Former US President Donald Trump has arrived in New York to appear before a Manhattan judge on charges that he paid to buy the silence of a porn actress during the 2016 election campaign. Trump is the first former US president to testify in court as a criminal defendant. Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charge against him, and the case is headed for trial.
The instruction revolves around $130,000 paid to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election to buy her silence over an alleged extramarital affair that occurred ten years earlier, something Trump has always denied. On Tuesday, as part of his arraignment, he will undergo the standard procedure of fingerprinting and photographing, which will likely result in one of the most famous mug shots of the modern era, before hearing from the judge, Juan Merchan, about the charges against him by the prosecution, which are still reserved.
The luxury skyscraper on 5th Avenue, where the Republican is expected to spend the night, is armored by police on high alert in anticipation of possible disturbances. Although there are “no credible threats” to New York, Mayor Eric Adams issued a warning to agitators, specifically mentioning radical Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has called for a rally on Tuesday.
The Daniels case is just one of the investigations threatening the former president, who is also under investigation for his possible role in the January 6, 2021 insurrection in the US Capitol, as well as for his handling and custody of classified documents after leaving the White House. In addition, he is under investigation for pressuring officials to overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 victory with a recorded phone call in which he asked the secretary of state to “find” enough votes to reverse the outcome. Trump aspires to reach the White House again in the 2024 elections and wrote on his Social Truth network that he was traveling to New York to “restore greatness to the US” after declaring himself a victim of “a witch hunt at a time when (his) great country is sinking into hell.”