Nation awaits unveiling of criminal charges against Trump at historic arraignment

NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump’s return to New York City continued this week with the news media in a frenzy, demonstrators poised to protest and a new chapter in history being written before the nation’s eyes.

Trump, 76, is expected to appear before State Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan in Manhattan around 2:15 p.m. Tuesday on still-unknown criminal charges stemming from prosecutors’ long-running investigation into his business dealings. He will be the first current or former U.S. president ever in that position.

Five pool photographers will be allowed inside the courtroom for the arraignment, Merchan ruled late Monday. Video cameras will be confined to hallways outside the courtroom, and reporters won’t be allowed to bring laptops or other electronics inside.

The charges, expected to remain under seal until Trump appears in court, are believed to relate to his notorious hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Trump is expected to face multiple charges, including at least one felony related to business fraud, but it’s unclear whether they all relate to the hush money. The indictment stems from an investigation by the Manhattan DA’s office spanning more than four years.

Former President Trump touched down in NYC ahead of a history-making appearance tomorrow before a New York State judge.

The charges are expected to be related to hush money payments.

He has denied any wrongdoing.@GarrettHaake reports. pic.twitter.com/wTMA2PwXjp

— NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt (@NBCNightlyNews) April 3, 2023

The New York Police Department and Secret Service awaited Trump on Monday as he landed in Queens at around 3:28 p.m. via Mar-a-Lago, heading to his Trump Tower residence with a motorcade. He was greeted by an equal amount of supporters and protesters behind barricades.

Trump, who is running for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, had no comment but waved twice to media gathered at his eponymous tower on Fifth Avenue before entering through a side entrance on East 56th Street.

Meanwhile, local authorities prepared for protests planned for Tuesday.

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., said she’s holding a protest in the park across the street from the courthouse hours before Trump appears. The provocative Georgia Republican, who on Sunday shared her conspiracy theory with CBS’s “60 Minutes” that Democrats are pedophiles, is a staunch Trump supporter.

New York Mayor Eric Adams had a message for Taylor Greene, warning her to “be on your best behavior.”

“While there may be some rabble rousers thinking about coming to our city tomorrow, our message is clear and simple: Control yourselves,” he said at a City Hall press conference. “New York City’s our home — not a playground for your misplaced anger.”

The mayor said the NYPD did not know of any specific threats ahead of Tuesday’s arraignment.

Trump is expected to arrive at the DA’s offices in the lower Manhattan courthouse at 100 Centre St. several hours before appearing before the judge. There, authorities will fill out arrest paperwork, get his fingerprints taken and possibly a mug shot photo, too. That won’t be made public unless he shares it or it’s leaked.

Criminal defendants are usually handcuffed and kept in a courthouse jail cell upon surrender, though Trump’s lawyers said they don’t anticipate he will be. Armed Secret Service agents will accompany him at all times, and court officials plan to halt all other proceedings while he’s in the courthouse, sources familiar with the arrangements told the New York Daily News.

Once he’s finished being booked, authorities will bring Trump to the courtroom for his arraignment, where he’ll hear the charges for the first time and enter a plea. Though he doesn’t yet know what he’s being charged with, Trump’s legal team said he plans to plead not guilty.

The charges against Trump are expected to be nonviolent and non-bail-eligible. Merchan is not expected to find he poses a risk of flight, meaning the former president will most likely be released on his own recognizance. Prosecutors may ask the judge to impose other restrictions, possibly relating to travel, as Trump fights his case.

Once the indictment has been unsealed and Trump has answered to the charges, Merchan will give him and his lawyers and the prosecution a date to return to court. Trump’s attorneys have indicated they plan to file motions to have the case thrown out of court and moved to a different venue.

Once all is said and done, Trump plans to return to his Sunshine State digs to hold a press conference.

Media organizations covering the case have asked Merchan to unseal the indictment before the proceeding. Bragg’s office has taken no position on the media’s requests while Trump’s lawyers have opposed them, citing security risks.

Reporters for scores of local, national and international outlets began queuing outside the courts shortly after 2 p.m. Monday, a full 24 hours before Trump was expected to appear.

Local reporters spent their shifts waiting in line at the north end of Collect Pond Park while most national outlets paid for professional line-sitters. Several news photographers snapped shots of their line-bound colleagues without much action from the former president’s supporters.

A group of four Trump supporters walked into the plaza in front of the courthouse Monday evening, one in a MAGA hat waving a “Trump 2020″ flag. As has been the case for two weeks, the display was dwarfed by a media presence that included at least a dozen TV satellite trucks, twice as many news photographers and some 40 journalists lining up to secure a courtroom seat for the arraignment.

Trump has aggressively gone after Bragg on social media since learning of his impending indictment — prompting Manhattan’s top prosecutor to receive a flood of racist emails and death threats — and called on his supporters to protest his arrest.

In addition to the lawyers he’s already retained in the criminal case, Trump will be represented by Todd Blanche. The former federal prosecutor represented Trump’s onetime campaign manager, Paul Manafort, in his Manhattan case, which was tossed on grounds of double jeopardy.

Trump’s lawyer Joe Tacopina brushed off rumors Blanche’s addition to the case meant he was no longer part of the team, telling the Daily News, “when the bell rings … I will be doing the major crosses and summations.”

“That’s why he hired me,” Tacopina said.