U.S. former President, Donald Trump, and front-runner for the Republican nomination in 2024 has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree.
Trump pleaded not guilty when he appeared at Manhattan Criminal Courthouse on Tuesday in New York, according to media reports.
The former president was in the Court for approximately two hours total being processed and arraigned.
Indicted last week, Trump is the first sitting or former president to face criminal charges, over a case involving a 2016 hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.
The 45th President of the United States, Trump, was seen exiting the building and making his way to a waiting motorcade back to Florida.
The former Republican President, Trump, has repeatedly described the indictment as a witch-hunt to stop his 2024 Presidential election bid.
Meanwhile, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said Donald Trump falsified statements on New York business records to “cover up crimes relating to the 2016 election”.
A little after 1:00pm Eastern Time (17:00 GMT), the former president left his penthouse residence at Trump Tower to head to Lower Manhattan for his court date.
He waved to supporters as he made his commute, arriving at the Manhattan Criminal Court shortly thereafter. There was no perp walk, no handcuffs and no mug shot.
After he was fingerprinted and processed, an uncharacteristically quiet Trump sat between his lawyers to hear the charges laid against him. He pleaded not guilty to all 34 felony counts.
At one point during the proceedings, New York Judge Juan Merchan warned Trump against becoming “disruptive”. Trump acknowledged the judge’s remarks.
The court appearance took less than an hour. Trump departed in his motorcade without stopping to speak to the press.
The Manhattan grand jury’s investigation was previously thought to centre around $130,000 allegedly paid to the adult film star Stormy Daniels, to buy her silence in the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election.
At the time, Daniels claimed she and then-presidential candidate Trump had an extramarital affair.
But the Manhattan District Attorney’s office unveiled a much broader scope in its charges, accusing the former president of “repeatedly and fraudulently” falsifying records to conceal “damaging information from the voting public”.
It described alleged “catch and kill” schemes, accusing Trump of collaborating with the head of American Media Inc (AMI) to buy and suppress coverage that might blemish his public image.
Among the stories allegedly suppressed were that of a doorman, who claimed to know of a child fathered out of wedlock, and that of an affair with former Playboy model Karen McDougal.
Karine Jean-Pierre declined to answer any question on Trump’s arraignment during the media conference.
According to Jean-Pierre, Joe Biden’s focus is on the American people today, not on his predecessor, and that they will not remark on legal proceedings.
“This is playing on many of the networks … so, obviously, he will catch parts of the news … but this is not his focus for the day,” she said.
