Donald Trump on Tuesday pleaded not guilty inside a packed New York courtroom as he became the first American president to be arrested on criminal charges, which have already upended the 2024 White House campaign.
With a stern glare to waiting press, the 76-year-old former president walked into a Manhattan courtroom for the historic hearing where he was officially slapped with 34 criminal counts.
Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges, which reportedly include the felony of conspiracy and stem from hush money paid to a former porn star during the tycoon’s 2016 election campaign, to keep quiet over an alleged affair.
Trump was expected to speak at length later including at a campaign-style event after the native New Yorker flies back to his estate in Florida.
In a spectacle playing out on live television — with rival protesters rallying outside — the hearing marked a watershed moment for the US criminal and political system the year before an election in which Trump leads the race to be the Republican nominee.
“Seems so SURREAL — WOW, they are going to ARREST ME,” Trump posted on his Truth Social app as he headed to the courthouse from Trump Tower, where he spent the night before the hearing.
“Can’t believe this is happening in America. MAGA!” The twice-impeached Republican is the first sitting or former American president to be criminally indicted — a development that has propelled the United States into uncharted political waters.
Police lined the streets while helicopters buzzed in the skies as Trump’s motorcade made the short drive to court, a journey given wall-to-wall live coverage on US networks although cameras were not allowed for the hearing itself.
Trump was not subjected to a “perp walk” — in which a defendant is escorted in handcuffs past media cameras.
But the former president was believed to have undergone the standard booking procedure of being fingerprinted — and potentially photographed, which would result in an all-time famous mug shot — at the Manhattan District Attorney’s office.
