Trump leaves Manhattan Courtroom after arraignment en–route Florida

Former President Donald Trump has left a Manhattan courtroom after his arraignment Tuesday.

He made no statement while leaving the courtroom. After leaving the courtroom, Trump left the building and got into his motorcade parked outside.

The former president pleaded not guilty to 34 counts.
The indictment returned last week by a grand jury against former President Donald Trump has been unsealed, according to a source.

Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 criminal charges against him in a Manhattan criminal court Tuesday afternoon, a source familiar with the matter tells CNN.

The investigation stemmed from a hush money payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Trump officially became the first former president to face criminal charges Tuesday when he’s arraigned Tuesday.

Before entering the courtroom, former President Donald Trump did not make a statement — something some advisers had expected him to do.

Griffin said his lack of a statement could also signify that “the attorneys are likely at odds with the comms advisers.”

Advisers told CNN earlier Tuesday that the former president planned to deliver one brief line before heading inside of the courtroom. He is expected to speak to the cameras in the hallway outside of the Manhattan courtroom after his arraignment, according to one of Trump’s lawyers, Chris Kise.

Details about the more than 30 charges Trump is facing will be revealed when the grand jury indictment is unsealed.

After winning the presidential election, Donald Trump privately thanked then-AMI CEO David Pecker for “handling” salacious stories that arose in the weeks before votes were cast, according to the statement of facts.

“Between Election Day and Inauguration Day, during the period of the Defendant’s transition to his role as President, the Defendant met with the AMI CEO privately in Trump Tower in Manhattan,” the statement of facts says, referring to Pecker.

Trump thanked Pecker for “handling” Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal’s affair allegations and a story from a former Trump World Tower doorman who claimed to have knowledge of an alleged affair between Trump and an ex-housekeeper which resulted in a child. He also invited Pecker to attend the 2017 inauguration.

In the summer of 2017, according to the statement of facts, Trump also invited Pecker to the White House for a dinner to “thank him for his help during the campaign.”

Participants in the alleged illegal hush-money scheme, including Michael Cohen, admitted payoffs to the two women were unlawful, according to the statement of facts released Tuesday.

In late 2018, American Media, Inc., the publisher of the National Enquirer, entered into a non-prosecution agreement with the Southern District of New York’s US Attorney’s office relating to paying Karen McDougal for her story about Trump, the statement of facts said.

AMI told authorities they never intended to publish McDougal’s story and made the payment to McDougal so that she “did not publicize damaging allegations” about Donald Trump “before the 2016 presidential election and thereby influence that election,” according to the statement of facts.

The document also cites Cohen’s federal guilty plea, which said Cohen worked at the direction of Trump to arrange payment for the two women, McDougal and Stormy Daniels, to stop stories that could be harmful to Trump.

Former President Donald Trump’s plane took off from New York’s LaGuardia Airport shortly after 4 p.m. ET, ending a whirlwind 24 hours culminating in Trump personally pleading not guilty to the 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree.

Trump now heads back to his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida, where he is expected to deliver remarks later tonight.