Trump’s base, it was big news that DeSantis held off for a days to criticize the potential prosecutor in the case, saying the case is “an example of pursuing a political agenda.”

The governor slammed Bragg as a “Soros-funded prosecutor,” referring to Democratic campaign backer George Soros, but offered little in defense of Trump, throwing one of his first jabs at the former president in a quip likely to intensify their rivalry. DeSantis said he personally doesn’t “know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some kind of alleged affair.”

In a social media post, Trump has called DeSantis “Ron de Sanctimonious,” and in a backhanded comment said the governor “will probably find out about FALSE ACCUSATIONS & FAKE STORIES sometime in the future, as he gets older, wiser, and better known, when he’s unfairly and illegally attacked by a woman, even classmates that are “underage” (or possibly a man!” He posted a photo of a much-younger DeSantis appearing to attend a party with students during his time as a teacher.

Comments by other potential rivals, eager to convince voters it is time to move on from the former president but also contending with the fact that he remains the most popular figure in the party:

— During an earlier visit to Iowa, former Vice President Mike Pence came to Trump’s defense, calling the idea of indicting a former president “deeply troubling.” During a television interview Thursday night, he blasted the indictment further, saying is was “an outrage” and that “it appears to millions of Americans to be nothing more than a political prosecution that’s driven by a prosecutor who literally ran for office on a pledge to indict the former president.

When asked if the indictment should disqualify Trump from running for president again, Pence declined to answer the question. He has previously said he would prefer a Republican alternative to Trump in the 2024 presidential election, stating that there are “better choices” out there.

— Asa Hutchinson, the former Arkansas governor mulling his own 2024 bid, previously said he didn’t expect Trump to withdraw from the race after an indictment, though that would be the “right” thing to do. On Thursday, Hutchinson called it “a dark day for America,” while adding it is important that Trump be presumed innocent while the case plays out.

— Gov. Glenn Youngkin, the Virginia Republican often mentioned as a possible presidential candidate, on Twitter called it “beyond belief” that Bragg had sought to indict Trump “for pure political gain.”

— Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, a declared candidate who also served as Trump’s U.N. ambassador, has said that Bragg’s case is an attempt at scoring “political points,” adding, “You never want to condone any sort of prosecution that’s being politicized.” She said in a tweet on Thursday that the prosecution “is more about revenge than it is about justice.”

— Biotech investor Vivek Ramaswamy, who has already announced that he is running for president, said the indictment threatens to undermine public trust in the electoral and justice systems.

“At the end of the day, not one single person’s opinion of him will be any different after indictment than it was before,” veteran GOP operative Terry Sullivan said in an interview. “All of his perceived negatives are already baked into his name ID with voters.”

Trump was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury, prosecutors and defense lawyers said Thursday, after an investigation into payments made during his 2016 presidential campaign to silence claims of an extramarital sexual encounter. The indictment itself remains sealed for now in the first criminal case ever brought against a former U.S. president.

Trump — a Republican who assailed the case Thursday as a Democratic prosecutor’s “political persecution” of “a completely innocent person” — is expected to turn himself into authorities next week, according to a person familiar with the matter. The person said the details of his surrender are still being worked out.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office said it had contacted Trump’s lawyer to coordinate his surrender and arraignment.

For any New York defendant, poor or powerful, answering criminal charges means being fingerprinted and photographed, fielding basic questions such as name and birthdate, and getting arraigned. All told, defendants are typically detained for at least several hours.

There can be differences in where the different steps happen, how long they take, whether handcuffs come out and other particulars. A lot depends on the severity of the case and whether defendants arrange to turn themselves in.

But there is no playbook for booking an ex-president with U.S. Secret Service protection. Agents are tasked with the protection of former presidents unless and until they say they don’t need it. Trump has kept his detail, so agents would need to be by his side at all times.

“This would be a unique outlier,” said Jeremy Saland, a defense lawyer and former prosecutor in Manhattan.

If Trump indeed turns himself in, expect a carefully choreographed and relatively quick process and release without bail (as is common in New York) — and with a focus on security. A former president isn’t likely to be paraded in cuffs across a sidewalk or through a crowded courthouse hallway, Saland predicts.

“It’s a public forum, but safety is also paramount,” he notes.

Donald Trump Mar 30

What Other Legal Troubles Donald Trump Faces Besides NY Hush Money Payments Case

Trump Indictment Mar 30

Donald Trump Indicted by Manhattan Grand Jury in Stormy Daniels Hush Money Case

Trump Indictment Mar 30

What Does Indict Mean? Things to Know About Donald Trump Indictment

If defendants are notified of an indictment or an impending arrest, they often arrange to turn themselves in. Doing so can smooth the process and strengthen arguments for bail by showing that they aren’t evading the case.

For example, when the former finance chief of Trump’s company, Allen Weisselberg, was indicted in Manhattan on tax fraud charges in 2021, he was able to turn himself in at a courthouse side door before normal workday hours.

The aim was “to reduce the likelihood that the surrender would become a media frenzy,” his lawyers wrote in a subsequent court filing.

Weisselberg arrived around 6:15 a.m. and was taken to what his attorneys described as a “holding room” for booking, an interview about potential release, and other procedures. To pass the time, he’d brought a book — “Chicken Soup for the Baseball Fan’s Soul” — and his lawyers supplied him with a snack, a face mask, breath mints and other items, according to the filing.

Weisselberg was arraigned and released about eight hours later, after being walked into a courtroom past a phalanx of news cameras in the hallway. (Weisselberg eventually pleaded guilty to dodging taxes on job perks including a free apartment and school tuition for his grandchildren.)

Disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, on the other hand, turned himself in at a Manhattan police station in 2018 to face rape and criminal sex act charges. He was briefly in a stationhouse cell, flipping through a biography of famed film director Elia Kazan, before being led out in handcuffs and taken to court under the gaze of journalists on the sidewalk — and other suspects in a courthouse booking area, where some hollered, “Yo, Harvey!”

Within about three hours after his surrender, Weinstein was arraigned and released on electronic monitoring and $1 million bail. (Weinstein was eventually convicted; his appeal is now before New York’s highest court. He’s also been convicted on similar charges in Los Angeles.)

But even a scheduled arrest is still an arrest. Defendants have to give up cellphones and some other personal items for safekeeping (and, in some cases, potential evidence), and lawyers generally aren’t allowed to accompany their clients through the process. Attorneys often advise traveling light and staying mum.

“Don’t make any statements. Because you think you’re helping your situation, but they can just use your statements against you — because you get caught up in the moment, you get nervous,” says Gianni Karmily, a defense lawyer who practices in New York City and on Long Island.

Many arrests in New York City aren’t preplanned. That can be a very different experience for defendants, even prominent ones.

When a hotel housekeeper accused then-International Monetary Fund chief and potential French presidential contender Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexually assaulting her in 2011, he was pulled off a plane at Kennedy Airport.

Strauss-Kahn, who said his encounter with the woman was consensual, spent about 36 hours being questioned, arrested, undergoing various exams and waiting in such spots as a courthouse holding pen before being arraigned and jailed without bail. After several days at the city’s notorious Rikers Island jail, Strauss-Kahn was allowed out on $1 million bail, under house arrest with armed guards.

Manhattan prosecutors eventually dropped the criminal case against Strauss-Kahn, who later settled a civil suit brought by his accuser.

Associated Press writers Michael R. Sisak in New York and Colleen Long in Washington contributed to this report

And who is the judge that Trump and attorneys for both sides can expect to likely hear the case? That would be Juan Merchan, who has been an acting justice with the State Supreme Court since 2009.

Merchan, who started his career as an assistant district attorney in Manhattan, now has 16 years experience on the bench. The New York Times reports Merchan was born in Bogotá, Colombia, came to the U.S. when he was 6 years old and grew up in Jackson Heights, Queens.

Donald Trump Mar 30

What Other Legal Troubles Donald Trump Faces Besides NY Hush Money Payments Case

Trump Indictment Mar 30

Donald Trump Indicted by Manhattan Grand Jury in Stormy Daniels Hush Money Case

Trump Indictment Mar 30

What Does Indict Mean? Things to Know About Donald Trump Indictment

Merchan worked in the State Attorney General’s office before he was appointed to the Bronx Family Court bench in 2006.

It would not be the first high-profile trial that Merchan has overseen. Back in 2012, he presided over the case of the woman known as the “soccer mom madam” — who made international headlines for allegedly running an Upper East Side call girl ring for millionaires.

More recently, Merchan also presided over the case of the Trump Organization’s former chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, as well as the tax fraud trial in which the family’s company was found guilty on 17 counts including charges of conspiracy and falsifying business records.

Weisselberg pleaded guilty to 15 counts and testified against his employer, admitting he was involved in a scheme to defraud federal, state and city tax authorities. He was sentenced to five months in jail.

In January, the 75-year-old former CFO was handcuffed and led out of a Manhattan courtroom after a brief sentencing hearing before Merchan. He was transported to Rikers Island jail, where he is serving his sentence.

In fact, New York was until recently seen as an unlikely contender to be the first place to prosecute Trump, who continues to face long-running investigations in Atlanta and Washington that could also result in charges. Unlike those inquiries, the Manhattan case concerns conduct by Trump that occurred before he became president and is unrelated to his much-publicized efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

Trump faces investigations regarding his businesses, his time in office (including his efforts to stay in office) as well as his time since leaving the White House. Trump, a Republican, has denied any wrongdoing and says he is being targeted by Democrats trying to keep him from reclaiming the White House.

Some Democrats say the case in Manhattan pales in comparison to the more-serious potential charges Trump could face.

“If I were the grand wizard, I would have said to wait on this one. With all the crimes he has likely committed, and for this to go first, gives him the ability to be the martyr that he wants to be,” said political analyst Dan Gerstein.

Here’s a breakdown of some of his legal battles elsewhere, and a couple others in New York.

MAR-A-LAGO

Of all the inquiries Trump faces, a Justice Department probe into the retention of top secret government documents at his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, could present the most significant legal jeopardy, with investigators saying in court filings last year that they were examining potential violations of multiple felony statutes.

As part of that inquiry, agents and prosecutors have spent months interviewing multiple people close to Trump, including an aide who was seen on surveillance video moving boxes of documents at the property, as they examine whether Trump or his representatives sought to obstruct the classified documents probe.

Federal officials obtained a search warrant last year to search his home, convincing a Florida judge there was probable cause of criminal activity there, including the willful retention of national defense information – a statute that by itself carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison.

A grand jury in Washington has been hearing evidence in the investigation. Prosecutors last year granted limited immunity to one close Trump ally to secure his testimony and more recently were able to compel the testimony of a Trump lawyer said to have drafted a document stating that a diligent search for classified records had been conducted.

Attorney General Merrick Garland in November named Jack Smith, a veteran war crimes prosecutor who previously led the Justice Department’s public integrity section, to serve as special counsel for the Mar-a-Lago investigation and key aspects of a separate probe into efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

2020 ELECTION AND JAN. 6 INSURRECTION

Smith has also been leading a team of feds investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection as well as efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the election that Trump falsely claimed was stolen.

Federal prosecutors have been especially focused on a scheme by Trump allies to put forth a slate of fake presidential electors in key battleground states who falsely declared that Trump, not Democrat Joe Biden, had won the 2020 election. They have issued subpoenas to a number of state Republican Party chairs.

Federal prosecutors have brought multiple Trump administration officials before that grand jury for questioning, including the former Trump White House counsel and a top aide to Vice President Mike Pence. A federal judge recently ruled that Pence would have to testify before the grand jury, though his team was still deciding Thursday whether to appeal.

In a sign of the expanding nature of the investigation, election officials in multiple states whose results were disputed by Trump have received subpoenas asking for past communications with or involving Trump and his campaign aides.

A House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol has recommended that the Justice Department bring criminal charges against Trump and associates who helped him launch a wide-ranging pressure campaign to try to overturn his 2020 election loss.

The DOJ is looking into the events of that day after having received the report from a congressional committee that stated Trump should be held responsible.

Trump Indictment Mar 30

Donald Trump Indicted by Manhattan Grand Jury in Stormy Daniels Hush Money Case

Trump Indictment Mar 30

What Does Indict Mean? Things to Know About Donald Trump Indictment

Alvin Bragg Mar 22

Who Is Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan District Attorney Investigating Trump? What to Know

GEORGIA

After his 2020 election loss, Trump called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and urged him to “find 11,780 votes” — just enough to overtake Biden and overturn Trump’s narrow loss in the state.

That Jan. 2 phone call was part of a monthslong effort by a special grand jury in Atlanta investigating whether crimes were committed as part of the pressure campaign to overturn Trump’s defeat.

Portions of a report from a special grand jury in Georgia that investigated whether Trump and his allies illegally interfered in the 2020 election in Georgia shows jurors believed “one or more witnesses” committed perjury and urged local prosecutors to bring charges. The former president never testified, but the report didn’t foreclose the possibility of other charges.

Among those questioned by the special grand jury were Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor and Trump lawyer; Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp.

Prosecutors have advised Giuliani and Georgia Republicans who served as fake electors that they are at risk of being indicted. The fake electors signed a certificate asserting Trump had won the election and declaring themselves the state’s electors, even though Biden had won the state and a slate of Democratic electors had already been certified.

Trump and his allies have denied wrongdoing, and he has repeatedly described his phone call to Raffensperger as “perfect.” The former president’s attorneys filed a motion earlier this month asking that the special grand jury report looking into the 2020 election be “quashed and expunged.”

The 51-page filing asks that all evidence stemming from the special grand jury be deemed unconstitutional. It also requests that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis be disqualified from further investigation of the matter.

It’s up to Willis, a Democrat, to decide whether to convene a regular grand jury and pursue criminal charges in the case. The foreperson on the special grand jury that investigated the case at Willis’ request indicated publicly in February that the panel had recommended multiple indictments.

Among the incidents Willis reviewed was Trump’s Jan. 2021 phone call with Raffensperger.

ELSEWHERE IN NEW YORK

New York Attorney General Letitia James has sued Trump and the Trump Organization, alleging they misled banks and tax authorities about the value of assets like golf courses and skyscrapers to get loans and tax benefits.

That lawsuit could lead to civil penalties against the company if the Democratic attorney general prevails. She is seeking a $250 million fine and a ban on Trump doing business in New York. Manhattan prosecutors investigated the same alleged conduct but did not pursue criminal charges.

A civil trial is scheduled in state court for October. In the meantime, a judge has appointed an independent monitor to watch the company.

In a separate civil case in federal court in New York, Trump has been accused of raping a former magazine columnist in a dressing room in the mid-1990s. That case is scheduled to go to trial on April 25.

Trump has repeatedly insisted he never met the columnist, E. Jean Carroll, at the store and has dismissed her rape claims, saying, “Physically she’s not my type.” During an October deposition, he misidentified a decades-old photograph of her as one of his ex-wives.

In a case that has already been resolved, the Trump Organization was convicted of tax fraud in December for helping executives dodge taxes on extravagant perks such as Manhattan apartments and luxury cars. Trump himself was not on trial. The company was fined $1.6 million.

This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser.

Below is a timeline of events tracking the long-winding case through years of legal wrangling and up to this week’s charges.

An indictment of Trump, who is seeking the White House again in 2024, is an unprecedented moment in American history, the first of its kind against a former U.S. president.

Law enforcement officials had been bracing for protests and the possibility of violence after Trump called on his supporters to protest ahead of a possible indictment, though little in the ways of protests had taken shape.

Mar 30

Trump Indicted Live Updates: Ex-President Expected to Appear Before Judge Tuesday

Donald Trump Mar 30

Donald Trump Responds to Indictment News With Lengthy List of Familiar Claims

Trump Indictment Mar 30

Donald Trump Indicted by Manhattan Grand Jury in Stormy Daniels Hush Money Case

The indictment could also test a Republican Party already divided over whether to support Trump next year, in part due to his efforts to undermine his 2020 election loss.

Trump denies any wrongdoing and has slammed the Manhattan district attorney’s office probe as politically motivated.

Here’s a deeper look into the hush-money probe, grand jury process and more:

WHAT WAS THE PROBE ABOUT?

The grand jury had been probing Trump’s involvement in a $130,000 payment made in 2016 to the porn actor Stormy Daniels to keep her from going public about a sexual encounter she said she had with him years earlier. Trump lawyer Michael Cohen paid Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, through a shell company before being reimbursed by Trump, whose company, the Trump Organization, logged the reimbursements as legal expenses.

Earlier in 2016, Cohen also arranged for former Playboy model Karen McDougal to be paid $150,000 by the publisher of the supermarket tabloid The National Enquirer, which then squelched her story in a journalistically dubious practice known as “catch-and-kill.”

Trump denies having sex with either woman.

Trump’s company “grossed up” Cohen’s reimbursement for the Daniels payment to defray tax payments, according to federal prosecutors who filed criminal charges against the lawyer in connection with the payments in 2018. In all, Cohen got $360,000 plus a $60,000 bonus, for a total of $420,000.

Cohen pleaded guilty to violating federal campaign finance law in connection with the payments. Federal prosecutors say the payments amounted to illegal, unreported assistance to Trump’s campaign. But they declined to file charges against Trump himself.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s team had been looking at whether Trump or anyone committed crimes in New York state in arranging the payments, or in the way they accounted for them internally at the Trump Organization.

BUT CAN A FORMER PRESIDENT EVEN BE INDICTED?

In a word, yes. Longstanding Justice Department policy prohibits the federal indictment of a sitting president, but Trump, two years out of office, no longer enjoys that legal shield. And the New York case is not a federal probe anyway.

WHAT IS A GRAND JURY?

A grand jury is made up of people drawn from the community, similar to a trial jury. But unlike juries that hear trials, grand juries don’t decide whether someone is guilty or innocent. They only decide whether there is sufficient evidence for someone to be charged. Grand juries exist in the federal court system and in many states.

Proceedings are closed to the public, including the media. There is no judge present nor anyone representing the accused.

Prosecutors call and question witnesses, and grand jurors can also ask questions. In New York, the person who could be indicted may ask for a certain witness, though it’s up to grand jurors.

New York grand juries have 23 people. At least 16 must be present to hear evidence or deliberate. Twelve have to agree there is enough evidence in order to issue an indictment. The grand jury may also find there is not enough evidence of a crime or direct the prosecutor to file lesser charges.

Centuries-old rules have kept grand juries under wraps to protect the reputations of people who end up not being charged, to encourage reluctant witnesses to testify, to prevent those about to be indicted from fleeing and to guard against outside pressure.

Grand juries have long been criticized as little more than rubber stamps for prosecutors. Former New York Judge Sol Wachtler famously said that prosecutors could convince a grand jury to “indict a ham sandwich.” Defenders of the process say it is a crucial safeguard against politically motivated prosecutions.

INDICTMENT VS. ARRAIGNMENT — WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?

According to the Department of Justice, when a person gets indicted, they “are given formal notice that it is believed that they committed a crime.” That indictment informs them of the charges they face and other basic information.

An arraignment is the accused individual’s first appearance in front of a judge to face the charges. The person will be fully informed of the charges and what rights they have going forward (rights to a trial, an attorney, etc.). They can then enter a plea of guilty, not guilty or no contest (otherwise known as Nolo Contendere).

Before a plea is entered however, the accused person and the prosecutors can reach a plea agreement to settle the case before a trial starts. Otherwise, the defendant pleads not guilty or no contest, and a trial date will be set.

A spokesperson for the Manhattan DA’s office said that they have been in contact with the Trump team to coordinate his surrender for the arraignment. The date of the arraignment is not yet known.

WHAT HAS TRUMP BEEN CHARGED WITH?

Unclear as of now. Legal experts say a case could be made that Trump falsified business records by logging Cohen’s reimbursement for the Daniels payment as legal fees. But that’s only a misdemeanor under New York law — unless prosecutors could prove he falsified records to conceal another crime.

Mark Pomerantz, who led the investigation under then-District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., wrote in his recent book “People vs. Donald Trump: An Inside Account” that in 2021, he looked into whether Trump could be charged with money laundering or if Trump had been somehow extorted.

David Shapiro, a fraud risk and financial crimes specialist and former FBI special agent, said a potential case against Trump could be “especially difficult” when it comes to proving his intent and knowledge of wrongdoing.

“He’s loud, he’s brash, so proving that he had specific intent to fraud, one is almost left with the idea that, ‘well, if he has that specific intent of fraud, he has it all of the time, because that’s his personality,’” said Shapiro, a lecturer at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office has declined to comment on the investigation.

WHO HAS TESTIFIED IN THIS CASE?

One of the final witnesses being called was Robert Costello, who was once a legal adviser to Cohen, the government’s key witness in the investigation.

The men have since had a falling out, and Costello has indicated that he has information he believes would undercut the credibility of Cohen and contradict his current incriminating statements about Trump.

Costello contacted a lawyer for Trump saying he had information that could be exculpatory for Trump, according to a person familiar with the matter who insisted on anonymity to discuss secret legal proceedings. The lawyer brought it to the attention of the district attorney’s office, which last week subpoenaed Costello’s law firm for records and invited him to testify.

He was at the building where the jurors were meeting on Monday, invited by prosecutors, ensuring the grand jury had an opportunity to consider testimony or evidence that could weaken the case for indicting.

Trump was also been invited to testify, but his lawyer has said the former president has no plans to participate.

Members of Trump’s inner circle, including his former political adviser Kellyanne Conway and former spokesperson Hope Hicks, have met with prosecutors in recent weeks. 

Among others: Pecker, the former National Enquirer publisher, was spotted going into the building where the grand jury is meeting, as well as Trump Organization insiders including the company’s senior vice president and controller Jeffrey McConney.

Prosecutors are still interested in Weisselberg’s insider knowledge about the hush-money arrangements. The 75-year-old ex-CFO is due to be released from a five-month jail sentence on April 19. There’s no indication that he’s keen to cooperate against his former boss.

HOW WERE THE PAYMENTS MADE?

Cohen paid porn actress Stormy Daniels $130,000 through a shell company Cohen set up. He was then reimbursed by Trump, whose company logged the reimbursements as legal expenses.

Earlier in 2016, Cohen also arranged for former Playboy model Karen McDougal to be paid $150,000 by the publisher of the supermarket tabloid the National Enquirer, which squelched her story in a journalistically dubious practice known as “catch-and-kill.”

Trump’s company, the Trump Organization, “grossed up” Cohen’s reimbursement for the Daniels payment for “tax purposes,” according to federal prosecutors who filed criminal charges against the lawyer in connection with the payments in 2018.

Cohen got $360,000 plus a $60,000 bonus, for a total of $420,000.

Cohen pleaded guilty to violating federal campaign finance law in connection with the payments. Federal prosecutors say the payments amounted to illegal, unreported assistance to Trump’s campaign. But they declined to file charges against Trump himself.

WHAT IS TRUMP’S INVOLVEMENT?

Cohen says Trump directed him to arrange the Daniels payment.

Cohen also made recordings of a conversation in which he and Trump spoke about the arrangement to pay McDougal through the National Enquirer.

At one point in the recording, Cohen told Trump, “I need to open up a company for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend, David,” a reference to David Pecker, who ran the Enquirer’s parent company at the time.

Cohen said he had already spoken with the Trump Organization’s longtime finance chief, Allen Weisselberg, on “how to set the whole thing up.”

Trump then said: “What do we got to pay for this? One-fifty?”

Today, Trump characterizes the attempts to get him to pay money to the women to keep them quiet as “extortion.”

WHAT’S NEXT IN NEW YORK?

It’s unclear. Trump declared in a social media post over the weekend that he expects to be taken into custody on Tuesday and urged supporters to protest his possible arrest. However, there has been no public announcement of any time frame for the grand jury’s secret work. A Trump spokesperson said there has been no notification from Bragg’s office.

Law enforcement officials have been making security preparations for the possibility of an indictment in coming days or weeks — or a court appearance by the president himself.

WILL TRUMP BE HANDCUFFED?

Anna Cominsky, a New York Law School professor and former criminal defense lawyer, said that her best guess is that Trump’s lawyers will work out a deal with the prosecutor’s office to avoid the spectacle of an indictment with handcuffs and a perp walk.

“There is a great likelihood that he will self-surrender, which means you won’t see a 5 a.m. knock on Mar-a-Lago’s door, officers swarming his house and arresting him and bringing him out in handcuffs,” she said. “He would appear at the prosecutor’s office voluntarily and then be processed, fingerprinted and his picture taken. ”

Cominsky is less sure that Trump would want to avoid a public appearance for his arraignment, which would come within two days of an indictment. At that time a judge lists the charges and asks if the defendant pleads guilty or not guilty.

“He doesn’t shy away from the chaos, so he may want to use this to his advantage,” she said.

IF CONVICTED, COULD TRUMP FACE PRISON TIME ?

This all depends on what charges the former president faces, which again, are not yet clear.

WAIT, WASN’T THERE A FEDERAL INVESTIGATION ABOUT THIS ALREADY?

Yes, there was. Federal prosecutors entered into a non-prosecution agreement with the National Enquirer’s owner, which admitted paying McDougal to help Trump, but they declined to seek a criminal charge against the then-sitting president.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office opened its own investigation into the payments in 2019 and has revisited it several times since while expanding the probe into Trump’s business dealings and other topics.

So far, the only charges have been against Weisselberg, who pleaded guilty, and the Trump Organization, which was convicted in December of an unrelated offense: scheming to dodge taxes on company-paid perks such as free apartments and cars for executives.

WHAT ABOUT THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS?

The hush-money payments and Cohen’s reimbursements happened more than six years ago. New York’s statute of limitations for most felonies is five years. For misdemeanors, it’s just two years.

Does that mean prosecutors have run out of time? Trump thinks so. In social media posts, he insists that the statute of limitations “long ago expired,” calling the matter “old news.”

But that’s not always how the law works. In New York, the clock can stop on the statute of limitations when a potential defendant is continuously outside the state. Trump visited New York rarely over the four years of his presidency and now lives mostly in Florida and New Jersey.

Practically speaking, though, the passage of time could affect the case in other ways. Memories fade, and evidence and records get lost or destroyed.

“The power of the case — the surprise factor, the shock value,” also fades, Shapiro said, meaning a jury might be less impressed by allegations that have been public for so long.

Associated Press writers Eric Tucker in Washington, Anthony Izaguirre from Tallahassee, Florida, and Bernard Condon and Michael R. Sisak in New York contributed to this report.

Former President Donald Trump has been indicted by a Manhattan grand jury on criminal charges following an investigation into hush money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels, according to prosecutors and defense attorneys.

For weeks, the grand jury had been hearing testimony in the case of the payments Trump allegedly authorized during his 2016 presidential campaign to keep claims of an extramarital affair quiet. It was not clear what charge or charges Trump faces in the indictment, as Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has not shared any details on the matter.

The twice-impeached Trump is the first commander-in-chief in American history to be criminally indicted.

Mar 30

Trump Indicted Live Updates: Ex-President Expected to Appear Before Judge Tuesday

Trump Indictment Mar 30

What Does Indict Mean? Things to Know About Donald Trump Indictment

Alvin Bragg Mar 22

Who Is Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan District Attorney Investigating Trump? What to Know

After the grand jury returned the indictment — which remained sealed as of late Thursday night — a spokesperson for the DA’s office said that they had contacted Trump’s legal team to coordinate his surrender before the arraignment. Trump attorneys told NBC News that the former president is expected to be arraigned on Tuesday, while two sources familiar with the matter said that the tentative plan is for Trump to appear before Judge Juan Merchan after 2:15 p.m. that day.

DA Bragg left his office Thursday evening without commenting. Trump’s defense attorneys said in a statement that “He did not commit any crime. We will vigorously fight this political prosecution in Court.”

In a lengthy statement of his own in which he again denied the allegations, Trump echoed the claims his attorneys made, calling the case “Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history.”

“The Democrats have lied, cheated and stolen in their obsession with trying to ‘Get Trump,’ but now they’ve done the unthinkable – indicting a completely innocent person in an act of blatant Election Interference,” Trump’s statement reads. “The Democrats have cheated countless times over the decades, including spying on my campaign, but weaponizing our justice system to punish a political opponent, who just so happens to be a President of the United States and by far the leading Republican candidate for President, has never happened before. Ever.”

As he has continuously done in the past, Trump once again called the investigation a “Witch-hunt.” He went on to go after Bragg, who he called “a disgrace…doing Joe Biden’s dirty work, ignoring the murders and burglaries and assaults he should be focused on.”

Prosecutors have been investigating since Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen admitted in 2018 that he paid Daniels $130,000 before the presidential election to silence her claims about an alleged sexual encounter the two had years earlier.

The developments may have significant implications for the 2024 presidential election. The 76-year-old Trump has insisted he would continue to seek the Republican nomination even if the grand jury voted to indict.

The timing of the indictment appeared to come as a surprise to Trump campaign officials following news reports that criminal charges were likely weeks away. The former president was at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida estate, on Thursday and filmed an interview with a conservative commentator earlier in the day.

Legally, an indictment does not block him from running. Prosecutors have not said whether they intended to seek prison time in the event of a conviction, a development that also wouldn’t prevent Trump from seeking or winning the presidency.

For a man whose presidency was defined by one obliterated norm after another, the indictment sets up yet another never-before-seen spectacle — a former president having his fingerprints and mug shot taken, and then facing arraignment. For security reasons, his booking is expected to be carefully choreographed to avoid crowds inside or outside the courthouse.

Trump had as vociferously equated the relative silence out of the Manhattan grand jury to “NO CASE.” He taunted Bragg on his social media platform for much of the past few weeks, saying that Bragg “is doing the work of Anarchists and the Devil.”

Earlier came a statement that read, “Total disarray in the Manhattan D.A.’s Office. Tremendous dissension and chaos because they have NO CASE, and many of the honest people in the Office know it, and want to do the right thing. They think back to the Late, Great, Bob Morgenthau, the best ever, and know what he would have done. JUSTICE FOR ALL!”

Trump previously told supporters he anticipated his own arrest, and urged loyalists to “protest, protest, protest!” New York City security plans have been underway accordingly.

His message seemed designed to preempt a formal announcement from prosecutors and to galvanize outrage from his base of supporters in advance of widely anticipated charges. A later post used stronger phrasing.

“IT’S TIME!!!” Trump wrote. “WE JUST CAN’T ALLOW THIS ANYMORE. THEY’RE KILLING OUR NATION AS WE SIT BACK & WATCH. WE MUST SAVE AMERICA!PROTEST, PROTEST, PROTEST!!!”

It all evoked, in foreboding ways, the rhetoric he used shortly before the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

The Trump team also didn’t let Thursday’s moment pass without trying to make some money off it. Moments after media outlets began to report the indictment, his campaign was out with a fundraising missive calling for donations ahead of a Friday deadline when first-quarter figures are made public. Trump said Democrats will be watching to see if the “witch hunt out of Manhattan weakened our movement.”

DA Bragg, whose office had been investigating whether Trump may have broken any state laws in connection with the alleged payments, sent an internal memo ahead of the indictment seeking to assure his staff of their safety. Bragg said his office would not be intimidated, nor would it tolerate threats to the “rule of law.”

Still, local law enforcement officials are aware of potential public safety ramifications and have been preparing accordingly, out of an abundance of caution. The city once again ramped up security measures on Thursday ahead of the vote from the grand jury, and the NYPD told its 36,000 officers to be fully mobilized and ready to respond to any potential protests or unrest.

Trump himself did not testify before the grand jury, though Bragg did give him the opportunity to do so. However, a lawyer closely allied with the former president briefly testified in an effort to undercut Cohen’s credibility.

His defense team has previously said Trump would surrender, either to the NYPD or at Bragg’s office, which avoids an arrest.

The attorney for Daniels said that the indictment “is no cause for joy. The hard work and conscientiousness of the grand jurors must be respected. Now let truth and justice prevail. No one is above the law.” The adult film star took a notably different tone in a tweet, saying “I have so many messages coming in that I can’t respond … also don’t want to spill my champagne.”

Cohen also issued a comment after news of the indictment came down, saying that he “took no pride” in what had happened.

“However, I do take solace in validating the adage that no one is above the law; not even a former President. Today’s indictment is not the end of this chapter; but rather, just the beginning,” the statement for Cohen read. “Now that the charges have been filed, it is better for the case to let the indictment speak for itself.”

President Joe Biden had not yet commented on the indictment, and it was not believed that the White House would issue any sort of comment.

Trump’s Legal Woes: Beyond the Indictment

The indictment of Trump marks an extraordinary development after years of investigations into his business, political and personal dealings.

Even as Trump pursues his latest White House campaign, there is no question an indictment gives fodder to his longstanding critics.

Besides the hush money inquiry in New York, Trump faces criminal investigations in Atlanta and Washington over his efforts to undo the results of the 2020 election.

A Justice Department special counsel has also been presenting evidence before a grand jury investigating Trump’s possession of hundreds of classified documents at his Florida estate. It is not clear when those investigations will end or whether they might result in criminal charges, but they will continue regardless of what happens in New York, underscoring the ongoing gravity – and broad geographic scope – of the legal challenges facing the former president.

Trump’s post on Saturday echoes one made last summer when he broke the news on Truth Social that the FBI was searching his Florida home as part of an investigation into the possible mishandling of classified documents.

News of that search sparked a flood of contributions to Trump’s political operation, and on Saturday, Trump sent out a series of fundraising emails to his supporters, including one that claimed, “I’m not worried in the slightest.”

After his post, Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy decried any plans to prosecute Trump as an “outrageous abuse of power by a radical DA” whom he claimed was pursuing “political vengeance.” Rep. Elise Stefanik, the third-ranking House Republican, issued a statement with a similar sentiment.

The grand jury had heard from witnesses, including former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, who says he orchestrated payments in 2016 to two women to silence them about sexual encounters they said they had with Trump a decade earlier.

Trump has repeatedly denied the encounters occurred, says he did nothing wrong, and has cast the investigation as a “witch hunt” by a Democratic prosecutor bent on sabotaging the Republican’s 2024 campaign.

Trump also has labeled Bragg, who is Black, a “racist,” and has accused the prosecutor of letting crime in the city run amok while he has focused on Trump. New York remains one of the safest cities in the country.

Daniels and at least two former Trump aides — onetime political adviser Kellyanne Conway and former spokesperson Hope Hicks — are among witnesses who have met with prosecutors in recent weeks.

Eric Tucker, Michael R. Sisak, Jill Colvin and Michelle L. Price of the Associate Press contributed to this report

New York City is gearing up security again for possible action from the grand jury against former President Donald Trump, multiple law enforcement sources familiar with the preparations said Thursday.

Stressing the situational fluidity, the sources said the ramped-up security is related to the Manhattan district attorney’s ongoing investigation into hush money payments involving porn star Stormy Daniels. Increased security presence is described as prudent with the grand jury sitting today, but it is unclear if they heard the Trump case Thursday or another matter.

It’s also unclear if the grand jury will be asked to act before they go on a planned break next month. They’re expected to convene again Monday and Wednesday.

The NYPD previously directed officers of all ranks to wear uniforms on patrol and prepare to deploy as necessary. But late last week, the NYPD rescinded its directive that every officer report for duty in uniform – in case of a potential Donald Trump indictment or related protests – as situations changed and the grand jury heard from another witness.

David Pecker was the witness at Monday’s grand jury hearing, NBC News confirms. He is the former CEO of American Media and publisher of National Enquirer. This was his second appearance before the grand jury.

The grand jury is typically scheduled to meet Monday and Wednesday. They’ve been secretly hearing evidence for months in the case. News 4 first reported that security plans were in development in the event an indictment could come, yet a day later, Trump told the globe he expected to be arrested on Tuesday, and no arrest came.

The 23 Manhattanites on the grand jury have been weighing charges against Trump but they were not expected to vote on a possible indictment in the hush money case this week, though the schedule could change, three sources familiar with the matter said Tuesday.

Early last week, they heard testimony from Trump ally Robert Costello, who sought to discredit key prosecution witness Michael Cohen, Trump’s former attorney and fixer, as “totally unreliable.”

It’s unclear if the testimony from Costello, who had waived immunity and thus could be prosecuted if he were to perjure himself, factored into Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s grand jury plans over these last few days.

Trump has vociferously equated the relative silence out of the Manhattan grand jury to “NO CASE.” He taunted Bragg on his social media platform for much of the past few weeks, saying that Bragg “is doing the work of Anarchists and the Devil.”

Earlier came a statement that read, “Total disarray in the Manhattan D.A.’s Office. Tremendous dissension and chaos because they have NO CASE, and many of the honest people in the Office know it, and want to do the right thing. They think back to the Late, Great, Bob Morgenthau, the best ever, and know what he would have done. JUSTICE FOR ALL!”

Bragg’s office has declined comment, saying it cannot speak on grand jury matters.

It’s unclear if any potential organized actions could intensify should the grand jury opt to indict Trump, which would be the first indictment of a sitting or former U.S. president in history. But with the pall of the Jan. 6 insurrection still looming large, the NYPD, and its law enforcement partners at all levels of government, are preparing accordingly.

What Happened? And What Happens Now?

Although the grand jury paused this week in its review of the case, former prosecutor Daniel Horwitz said he doesn’t believe the delay is due to second thoughts about the credibility of Cohen, who has admitted to and served time in prison for lying about the payoff to the porn star.

“There’s a lot of criticism, questions about Michael Cohen. You know lots of white collar cases — almost every white collar case is made with insiders,” Horwitz said.

Cohen says he is telling the truth about Trump and falsified documents to try to cover up the hush-money payments — which are not illegal. However, falsifying business records to protect a presidential campaign might be.

“After reviewing everything, if the DA still believes the evidence warrants the charge, then I would expect Bragg to file those charges,” said trial attorney Robert Gottlieb.

Meanwhile, the world continues to wait.

Even if the Manhattan grand jury were to discuss Trump on Monday, it wouldn’t guarantee a same-day potential indictment vote. Legal experts said it’s a complicated case and every detail needs to be reviewed before proceeding.

Columbia law professor John Coffee suggested the law itself could be a problem for prosecutors because even if the district attorney can prove Trump falsely accounted for hush money to Daniels, that would only amount to a misdemeanor. Winning a low-level felony conviction could require connecting that to a federal crime. 

“The New York statute says it’s a misdemeanor if you just falsify the records. It’s a felony if you falsify the record in order to conceal a crime. But if the crime is a federal crime that is a different ball of wax,” said Coffee. “It is not at all clear that NY state has jurisdiction or authority to find a violation of a federal crime.”

Federal prosecutors had said the payments amounted to illegal, unreported assistance to Trump’s campaign. But they declined to file charges against Trump himself. The ex-president has denied all allegations against him.

The Manhattan grand jury that has been weighing charges against former President Donald Trump is not expected to vote on a possible indictment in the hush money case this week, though the schedule could change, three sources familiar with the matter said.

The sources said that as of Tuesday afternoon, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is not expected to convene the 23-member panel again until Thursday, when they say the group is expected to address matters other than Trump and Stormy Daniels. They did the same last Thursday after a scheduled meeting for the day before was abruptly called off. No reason was given at that time.

A day ago, the grand jury heard from David Pecker, former CEO of American Media and publisher of National Enquirer. It was his second appearance before the grand jury. Why appear again? 

Pecker’s testimony could corroborate Michael Cohen’s claim that the hush money payments were not just personal, but political, and that they were intended to catch and kill a story that could have impacted Trump’s election.

In 2018, American Media Inc. admitted to paying $150,000 in hush money to ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal and adult-film star Stormy Daniels. A statement of admitted facts said that AMI’s “principal purpose in making the payment was to suppress the woman’s story so as to prevent it from influencing the election.

Federal prosecutors previously granted Pecker immunity in their investigation into Cohen. A week before Pecker’s latest appearance, Trump ally Robert Costello, who waived immunity, sought to discredit Cohen before the grand jury.

The president had told the globe he expected to be arrested last Tuesday. Seven days later, no arrest has come, nor has an indictment vote. And the world continues to wait.

Heightened concerns over potentially violent protests in the wake of the attack on the U.S. Capitol last year also appear to have eased a bit. Two senior police officials said Monday that an NYPD order directing all officers report for duty in uniform in case of a possible indictment or related protest chaos was rescinded.

The department continues to monitor events in Lower Manhattan. Protest activity has been largely muted in the absence of any movement on the case by Bragg or the grand jury, which has been secretly hearing evidence for months in the case.

It’s unclear if the testimony from Costello, who could be prosecuted if he were to perjure himself, factored into Bragg’s grand jury plans over these last few days.

Trump has vociferously equated the relative silence out of the Manhattan grand jury to “NO CASE.” He taunted Bragg on his social media platform for much of last week and continued to do so on Truth Social early Monday.

Bragg’s office, which received threatening letters in the mail potentially related to the case, declined comment.

It’s unclear if any possible organized actions could intensify should the grand jury opt to indict Trump, which would be the first indictment of a sitting or former U.S. president in history. But with the pall of the Jan. 6, 2022 insurrection still looming large, the NYPD, and its law enforcement partners at all levels of government, prepared accordingly.

What Happened? And What Happens Now?

Although the grand jury paused last week in its review of the case, former prosecutor Daniel Horwitz said he doesn’t believe the delay was due to second thoughts about the credibility of Cohen, who has admitted to and served time in prison for lying about the payoff to the porn star.

“There’s a lot of criticism, questions about Michael Cohen. You know, lots of white collar cases — almost every white collar case is made with insiders,” Horwitz said.

Cohen says he is telling the truth about Trump and falsified documents to try to cover up the hush-money payments — which are not illegal. However, falsifying business records to protect a presidential campaign might be.

“After reviewing everything, if the DA still believes the evidence warrants the charge, then I would expect Bragg to file those charges,” said trial attorney Robert Gottlieb.

Columbia law professor John Coffee suggested the law itself could be a problem for prosecutors because even if the district attorney can prove Trump falsely accounted for hush money to Daniels, that would only amount to a misdemeanor. Winning a low-level felony conviction could require connecting that to a federal crime. 

“The New York statute says it’s a misdemeanor if you just falsify the records. It’s a felony if you falsify the record in order to conceal a crime. But if the crime is a federal crime that is a different ball of wax,” said Coffee. “It is not at all clear that NY state has jurisdiction or authority to find a violation of a federal crime.”

Federal prosecutors had said the payments amounted to illegal, unreported assistance to Trump’s campaign. But they declined to file charges against Trump himself. The ex-president has denied all allegations against him.

The Manhattan district attorney is planning to bring the grand jury weighing potential charges against former President Donald Trump back to continue their work on Thursday, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

It comes after DA Alvin Bragg instructed the members of the grand jury to stay home on Wednesday rather than reconvene as planned, sources told NBC New York. The reason for the delay was unclear, including whether it may involve another potential witness to be heard.

Bragg’s office declined comment later in the day, saying it couldn’t speak on grand jury matters. The proceedings have been shrouded in secrecy.

On Monday, the grand jury, which had according to multiple sources been prepared as of Friday to issue an indictment decision as early as this week, heard from Trump ally Robert Costello, who sought to discredit the prosecution’s key witness: former fixer and personal attorney Michael Cohen.

NBC News confirmed prosecutors had been upset with Cohen’s appearance on Ari Melber’s MSNBC show and reached out to his attorney to tell him Cohen should not make any further TV appearances.

The latest developments come five days after Trump announced to the world he expected to be arrested and urged his supporters to “PROTEST, PROTEST, PROTEST” in New York City, where throngs of fully uniformed NYPD, Secret Service and other officers secured the Manhattan Criminal Court perimeter ahead of a possible grand jury indictment.

Protests have been intermittent and largely muted thus far. A few members of the New York Young Republican’s Club donned MAGA hats and rallied outside Manhattan Criminal Court earlier this week, and a barricaded Trump Tower in midtown Manhattan has been the scene of a handful of impromptu demonstrations.

It’s unclear if any potential organized actions could intensify should the grand jury opt to indict Trump, which would be the first indictment of a sitting or former U.S. president in history. But with the pall of the Jan. 6 insurrection still looming large, the NYPD, and its law enforcement partners at all levels of government, are preparing accordingly.

NYPD officers of every rank were ordered to wear their uniforms and prepare for deployment starting Tuesday, according to an internal memo obtained by News 4.

The memo, sent by the commanding officer of the NYPD’s operations division, instructed all uniformed service members to be mindful of protocol around public disorder and be prepared for mobilization at any time while on duty.

Law enforcement sources said intel teams are closely monitoring social media for protests, including intentional acts to slow down traffic or disrupt daily life across the city. Thus far, nothing of the sort has taken place in the city.

The police department, Secret Service, court officers and FBI continue to meet to discuss security. Two senior officials said the Secret Service has yet to do a security review of the 100 Centre Street courthouse where Trump could face a judge if he is indicted. Entrances, booking areas, hallways, courtroom, surrounding streets and more would be included in that kind of advanced security review, which would only be done if and/or when a potential indictment comes down.

During the meetings between law enforcement agencies, officials have discussed various possible routes of arrival for Trump should he be flown to New York to face any charges. LaGuardia and Teterboro airports have been mentioned as possibilities, officials said, along with varying routes to and from the courthouse.

As of the latest developments, there have been no plans or requests for Trump — who has been at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and hasn’t commented on the grand jury delay — to travel to the city this week, according to several sources. It doesn’t appear a virtual arraignment would be likely in the event of an indictment, given what would be the historic significance of such a proceeding.

Trump is reportedly concerned about optics if he is indicted. The New York Times cited friends and associates who say the former president is ready for his perp walk, and even mused openly about whether he should smile for the assembled media. He has reportedly pondered how the public would react and is said to have described the potential spectacle as a fun experience.

Friends and associates of Trump told the Times that no one is quite sure whether his remarks are bravado or genuine resignation about what lies ahead.

What Happens Next: Could Trump Still Run? And More Questions

Bragg’s office has been investigating alleged hush money paid to women, including Stormy Daniels, who alleged sexual encounters with the former president. Trump declined to testify before the grand jury. Potential charges include falsifying business records connected to the payments made during his 2016 campaign.

It’s one of several intensifying probes as Trump mounts his third presidential run. He has denied any allegations of wrongdoing and accuses prosecutors of engaging in a politically motivated “witch hunt” to damage his campaign.

An indictment wouldn’t stop Trump from keeping his hat in the 2024 ring. There is no prohibition against running while facing criminal charges — or even following conviction. Indeed, convicted felons have run for president before.

If Bragg does secure an indictment, legal experts say there will be a slew of thorny procedural questions about how to provide a fair trial.

“If you are going to go after a person the likes of Donald Trump you better have an unbelievably rock solid case,” said Arthur Aidala, an attorney who has represented big-name clients like Rudy Giuliani, Harvey Weinstein and Meek Mill.

If Trump is charged, Aidala predicts the defense would ask for a change of venue, given the heavily Democrat block from which the jury base would be chosen. Aidala said he doesn’t think a venue change would be granted.

CORRECTION: This story was meant to indicate the Manhattan District Attorney’s apparent dissatisfaction with Michael Cohen’s comments during a recent television appearance on MSNBC. Instead, due to an editing error, it was mistakenly stated that the DA’s dissatisfaction was directed toward comments made during a grand jury appearance. NBC New York regrets the editing error.

The former real estate mogul and one-term president has been under an investigation that was reinvigorated in January when a grand jury began hearing new testimony.

Who is the man leading that investigation?

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, inherited the years-long Trump investigation when he took office in January 2022 and quickly faced criticism — not from Trump, but from holdover prosecutors for backing away from his predecessor’s plans to charge the former president with business-related fraud.

Bragg, however, secured convictions for Trump’s company, the Trump Organization, and his longtime finance chief for an unrelated tax fraud scheme before pivoting to what he’s called the probe’s “next chapter” — bringing fresh scrutiny to the hush money payments, which have been the subject of repeated federal- and state-level inquiries over the last six years.

Bragg, 49, came into office 15 months ago amid what he calls a “perfect storm” of rising crime and political pressure, along with internal strife he was facing over the direction of the Trump investigation.

A Harvard-educated former federal prosecutor, chief deputy state attorney general and civil rights lawyer, Bragg came equipped with legal and management credentials, but not much experience navigating New York City politics.

His courtroom bona fides include prosecuting a rogue FBI agent and overseeing lawsuits against Trump while a high-ranking official at the state attorney general’s office. His life experience includes growing up in Harlem during the 1980s crack cocaine epidemic and being held at gunpoint six times — three times by police.

But shortly after taking office, Republicans and some centrist Democrats were labeling Bragg soft on crime for a “Day One” memo he sent to staff outlining his philosophy on prosecuting — or not prosecuting — certain offenses. Among other things, it said the DA would no longer prosecute some low-level misdemeanor crimes, including subway fare evasion and marijuana possession.

Former U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin, a Republican, campaigned for governor last year partly on a promise to remove the independently elected Bragg from office. The vitriol against Bragg became so rancid — and sometimes racist — friends worried for his safety.

The New York Post put Bragg on its front page 13 times in his first year in office, including five times in his first month, with derisive headlines like “Happy 2022, Criminals!” and “‘Justice’ Gone Mad.”

It became routine for a Post photographer to pepper Bragg with questions when he arrived at the D.A.’s office each morning, which he often ignored. The truth was: while some types of crime increased in Manhattan in 2022, compared to the previous year, there were fewer murders and shootings.

Inside the district attorney’s office, Bragg faced dissent over the direction of the Trump investigation — grievances aired anew last month in a book by a former prosecutor, Mark Pomerantz.

In 2021, Bragg’s predecessor, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., authorized Pomerantz and another top deputy, Carey Dunne, to seek an indictment on charges that Trump exaggerated the worth of his assets in financial statements he gave to lenders. Vance left office before the case was finished, leaving the decision about charges to Bragg.

Donald Trump Mar 19

Manhattan DA Says Attempts to Intimidate Office Won't Be Tolerated After Trump's Call for Protests

Donald Trump Jan 30

NY Grand Jury Examines Alleged Donald Trump-Stormy Daniels Hush Money Payment: Sources

Bragg decided not to proceed immediately, citing concerns about the strength of the case. In a recent statement, he said: “Pomerantz’s plane wasn’t ready for takeoff.”

The delay prompted Pomerantz and Dunne to resign, leading to some speculation that Bragg had given up on pursuing a case against Trump.

Bragg refuted that in a rare public statement last April, writing: “In the long and proud tradition of white-collar prosecutions at the Manhattan D.A.’s Office, we are investigating thoroughly and following the facts without fear or favor.”

Bragg, an old-school lawyer who prefers to let the work speak for itself, has declined to comment publicly about the status of the hush-money investigation or Trump’s bombastic missives. His office has also declined comment.

The former real estate mogul and one-term president has been under an investigation that was reinvigorated in January when a grand jury began hearing new testimony.

Who is the man leading that investigation?

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, inherited the years-long Trump investigation when he took office in January 2022 and quickly faced criticism — not from Trump, but from holdover prosecutors for backing away from his predecessor’s plans to charge the former president with business-related fraud.

Bragg, however, secured convictions for Trump’s company, the Trump Organization, and his longtime finance chief for an unrelated tax fraud scheme before pivoting to what he’s called the probe’s “next chapter” — bringing fresh scrutiny to the hush money payments, which have been the subject of repeated federal- and state-level inquiries over the last six years.

DONALD TRUMP CASE

Mar 30

Trump Indicted Live Updates: Ex-President Expected to Appear Before Judge Tuesday

Trump Indictment Mar 30

Donald Trump Indicted by Manhattan Grand Jury in Stormy Daniels Hush Money Case

Trump Indictment Mar 30

Trump Indictment: A Timeline of Events in the Hush Money Case

Bragg, 49, came into office 15 months ago amid what he calls a “perfect storm” of rising crime and political pressure, along with internal strife he was facing over the direction of the Trump investigation.

A Harvard-educated former federal prosecutor, chief deputy state attorney general and civil rights lawyer, Bragg came equipped with legal and management credentials, but not much experience navigating New York City politics.

His courtroom bona fides include prosecuting a rogue FBI agent and overseeing lawsuits against Trump while a high-ranking official at the state attorney general’s office. His life experience includes growing up in Harlem during the 1980s crack cocaine epidemic and being held at gunpoint six times — three times by police.

But shortly after taking office, Republicans and some centrist Democrats were labeling Bragg soft on crime for a “Day One” memo he sent to staff outlining his philosophy on prosecuting — or not prosecuting — certain offenses. Among other things, it said the DA would no longer prosecute some low-level misdemeanor crimes, including subway fare evasion and marijuana possession.

Former U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin, a Republican, campaigned for governor last year partly on a promise to remove the independently elected Bragg from office. The vitriol against Bragg became so rancid — and sometimes racist — friends worried for his safety.

The New York Post put Bragg on its front page 13 times in his first year in office, including five times in his first month, with derisive headlines like “Happy 2022, Criminals!” and “‘Justice’ Gone Mad.”

It became routine for a Post photographer to pepper Bragg with questions when he arrived at the D.A.’s office each morning, which he often ignored. The truth was: while some types of crime increased in Manhattan in 2022, compared to the previous year, there were fewer murders and shootings.

Inside the district attorney’s office, Bragg faced dissent over the direction of the Trump investigation — grievances aired anew last month in a book by a former prosecutor, Mark Pomerantz.

In 2021, Bragg’s predecessor, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., authorized Pomerantz and another top deputy, Carey Dunne, to seek an indictment on charges that Trump exaggerated the worth of his assets in financial statements he gave to lenders. Vance left office before the case was finished, leaving the decision about charges to Bragg.

Donald Trump Mar 19

Manhattan DA Says Attempts to Intimidate Office Won't Be Tolerated After Trump's Call for Protests

Donald Trump Jan 30

NY Grand Jury Examines Alleged Donald Trump-Stormy Daniels Hush Money Payment: Sources

Bragg decided not to proceed immediately, citing concerns about the strength of the case. In a recent statement, he said: “Pomerantz’s plane wasn’t ready for takeoff.”

The delay prompted Pomerantz and Dunne to resign, leading to some speculation that Bragg had given up on pursuing a case against Trump.

Bragg refuted that in a rare public statement last April, writing: “In the long and proud tradition of white-collar prosecutions at the Manhattan D.A.’s Office, we are investigating thoroughly and following the facts without fear or favor.”

Bragg, an old-school lawyer who prefers to let the work speak for itself, has declined to comment publicly about the status of the hush-money investigation or Trump’s bombastic missives. His office has also declined comment.

BREAKING UPDATE: Manhattan DA Tells Trump Grand Jury to Stay Home Today, Sources Say

It’s been five days since former President Donald Trump announced to the world he expected to be arrested and urged his supporters to “PROTEST, PROTEST, PROTEST” in New York City, where throngs of fully uniformed NYPD, Secret Service and other officers secured the Manhattan Criminal Court perimeter ahead of a possible grand jury indictment.

After an off day Tuesday, that grand jury reconvenes Wednesday afternoon — and all eyes are on Manhattan and its district attorney.

Protests have been intermittent and largely muted thus far. A few members of the New York Young Republican’s Club donned MAGA hats and rallied outside Manhattan Criminal Court earlier this week, and Trump Tower in midtown Manhattan has been the scene of a handful of impromptu demonstrations.

It’s unclear if any potential organized actions could intensify if the grand jury does in fact opt to indict Trump, which would be the first indictment of a sitting or former U.S. president in history, but with the pall of the Jan. 6 insurrection still looming large, the NYPD, and its law enforcement partners at all levels of government, are preparing accordingly.

NYPD officers of every rank were ordered to wear their uniforms and prepare for deployment starting Tuesday, according to an internal memo obtained by News 4.

The memo, sent by the commanding officer of the NYPD’s operations division, instructed all uniformed service members to be mindful of protocol around public disorder and be prepared for mobilization at any time while on duty.

Law enforcement sources said intel teams are closely monitoring social media for protests, including intentional acts to slow down traffic or disrupt daily life across the city. Thus far, nothing of the sort has taken place in the city.

The police department, Secret Service, court officers and FBI continue to meet to discuss security. Two senior officials said the Secret Service has yet to do a security review of the 100 Centre Street courthouse where Trump could face a judge if he is indicted. Entrances, booking areas, hallways, courtroom, surrounding streets and more would be included in that kind of advanced security review, which would only be done if and/or when a potential indictment comes down.

During the meetings between law enforcement agencies, officials have discussed various possible routes of arrival for Trump should he be flown to New York to face any charges. LaGuardia and Teterboro airports have been mentioned as possibilities, officials said, along with varying routes to and from the courthouse.

As of the latest developments, there have been no plans or requests for Trump — who has been at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida — to travel to the city this week, according to several sources. It doesn’t appear a virtual arraignment would be likely in the event of an indictment, given what would be the historic significance of such a proceeding.

What Happens Next: Could Trump Still Run? And More Questions

District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office has been investigating alleged hush money paid to women, including Stormy Daniels, who alleged sexual encounters with the former president. Trump declined to testify before the grand jury. Potential charges include falsifying business records connected to the payments made during his 2016 campaign.

It’s one of several intensifying probes as Trump mounts his third presidential run. He has denied any allegations of wrongdoing and accuses prosecutors of engaging in a politically motivated “witch hunt” to damage his campaign.

An indictment wouldn’t stop Trump from keeping his hat in the 2024 ring. There is no prohibition against running while facing criminal charges — or even following conviction. Indeed, convicted felons have run for president before.

If Bragg does secure an indictment, legal experts say there will be a slew of thorny procedural questions about how to provide a fair trial.

“If you are going to go after a person the likes of Donald Trump you better have an unbelievably rock solid case,” said Arthur Aidala, an attorney who has represented big-name clients like Rudy Giuliani, Harvey Weinstein and Meek Mill.

If Trump is charged, Aidala predicts the defense would ask for a change of venue, given the heavily Democrat block from which the jury base would be chosen. Aidala said he doesn’t think a venue change would be granted.

NYPD officers of every rank were ordered to wear their uniforms and prepare for deployment starting Tuesday, according to an internal memo obtained by News 4, as law enforcement agencies at all levels of government shore up security plans ahead of a potential Donald Trump indictment in Manhattan criminal court this week.

The memo, sent by the commanding officer of the NYPD’s operations division, instructed all uniformed service members to be mindful of protocol around public disorder and be prepared for mobilization at any time while on duty.

It comes days after former President Donald Trump told his supporters he expected to be arrested Tuesday in connection with a Manhattan grand jury investigation into hush money paid to women who alleged sexual encounters with the former president. The 2024 Republican presidential contender called on his base to “PROTEST, PROTEST, PROTEST,” evoking rhetoric similar to that he used shortly before the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

But Trump was not arrested on Tuesday. And as the globe awaited a potential decision out of Manhattan criminal court (a decision is expected soon), early protests appeared largely muted.

Aside from a modest protest that was scheduled for Tuesday at Trump Tower going to the Manhattan district attorney’s office — and a separate small caravan of pro-Trump cars going from Long Island to Lower Manhattan – security officials said they were not aware of any developments that might change the dynamic in the city through at least Wednesday.

Officers erected barricades lining the sidewalk outside Trump Tower and Manhattan Criminal Court Monday, two places where both pro- and anti-Trump demonstrators stopped by throughout the day Tuesday to voice their opinions. Those are likely two of what law enforcement officials say are multiple high-profile locations that the NYPD will cover this week as necessary.

Law enforcement sources said intel teams are closely monitoring social media for any protests, including intentional acts to slow down traffic or disrupt daily life across the city. Thus far, nothing of the sort has taken place.

The police department, Secret Service, court officers and FBI continue to meet to discuss security. Two senior officials said the Secret Service has yet to do a security review of the 100 Centre Street courthouse where Trump could face a judge if he is indicted. Entrances, booking areas, hallways, courtroom, surrounding streets and more would be included in that kind of advanced security review, which would only be done if and/or when an indictment comes down.

During the meetings between law enforcement agencies, officials have discussed various possible routes of arrival for the former president should he be flown to New York to face any charges. La Guardia and Teterboro airports have been mentioned as possibilities, officials said, along with varying routes to and from the courthouse.

As of Monday night, there were no plans or requests for Trump — who has been at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida — to travel to the city this week, according to several sources. The question has been raised whether it would be possible to do a virtual arraignment, sources said, but it does not appear that hypothetical question has been officially asked of the court or the DA’s office directly.

All Eyes on Manhattan District Attorney

District Attorney Alvin Bragg is thought to be eyeing charges in the hush money investigation, and recently offered Trump a chance to testify before the grand jury, which the former president declined. Local law enforcement is bracing for the public safety ramifications of an unprecedented prosecution of a former American president.

Officials stress that the interagency conversations and planning are precautionary in nature because no charges have been filed. The agencies involved include the NYPD, New York State Court Officers, the U.S. Secret Service, the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, officials say.

The New York Young Republican Club organized a protest rally in Lower Manhattan on Monday — and while a couple dozen Trump supporters donning red MAGA hats came out, it was a more subdued affair steps from the courthouse.

“We weren’t sure if we wanted to come out because, obviously, some people don’t like us. We are here to show there is support for President Trump on the bluest area in the country,” said Gavin Wax, of the Young Republican Club.

A few incendiary but isolated posts also surfaced on fringe social media platforms from supporters calling for an armed confrontation with law enforcement at Trump’s Florida estate, but no organized action has emerged thus far.

Some big-name fellow Republicans, such as Sen. Rand Paul and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, have echoed Trump’s criticisms of Bragg, blasting the district attorney for pursuing the case.

“It’s not that we are here to defend Trump, it’s equal Justice in America,” said McCarthy. “This isn’t New York City, this is a borough DA…a local DA playing presidential politics. Don’t you think it’ll happen across the country.”

In response to the criticisms, a spokeswoman for Bragg said “We will not be intimidated by attempts to undermine the justice process, nor will we let baseless accusations deter us from fairly applying the law.”

Trump’s aides and legal team have been preparing for the possibility of an indictment. Should that happen, he would be arrested only if he refused to surrender. Trump’s lawyers have previously said he would follow normal procedure, meaning he would likely agree to surrender at an NYPD precinct or directly to Bragg’s office.

If the DA does secure an indictment, legal experts say there will be a slew of thorny procedural questions about how to provide a fair trial to a former president.

“If you are going to go after a person the likes of Donald Trump you better have an unbelievably rock solid case,” said Arthur Aidala, an attorney who has represented big name clients such as Rudy Giuliani, Harvey Weinstein and Meek Mill. If Trump is charged, Aidala predicts the defense will immediately ask for a change of venue — but he doesn’t think Trump will get one.

“We say you are supposed to be tried by a jury of your peers, but if you look at this particular case, Mr. Trump lost the island of Manhattan — where the jurors would be from — by an overwhelming margin,” said Aidala.

The former president has not been charged with any crime and has repeatedly denied wrongdoing. A lawyer representing Trump in a separate civil suit — in which New York Attorney General Letitia James has alleged the former president and his family falsified business earnings — said that her client “has been completely unfairly treated this is a politicization of our justice system and I think it is a frightening time for our country quite, frankly.”