Donald Trump, the ex-president and frontrunner for the Republican 2024 nomination, flew into New York City for a historic court appearance to face charges stemming from a probe into hush money paid to a porn star. With New York taking security precautions and the mayor telling potential “rabble-rousers” to behave, Trump was due to surrender at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office on Tuesday and will likely be fingerprinted prior to appearing before a judge for an arraignment where he will plead not guilty. Trump, 76, is the first former or sitting US president to face criminal charges.

Yahoo News late on Monday said Trump would face 34 felony counts for falsification of business records. Citing a single source briefed on Tuesday’s arraignment procedures, Yahoo said none of the charges against Trump were misdemeanours. Trump’s plane — painted in red, white and blue with “TRUMP” in big letters on the side and an image of the American flag on the tail — arrived at LaGuardia Airport in Queens after a 3-1/2 hour flight from West Palm Beach near his Florida home. Clad in a blue suit and wearing a red tie, Trump walked alone down a flight of stairs from the airplane and climbed into an SUV for a drive in a motorcade to Trump Tower in Manhattan, where upon arrival he waved to people and walked in without making public comments.

Beefing up his legal team, Trump hired Todd Blanche, a prominent white-collar criminal defence lawyer and former federal prosecutor, to join his defence, two sources familiar with the matter said.Trump’s lawyers opposed videography, photography and radio coverage of the arraignment, where a defendant is brought to court to hear charges and have a chance to enter a plea, saying it would “exacerbate an already almost circus-like atmosphere around this case”, detracting from dignity and decorum.

Judge Juan Merchan late on Monday ruled that five photographers would be admitted before the arraignment started to take pictures for several minutes until they must stop, with cameras allowed in the hallways of the building. The Manhattan grand jury that indicted Trump heard evidence for months this year 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 having had any such relationship with her.

Blanche previously represented Paul Manafort, Trump’s 2016 campaign chairman, when Manafort was hit with New York state fraud charges after being sentenced to prison for federal crimes. The state charges were eventually dismissed and Trump pardoned Manafort before leaving office. Blanche also previously represented Igor Fruman, who was an associate of former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-INP