Ex-President Donald Trump’s supporters and opponents clashed outside Manhattan Criminal Courthouse on Tuesday hours before he was expected to turn himself in and face criminal charges for a hush payment to a porn star.
At dawn, protesters from both sides gathered at the building in lower Manhattan and were separated by barricades. People rallied at a park outside the courthouse.
Some anti-Trump protesters held a banner that read, ‘Trump Lies All the Time’.
Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene tried to speak at the park but was swarmed by protesters yelling ‘Nazi’ and ‘Go back to Georgia b****’, as well as media. She was escorted away by security.
News media from around the world packed the area overnight, with tents and blankets and lawn chairs, to try to get a spot inside the courtroom.
Trump left Trump Tower around 10.30am and is scheduled to arrive at the courthouse in the afternoon. His booking arraignment will probably be brief. He is expected to be fingerprinted and may not have a mugshot taken. He is unlikely to be handcuffed.
The Secret Service is set to go with him to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s Office, in the same building as the courthouse. After being processed, including fingerprinted, Trump will be walked through back hallways to a public hallway to go to the courtroom.
In the courtroom, the indictment will be unsealed and he will hear charges against him. After the arraignment, Trump will likely be released on his own recognizance. He will then walk through the public hallway again back to the district attorney’s office and to his motorcade.
Trump plans to fly back to his Mar-a-Lago home, where he will give a speech in the evening.
The ex-president called the grand jury’s indictment on Thursday a ‘political persecution and election interference at the highest level’.
Bragg convened a grand jury to hear evidence on Trump’s role in a $130,000 payment his former lawyer made to silence porn star Stormy Daniels on an alleged affair with Trump.
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First appear at Donald Trump supporters and protesters clash outside court ahead of his arraignment
