Trump heads to New York for court surrender amid tight security

Former US President Donald Trump is set to fly from Florida to New York City on Monday, ahead of his scheduled arraignment related to hush money paid to a porn star before the 2016 election, as security tightens in Manhattan.

Trump, the first former US president to face criminal charges, is due to be arraigned, fingerprinted and photographed at the downtown Manhattan courthouse on Tuesday. His lawyers have said he will enter a plea of not guilty.

The specific charges included in the grand jury indictment have not been disclosed; Tuesday's arraignment marks Trump's first appearance in court in the case.

In a social media post late on Sunday, Trump said he planned to leave his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach at noon for the Trump Tower in Manhattan before heading to the courthouse on Tuesday morning.

A court official said the arraignment was planned for 2:15 p.m. (1815 GMT) on Tuesday. Trump then will return to Florida and deliver remarks at Mar-a-Lago at 8:15 p.m. on Tuesday (0015 GMT on Wednesday), his office said.

Trump is expected to appear before Justice Juan Merchan, the judge who also presided over a criminal trial last year in which Trump's real estate company was convicted of tax fraud. Trump himself was not charged in that case.

Trump wrote that Merchan "HATES ME" on social media on Friday and has also attacked the prosecutor on the case, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

That could lead to further legal peril for Trump, said Bragg's predecessor, Cyrus Vance.

"I was disturbed by the inappropriate, extremely personal and ad hominem attacks against the district attorney and Judge Merchan," Vance said.

A court official said that the judge will decide on Monday whether to allow cameras and video in the courtroom.

New York police over the weekend began erecting barricades along the edge of the sidewalks around Trump Tower and the Manhattan Criminal Court building downtown.

Demonstrations are expected at those sites and police vowed to be prepared.

Other courtrooms on the courthouse's higher floors will be shut down before the arraignment as part of the security precautions, a court official said.

US Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene on Sunday urged Trump supporters to join her at a protest near the courthouse on Tuesday. "They’re not coming after President Trump, they’re coming after us, he’s just in their way," she wrote on social media.

They’re not coming after President Trump, they’re coming after us, he’s just in their way.Join me and the @NYYRC in New York City this Tuesday as we exercise our First Amendment right and protest the unprecedented political persecution of President Trump.RSVP to join me:… pic.twitter.com/qsKA3xjDSV

— Marjorie Taylor Greene (@mtgreenee) April 2, 2023

Trump lawyers hope to dismiss

Before the indictment, the grand jury heard evidence about a $130,000 payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in the waning days of the 2016 presidential campaign. Daniels has said she was paid to keep silent about a sexual encounter she had with Trump at a Lake Tahoe hotel in 2006. Trump denies the affair.

Trump, 76, served as president from 2017 to 2021 and in November launched a bid to regain the presidency in 2024, aiming to deny Democratic President Joe Biden a second term in office.

The indictment may have boosted his candidacy, at least in the short term.

"Now I am absolutely voting for Trump," said Larry White, 75, a Nevada musician who had previously considered backing Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a potential rival for the Republican presidential nomination. "The indictment was the last straw for me, because Trump has suffered so much political abuse.

Word of the indictment surfaced last Thursday. Trump has called himself innocent, and he and his allies have portrayed the charges as politically motivated. Bragg, the prosecutor, is a Democrat.

The New York case is just one of many probes facing the Republican as he makes another run at the White House. A prosecutor in Georgia is investigating Trump's alleged efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat in that state.

The US Justice Department is investigating both Trump's actions in the 2020 election and his retention of highly classified documents after departing the White House in 2021.

Joe Tacopina, a Trump lawyer, said on Sunday it was unlikely Trump will be paraded in front of the news media by court authorities because of security concerns.

"I honestly don't know how this is going to go - hopefully as smoothly as possible - and then we begin the battle to right this wrong," Tacopina told CNN.

Tacopina said Trump's legal team will likely file a motion to dismiss the charges.

Prosecutor to hold press conference following Trump arraignment on Tuesday

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg will hold a press conference on Tuesday following former US President Donald Trump's arraignment on criminal charges, his office said on Monday.