Former U.S President, Donald J. Trump, made history on Tuesday, following his arraignment before a Manhattan Courtroom on criminal charges relating to a hush money payment, made to a porn movie star – Stormy Daniels.
The 45th Commander-in-Chief of the United States, impeached twice by the House of Representatives, but never convicted in the Senate, became the first former US president to face criminal charges.
Trump, who flew into New York aboard his Boeing 757 Plane on Monday, was escorted to the courtroom from his Trump Tower by the Secret Service.
He was indicted last week, over a case involving a 2016 hush money payment to Stephanie Clifford, known as the porn performer Stormy Daniels.
The office of Manhattan District Attorney, Alvin Bragg, alleged that the $130,000 payment made on his behalf by his former attorney, Michael Cohen to Daniels in 2016, was meant to silence claims of an extramarital sexual encounter.
During a private trial that barred TV cameras from the courtroom on Tuesday, Trump expectedly pleaded “not guilty” in a Manhattan courtroom to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records before Judge Juan Merchan.
Trump will address newsmen later at his Mar-a-Lago Mansion in Palm Beach, Florida.
Earlier, Trump had described the development as part of political persecution orchestrated by the Democrats and the President Joe Biden administration.
“This is 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.
“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,” he had said.