Former President Donald Trump is being arraigned in court Tuesday afternoon after surrendering to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office earlier in the afternoon.
The former president of the United States, and the leading Republican presidential candidate for 2024, was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury Thursday after a years-long investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
The former president is being arraigned before Judge Juan Merchan, the trial judge presiding over the case, in the courtroom on the 15th floor of 100 Center Street in New York City.
Trump was not handcuffed, as some are during an arraignment, after making arrangements with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. Detectives within the office handled the arrest of the former president.
Former US President Donald Trump speaks during a recent rally at the Waco Regional Airport. ((Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images))
Law enforcement agencies, including the US Secret Service, New York Police Department, FBI, New York State court officers and the DA’s office, met Friday afternoon to finalize details about the logistics and security of Trump’s arrest.
TRUMP INDICATED AFTER MANHATTAN DA PROBE FOR HUSH MONEY PAYMENTS
The unprecedented arraignment and indictment of the former president comes after Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has been investigating Trump for hush money payments made leading up to the 2016 presidential election.
These include the $130,000 payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, and the $150,000 payment made to former Playboy model Karen McDougall, Both women were paid for their silence on alleged affairs with Trump — affairs Trump has repeatedly denied.
Those payments had been investigated by the US Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York and by the Federal Election Commission.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – MARCH 30: Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is seen departing the Manhattan Courthouse on March 30, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images) (Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)
Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York opted out of charging Trump related to the Daniels payment in 2019. The Federal Election Commission also tossed its investigation into the matter in 2021.
Trump has slammed the DA’s investigation and the indictment as “Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history.”
“From the time I came down the golden escalator at Trump Tower, and even before I was sworn in as your President of the United States, the Radical Left Democrats—the enemy of the hard-working men and women of this country—have been engaged in a witch-hunt to destroy the Make America Great Again movement,” Trump said last week.
“You remember it just like I do: Russia, Russia, Russia; the Mueller Hoax; Ukraine, Ukraine, Ukraine; Impeachment Hoax 1; Impeachment Hoax 2; the illegal and unconstitutional Mar-a-Lago raid; and now this,” Trump said, referring to the investigations that clouded his presidency.
“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 said. “Never before in our Nation’s history has this been done.”
TRUMP TO BE ARRAIGNED TUESDAY WITHOUT HANDCUFFS, SOURCES SAY
He slammed Bragg as a “disgrace” and said he was “hand-picked and funded by George Soros.”
Then-candidate Donald Trump with Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump at the National Republican Convention in 2016. ((Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images))
“Rather than stop the unprecedented crime wave taking over New York City, he’s doing Joe Biden’s dirty work, ignoring the murders and burglaries and assaults he should be focused on,” he said. “This is how Bragg spends his time!”
“I believe this witch-hunt will backfire massively on Joe Biden,” Trump added.
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The investigation into Trump was opened in 2019 by then-Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance. The probe was focused on possible bank, insurance and tax fraud. The case initially involved financial dealings of Trump’s Manhattan properties, including his flagship Fifth Avenue building, Trump Tower, and the valuation of his 213-acre estate Seven Springs in Westchester.
Last year, the investigation led to tax fraud charges against The Trump Organization and its finance chief Allen Weisselberg.