Donald Trump turned himself in Tuesday (04) for a historic New York court hearing held amid tight security and global media frenzy.
The Republican billionaire became the first American president in history to face criminal charges.
The 76-year-old was expected to plead not guilty to a host of charges related to hush money paid to a porn star ahead of the 2016 election that brought him to power.
"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 after flying from Florida.
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.
Trump claims he is the victim of "political persecution" -- but is also using the court case to energize his support base and raise millions of dollars for his bid to reclaim the White House next year.
Trump was indicted last week by a grand jury in the case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, an elected Democrat.
The charges revolve around the investigation of $130,000 paid to adult film actress Stormy Daniels just days before Trump's election win.
Trump's former lawyer and aide Michael Cohen, who has since turned against his ex-boss, says he arranged the payment to Daniels in exchange for her silence about a tryst she says she had with Trump in
Trump, whose third wife Melania had recently given birth at the time, denies the affair.
Trump pleads not guilty
According to latest reports, Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony criminal charges of falsifying business records in Manhattan criminal court Tuesday afternoon.
Prosecutors alleged that Trump sought to undermine the integrity of the 2016 election through a hush money scheme with payments made to women who claimed they had extramarital affairs with Trump.
Trump was part of an unlawful plan to suppress negative information, including an illegal payment of $130,000 that was ordered by the defendant to suppress the negative information that would hurt his campaign, prosecutors alleged.
Trump “repeatedly and fraudulently falsified New York business records to conceal criminal conduct that hid damaging information from the voting public during the 2016 presidential election,” according to the charging documents.
(AFP)
