Donald Trump has landed in New York ahead of his court appearance on criminal charges related to his role in hush money payments to a porn star.
The former US president, yesterday, made his way to the Trump Tower in Manhattan, where he would spend the night before attending court today, BBC reported.
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The exact charges he faces would be disclosed in full at the hearing, at around 14:15 local time today.
Trump is the first US president in history to be charged with a crime but has repeatedly denied wrongdoing.
“On Tuesday morning I will be going to, believe it or not, the Courthouse,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform on Sunday. “America was not supposed to be this way!”
Trump flew in to New York’s LaGuardia Airport aboard his private Boeing 757 plane and was expected to spend the rest of Monday inside his former New York home with legal advisers.
He would travel to the Manhattan Criminal Courts Building, in Lower Manhattan, with a large Secret Service detail on Tuesday and surrender voluntarily for his arraignment.
Trump would be fingerprinted, as per standard arrest procedure, but it remains unclear whether he would be photographed.
He would then appear before a judge who would read the indictment – the set of charges – to him. His lawyers have already said he will plead not guilty.
One source told the BBC’s US partner CBS News that Trump faces a felony charge over falsifying business records. Other US media reported there were approximately 30 counts in his indictment.
The former president was expected to be released on bail and to return to his Florida home Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday evening, where he plans to deliver remarks at 20:15 local time.
Ahead of Trump’s arrival in New York, security measures were beefed up at Trump Tower and outside the courthouse.
Law enforcement agencies – including the FBI, New York police and court officers, and the Secret Service – were said to be coordinating on security, in anticipation of any scenario.
At a press conference earlier on Monday, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said while there were no specific threats against the city, officials were prepared.
“While there may be some rabble rousers thinking about coming to our city tomorrow,” he said, “our message is clear and simple: control yourselves.”
Trump was last week indicted by a Manhattan grand jury, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter – the first time in American history that a current or former president has faced criminal charges.
But in a swift reaction, Trump had released a statement in response to the indictment claiming it was “Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history.”
The former President faces more than 30 counts related to business fraud the indictment, according to two sources familiar with the case
The indictment had been filed under seal and would be announced in the coming days. The charges are not publicly known at this time, one source told CNN.
The DA’s office had been investigating the former president in connection with his alleged role in a hush money payment scheme and cover-up involving adult film star Stormy Daniels that dates to the 2016 presidential election.
Manhattan grand jury had voted to indict Trump.
The decision sent shockwaves across the country, pushing the American political system – which has never seen one of its ex-leaders confronted with criminal charges, let alone while running again for president – into uncharted waters.
The legal action against Trump jolted his 2024 presidential campaign into a new phase – where the former president has vowed to keep running in the face of criminal charges.
Trump had frequently called the various investigations surrounding him a “witch hunt,” attempting to sway public opinion on them by casting himself as a victim of what he’s claimed are political probes led by Democratic prosecutors.
