DM Monitoring
NEW YORK: Former US President Donald Trump surrendered to authorities Tuesday to be arraigned in court in Lower Manhattan, amid massive security.
Trump faces charges stemming from an investigation that has centered on hush money payments to adult-film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election to conceal an alleged long-ago sexual encounter.
As he arrived, Trump posted on social media that the experience is “SURREAL,” adding, “WOW, they are going to ARREST ME. Can’t believe this is happening in America.”
Meanwhile, Trump supporters and detractors held duelling protests outside the courthouse and district attorney’s office in Manhattan ahead of Trump’s appearance, creating a chaotic scene.
Following his court appearance, Trump plans to return to Florida and make public remarks from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach on Tuesday night.
Tuesday’s proceeding follows a long-running probe of Trump’s role in paying Daniels $130,000 shortly before the 2016 election. Here are the key players in the drama.
Trump is facing historic legal scrutiny for a former president in an array of investigations in multiple jurisdictions, even as he pursues a 2024 bid to return to the White House. He is the first former U.S. president to be indicted.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Tuesday that Donald Trump’s arraignment was “not our focus today” and declined repeatedly to discuss the case.
“Our focus right now is on the American people, and I’m just not going to comment on any ongoing case,” Jean-Pierre told reporters.
She noted that the White House condemns “any form of violence.”
The former president will likely double down on those attacks tonight, when he delivers remarks at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida at 8.15pm ET.
Donald Trump waved to the assembled crowd as he arrived at the Manhattan courthouse where he has been arrested and will soon be arraigned.
Hundreds of journalists, security personnel and protesters have gathered outside the Manhattan criminal court to witness the unprecedented spectacle of a former US president surrendering himself to authorities.
One of Donald Trump’s former White House aides also described the experience of watching him sur-render to New York authorities as “surreal”.
Alyssa Farah Griffin, Trump’s former White House director of strategic communications who has se-verely criticized the former president over his role in the deadly January 6 insurrection, said Trump is now “the most alone [he] has been in a long time”.
“He’s not flanked by aides, lawyers, body men & so on,” Griffin said on Twitter. “He’s face to face with the American legal system that has caught up with him.”
