Former US president Donald Trump returned to New York from his Florida estate to face booking and arraignment on hush money charges related to allegations of sexual encounters. The city bolstered security and warned potential protesters it was “not a playground for your misplaced anger”.
Trump’s long day started with a motorcade ride from his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, to his red, white and blue Boeing 757, emblazoned with his name in gold letters – all carried live on television. The mini-parade took him past supporters waving banners and cheering, decrying the case against him as politically motivated.
Already months into a campaign to reclaim the White House he lost to President Joe Biden in 2020, Trump and his advisers seemed to relish the attention. Cable networks followed his plane at airports in Florida and New York with video from the air, and a small group of senior campaign aides were joined aboard by his son Eric, who eagerly posted photos of the wall-to-wall coverage from his seat.
The scene was quite different in New York, where Trump will be arraigned – facing a judge in the city where he built a national profile in business and entertainment but became deeply unpopular as he moved into politics. Prosecutors say their case against him – stemming from payments made during his 2016 presidential campaign – has nothing to do with politics and have defended the work of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who is leading it. City leaders urged calm.
“While there may be some rabble-rousers thinking about coming to our city tomorrow, our message is clear and simple: Control yourselves,” said New York Mayor Eric Adams. “New York City is our home ... We are the safest large city in America because we respect the rule of law.”
Trump stepped off his jet alone and directly into a waiting black SUV, with no one greeting him. Only small, sparse groups of supporters lined the route as his motorcade used a police escort to whisk him into Manhattan. From the air, the procession conjured images of a current president on the move rather than a former one facing criminal charges.
Advisers said Trump spent the flight working. He was to meet his attorneys, then spend the night at Trump Tower before surrendering to authorities at the courthouse.
It was the opening of an unprecedented chapter in American history, with Trump the first former president to face criminal charges. But he’s betting it could boost his chances of winning the presidency again next year. In the meantime, the case is causing major legal, political and cultural events to collide in unprecedented ways.
Trump’s team says the media circus could work to his political advantage. Senior adviser Jason Miller said the campaign had raised US$7 million (NZ$11m) since word of the indictment broke, but official figures have not yet been released.
One Trump fundraising email carried the subject line, “Tomorrow, I will be arrested”. Before he even arrived in New York, the former president was already using video from his motorcade ride in Florida as part of a fundraising drive on his social media site.
After initially being caught off guard by news of the indictment, advisers are now working to see if the case against him helps his 2024 campaign. That idea clashed with the former president’s attorneys, however, who asked the judge to ban photo and video coverage of his arraignment.
Trump also bolstered his legal team, adding a third high-profile attorney, Todd Blanche. A former federal prosecutor, Blanche has previously represented Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort.
Security in and around Trump Tower was tight. There were few Trump supporters or protesters, with a small group hanging “Trump 2024″ banners.
“I know that Donald Trump knows we’re out there fighting for him every day,” said Dion Cini, of Brooklyn, who had stretched two pro-Trump banners along police barricades lining Fifth Avenue.
Officials haven’t seen an influx of people, as was the case in Washington in the days before a mob of Trump supporters overran the US Capitol in January 2021. Still, they warned that possessing a weapon in certain areas of the city, including near courthouses, is a crime.
One of Trump’s staunchest defenders in Congress, Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, was helping to organise a rally on Tuesday at a park across from the courthouse where Trump will appear, and mayor Adams took the unusual step of calling her out by name.
“Although we have no specific threats, people like Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is known to spread misinformation and hate speech, she’s stated she’s coming to town,” Adams said. “While you’re in town, be on your best behaviour.”
Trump is facing multiple charges of falsifying business records, including at least one felony offence, in the indictment handed down by a Manhattan grand jury last week. The investigation is scrutinising six-figure payments made to porn actor Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal.
Both say they had sexual encounters with the married Trump years before he got into politics. Trump denies sexual liaisons with either woman and has denied any wrongdoing involving payments.
Biden, arriving in Minnesota to promote his administration’s economic policies, was asked if he thought there would be unrest in New York.
“No, I have faith in the New York Police Department,” the president replied. He also said he trusted the nation’s legal system.
About the same time as Trump was touching down in New York, Biden contrasted his economic agenda with “the last guy who had this job”. Biden is expected to formally announce his re-election campaign in the coming weeks.
Trump supporters in Florida began gathering while the sun was still rising at a West Palm Beach shopping centre on the way to the airport, hours before the former president was set to pass along the route.
Boca Raton firefighter Erik Solensten and his retired colleague, John Fischer, put up banners. One, picturing police officers and firefighters, read: “Thanks for having our backs, President Trump.”
“We are fire rescue. We are prepared and don’t like to wait for things to happen,” said Solensten, who took a day off work to show support for Trump. “He needs morale just like everyone else needs morals. He’s done more for this country than any 10 presidents combined.”