New York: Former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty to charges brought by a Manhattan grand jury Tuesday afternoon in a New York City courthouse after turning himself into the Manhattan district attorney’s office early Monday morning. the afternoon
The former US president and the leading 2024 Republican presidential candidate was indicted Thursday by a Manhattan grand jury after a years-long investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
Trump pleaded not guilty during his arraignment before Judge Juan Merchan, the trial judge presiding over the case, in the 15th-floor courtroom of 100 Center Street in New York City.
Trump was not handcuffed, as some are at an arraignment, after making arrangements with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. Detectives inside the office handled the arrest of the former president.
Law enforcement agencies, including the US Secret Service, the New York Police Department, the FBI, New York State judicial officials, and the district attorney’s office, were enhanced Friday afternoon to finalize details about the logistics and security of Triunfo’s arrest.
The unprecedented arraignment and indictment of the former president come after Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has been investigating Trump over hush payments made ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
These include the $130,000 payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and the $150,000 payment to former Playboy model Karen McDougal. Both women were paid to remain silent about alleged affairs with Trump, matters that Trump has repeatedly denied.
The US Attorney’s Office had investigated those payments for the Southern District of New York and by the Federal Election Commission.
Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York chose not to charge Trump in connection with Daniels’ pay in 2019. The Federal Election Commission also scrapped its investigation into the matter in 2021.
