The New York Times April 04, 2023 Live Updates: Trump Pleads Not Guilty to 34 Felony Counts

The  New York Times April 04, 2023

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April 4, 2023, 3:36 p.m. ET7 minutes ago

7 minutes ago

Live Updates: Trump Pleads Not Guilty to 34 Felony Counts

The former president is charged with falsifying business records in connection with hush money payments. He was in court for his arraignment, where he learned about the charges against him for the first time.

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April 4, 2023, 3:33 p.m. ET9 minutes ago

9 minutes ago

Jonah E. Bromwich, William K. Rashbaum, Ben Protess and Maggie Haberman

Trump entered a not guilty plea during his arraignment.

Manhattan prosecutors on Tuesday accused Donald J. Trump of covering up a potential sex scandal during the 2016 presidential campaign, unveiling 34 felony charges that open a perilous chapter in the long public life of the billionaire businessman who rose to the presidency and now faces the prospect of a shameful criminal trial.

Mr. Trump was indicted last week — becoming the first former American president to face criminal charges — and he surrendered to the authorities in Manhattan on Tuesday afternoon.

Mr. Trump entered a not guilty plea during his arraignment, a surreal scene for a man who once occupied the Oval Office and is mounting a third run for the White House.

In a remarkable spectacle playing out before a divided nation, Mr. Trump’s 11-vehicle motorcade arrived just before 1:30 at the district attorney’s office, part of the towering Manhattan Criminal Courts Building. While in custody, he was fingerprinted like any felony defendant, but special accommodations were made for the former president: He spent only a short time in custody and he was not expected to be handcuffed or have his mug shot taken.

When Mr. Trump, visibly angry, entered the courtroom, he was accompanied by his legal adviser, Boris Epshteyn, and the lawyers handling this case, Todd W. Blanche, Susan R. Necheles and Joseph Tacopina. Mr. Trump declined to speak, despite aides indicating that he might.

The charges include filing false business records in the first degree, a low level felony that carries a maximum of four years in prison for each count, though if he is convicted a judge could sentence him to probation.

Amid fears of protests and Trump-inspired threats, the day’s events will be highly choreographed by the Secret Service, the New York City Police Department, court security and the Manhattan district attorney’s office, which has been investigating Mr. Trump for nearly five years. As helicopters circled overhead, the streets outside the courthouse were crammed with the press corps and hundreds of demonstrators, with supporters and critics of the former president assembling at a nearby park, where they screamed at each other from across metal barricades placed to keep the peace.

The charges against Mr. Trump stem from a $130,000 hush-money payment that his fixer, Michael D. Cohen, made to Stormy Daniels, a porn star, in the final days of the 2016 campaign. The payment, which Mr. Cohen said he made at Mr. Trump’s direction, ensured she would not go public with her story of a sexual liaison with Mr. Trump.

Mr. Trump then reimbursed Mr. Cohen, prosecutors say, in a way that concealed the true nature of the deal: His company’s internal records characterized the repayment to Mr. Cohen as legal expenses owed as part of a retainer agreement.

The case, brought by the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, might mark only the beginning of Mr. Trump’s journey through the criminal justice system. He faces three other criminal investigations related to accusations of undermining an election and mishandling sensitive government records, issues at the core of American democracy and security.

But it is perhaps unsurprising, given the crass and circuslike political era that Mr. Trump’s election ushered in — one marked by the elevation of D-list celebrities, uncouth social media posts and a casual relationship with the truth — that his first indictment stems from lies about a tryst with a porn star.

For Mr. Bragg, a Democrat, a conviction is no sure thing. The falsifying business records charges appear to hinge on a novel application of the law.

And Mr. Trump has denied all wrongdoing — as well as any sexual encounter with Ms. Daniels — and has lashed out at Mr. Bragg with threatening and at times racist language, calling the district attorney, who is Black, an “animal” and summoning his followers to “PROTEST” his arrest. His rhetoric has been reminiscent of his posts in the run-up to the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Here’s what else you need to know:

Mr. Trump’s surrender is the culmination of a monthslong drama that first centered on the question of whether he would be indicted — and soon broadened to include predictions about how he would respond. He has alternately fretted about and blustered over the prospect of an arrest, while his aides have leveraged the indictment to ramp up fund-raising and push primary rivals into an awkward dance between criticizing prosecutors and backing Mr. Trump.

Mr. Bragg is the first prosecutor to charge Mr. Trump, and has already entered the political spotlight, an uncomfortable position for a district attorney who has never before held elected office.

The indictment, the product of a nearly five-year investigation, kicks off a new and volatile phase in Mr. Trump’s post-presidential life as he makes a third run for the White House. And it will throw the race for the Republican nomination — which he leads in most polls — into uncharted territory.

Some of Mr. Trump’s advisers had been under the belief that he would be charged with both misdemeanors and felonies, and they were jolted by recent reports that he would instead be facing dozens of felony counts. Mr. Trump is expected to be charged in part with falsifying business records related to the hush money, according to several people familiar with the matter — a low-level felony that carries a maximum four-year prison sentence.

Mr. Trump has spent nearly a half-century fending off criminal charges. He was first investigated in New York in the late 1970s, an episode that set the tone for how he dealt with prosecutors for decades.

Federal prosecutors are separately scrutinizing Mr. Trump for his actions surrounding his electoral defeat and his handling of sensitive documents. And a Georgia prosecutor is in the final stages of an investigation into Mr. Trump’s attempts to reverse the election results in that state.

Mr. Cohen, who broke from Mr. Trump in 2018 after the hush-money deal came to light, is the prosecution’s star witness. He pleaded guilty to federal crimes involving the hush money and served more than a year in prison, which Mr. Trump’s lawyers will likely use to attack his credibility.

Mr. Trump’s allies have been heavily focused on the idea that he could face a gag order, something his advisers are also aware is a possibility after his broadsides against Mr. Bragg, who pushed for indictment, and Justice Juan Merchan, who is presiding over the case. There is no indication so far that the judge plans to do so.

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, the far-right Georgia Republican who is closely aligned with Mr. Trump, held a rally at the park across from the courthouse. Speaking through a megaphone, she denounced the Democratic Party, though her words were often drowned out by protesters — and counterprotesters — blowing whistles and chanting. After speaking for about five minutes, she was ushered out of the park by the police.

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Michael Gold

April 4, 2023, 3:36 p.m. ET7 minutes ago

7 minutes ago

Michael Gold

Here are the 34 charges against Trump.

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Donald Trump looks over his shoulder as he walks toward a glass door.

The charges represent the culmination of a nearly 5-year investigation.Credit...Dave Sanders for The New York Times

Donald J. Trump has been charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree.

The former president pleaded not guilty to all counts.

The charges against Mr. Trump are all class E felonies, which are the lowest category of felony offense in New York and carry a maximum prison sentence of four years per count.

Under New York law, falsifying business records is generally a misdemeanor. But prosecutors can escalate the charge when they believe a person falsified business records in order to commit another crime or hide the committing of a crime.

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Maggie Haberman

April 4, 2023, 3:36 p.m. ET7 minutes ago

7 minutes ago

Maggie Haberman

One of the few times Trump has looked as angry as he just did was when he was at the second presidential debate with Hillary Clinton two days after the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape became public in October 2016.

Michael Gold

April 4, 2023, 3:35 p.m. ET8 minutes ago

8 minutes ago

Michael Gold

The charges against Mr. Trump are all class E felonies, which is the lowest category of felony offense in New York. They carry a maximum prison sentence of four years each.

Jonah Bromwich

April 4, 2023, 3:33 p.m. ET9 minutes ago

9 minutes ago

Jonah Bromwich

Trump was indicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree.  

Karen Zraick

April 4, 2023, 3:31 p.m. ET12 minutes ago

12 minutes ago

Karen Zraick

Here’s why Trump probably didn’t have to post bail.

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New York City police officers gathered on a street.

Recent bail law changes in New York could work in the favor of Donald J. Trump.Credit...Hilary Swift for The New York Times

Since a raft of changes to New York’s bail laws took effect three years ago, “bail reform” has been a rallying cry for conservative politicians who have blamed the revisions for increased crime rates.

But this week, the changes will benefit a figure many conservatives have supported: Donald J. Trump.

The former president will almost certainly not have to post bail after his arrest on Tuesday, thanks to the policies that took effect in 2020. The laws eliminated bail for most misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies.

Here’s how bail works: When a defendant is held before trial, a court may release him or her in exchange for a payment intended to ensure a return to court. The money is typically returned at the end of the case if the defendant has followed court orders.

Critics have long decried the practice, which favors the wealthy. People who cannot come up with the money themselves — or with help from family or friends — either have to stay in jail or get a “bail bond,” which is a contract with a licensed bail agent who will pledge the money in exchange for a fee.

New York State caps those fees. For example, if the bail is over $10,000, an agent can charge 10 percent of the first $3,000 and smaller percentages for the rest, according to the Department of Financial Services. But the bondholder might also ask for collateral, like a deed to a home, which would be forfeit if the defendant fails to follow court orders.

Cheryl Bader, associate clinical professor of law at Fordham University, said that she thought it was unlikely that Mr. Trump would have been required to post bail even before the laws were changed. Prosecutors would have had to show that there was reason to believe he would not show up to court.

“I think the court would find that that’s not likely,” she said. “Trump is often unpredictable, but I think he’s not likely to abscond and run away to Mexico.”

And even if a judge had required bail, it would not have been difficult for Mr. Trump to pay. That’s in stark contrast to the defendants she and her students work with at a law clinic in Manhattan Criminal Court.

“He would be free to work with his lawyers and defend himself without finding himself on Rikers,” she said of Mr. Trump. “The same is not true of many of the clients that my students and I represent.”

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April 4, 2023, 3:30 p.m. ET13 minutes ago

13 minutes ago

Liset Cruz

The motorcade has left the courthouse.

Michael Gold

April 4, 2023, 3:29 p.m. ET14 minutes ago

14 minutes ago

Michael Gold

Trump has walked out of the courtroom and back into the district attorney’s office. He did not stop to talk to the press.

William Rashbaum

April 4, 2023, 3:28 p.m. ET15 minutes ago

15 minutes ago

William Rashbaum

After Trump leaves the courthouse, his motorcade is expected to head straight to LaGuardia airport for his return flight on his private plane to Mar-a-Lago, where he will make remarks to the press.

April 4, 2023, 3:23 p.m. ET20 minutes ago

20 minutes ago

Kate Christobek

Later, as the arraignment draws to a close, the judge, Juan M. Merchan, will adjourn the case until a specified date, expected to be months from today. The case may be put over for a status conference, which is basically a check-in date with the judge, the prosecution and the defense to assess how the case is progressing.

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Maggie Haberman

April 4, 2023, 3:08 p.m. ET35 minutes ago

35 minutes ago

Maggie Haberman

The presence of the Trump adviser Boris Epshteyn at the defense table in the courtroom has been raising eyebrows. Epshteyn’s phone was seized by federal agents last year, apparently in connection with the investigation into Trump’s efforts to remain in power after he lost the 2020 election. Epshteyn is also represented by Todd Blanche, whom Trump hired in recent days to join his legal team.

William Rashbaum

April 4, 2023, 2:51 p.m. ET52 minutes ago

52 minutes ago

William Rashbaum

The former president was charged with 34 felonies and pleaded not guilty before State Supreme Court Justice Juan M. Merchan.

William Rashbaum

April 4, 2023, 2:48 p.m. ET55 minutes ago

55 minutes ago

William Rashbaum

The indictment against the former president, People of the State of New York against Donald J. Trump, Indictment No. 71543-23, has been unsealed.

April 4, 2023, 2:45 p.m. ET58 minutes ago

58 minutes ago

Kate Christobek

Even though this arraignment is historic, it is likely to be formally similar to scores of arraignments across the city every day: Trump will learn the charges against him for the first time and enter his plea.

Image

Credit...Pool photo by Seth Wenig

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April 4, 2023, 2:40 p.m. ET1 hour ago

1 hour ago

Kate Christobek

Trump’s arraignment is set to begin any minute now, but first the judge will hear from a lawyer representing several news organizations, including The New York Times, that are seeking greater access to the courtroom.

Michael Gold

April 4, 2023, 2:34 p.m. ET1 hour ago

1 hour ago

Michael Gold

Worth a reminder that the full proceedings inside the courtroom will not be broadcast or photographed, and reporters inside cannot use phones or laptops to provide updates.

Michael Gold

April 4, 2023, 2:30 p.m. ET1 hour ago

1 hour ago

Michael Gold

Trump had a grim expression on his face. His lawyers entered the courtroom shortly before he did.

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Credit...Dave Sanders for The New York Times

Michael Gold

April 4, 2023, 2:29 p.m. ET1 hour ago

1 hour ago

Michael Gold

Trump did not deliver remarks or answer questions from a reporter as he entered the courtroom.

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Michael Gold

April 4, 2023, 2:29 p.m. ET1 hour ago

1 hour ago

Michael Gold

Trump has left the district attorney’s office and is on his way to the courtroom where he will be arraigned.

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TRANSCRIPT

0:05/0:15

1 00:00:09,370 —> 00:00:11,060 President Trump. 2 00:00:11,060 —> 00:00:14,430 Will you come speak to us, President Trump?

CreditCredit...The New York Times

Michael Gold

April 4, 2023, 2:00 p.m. ET2 hours ago

2 hours ago

Michael Gold

This will be Justice Juan M. Merchan’s second time overseeing a Trump case.

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Juan Merchan sits at his desk with a cabinet of memorabilia behind him.

Justice Juan M. Merchan, who is presiding over the arraignment on Tuesday, also oversaw the five-week tax fraud trial of the Trump Organization.Credit...Ahmed Gaber for The New York Times

The judge presiding over Donald J. Trump’s arraignment on Tuesday, Juan M. Merchan, already has experience with a criminal case involving the former president: Late last year he oversaw the five-week tax fraud trial of Mr. Trump’s family real estate business, the Trump Organization.

Mr. Trump has since lashed out at Justice Merchan, accusing him of bias. “The Judge ‘assigned’ to my Witch Hunt Case, a ‘Case’ that has NEVER BEEN CHARGED BEFORE, HATES ME,” Mr. Trump wrote last week on Truth Social, the social network he founded.

On Sunday, Mr. Trump continued the attack, saying that it would be “IMPOSSIBLE” for him to have a fair trial given “a Trump Hating Judge.”

Justice Merchan, who has 16 years on the bench, was born in Bogotá, Colombia. He came to the United States with his family when he was 6 years old and grew up in Queens, according to people familiar with his background.

He began his legal career in 1994 as an assistant district attorney in Manhattan. After five years conducting trials and prosecuting financial fraud cases, he moved to the state attorney general’s office, and was appointed to the bench in Bronx Family Court in 2006.

Since 2009, he has been an acting justice in State Supreme Court, where he presides over criminal felony trials. He also presides over the Manhattan Mental Health Court and the Veterans Treatment Court, which provide special services to nonviolent defendants.

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Maggie Astor

April 4, 2023, 1:45 p.m. ET2 hours ago

2 hours ago

Maggie Astor

From slayers to schemers, Manhattan’s criminal courthouse has seen it all.

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Journalists are pictured standing in front of a tall government building.

Members of the news media outside the Manhattan Criminal Courts Building in Lower Manhattan last month.Credit...Anna Watts for The New York Times

The Manhattan Criminal Courthouse, a granite and limestone behemoth that towers over a city block between Canal Street and the Brooklyn Bridge, is no stranger to history.

It is where Mark David Chapman pleaded guilty to murdering John Lennon and Bernhard Goetz was arraigned for shooting four Black men on the New York City subway — and, 26 years later, on misdemeanor drug charges. It is where the comedian Lenny Bruce faced obscenity charges in 1964 and, more recently, where Anna Sorokin faced grand larceny charges for posing as a German heiress to swindle wealthy New Yorkers.

It is where a group of Black and Latino teenagers, then known as the Central Park Five, were wrongly convicted of raping a jogger — a conviction Donald J. Trump cheered on — and exonerated more than a decade later. And now, it is where Mr. Trump himself is making his first appearance as a criminal defendant.

2 mi.3 km.

© Mapbox © OpenStreetMap

The courthouse sits at 100 Centre Street, at the northern end of a judicial complex that also includes the New York County Supreme Court (for state civil and appellate cases) and the Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse (for federal cases). Formally known as the Criminal Courts Building, it was constructed from 1938 to 1941 in the Art Deco style and houses courtrooms; the Manhattan district attorney’s office; and police, correction, probation and legal aid offices.

It is the epicenter of Manhattan’s criminal justice system: the place where defendants charged with everything from shoplifting to murder are indicted, arraigned and tried. Unlike Mr. Trump, most of the thousands of people churned through it — guilty and innocent — will never be known to the world.

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Michael Gold

April 4, 2023, 1:44 p.m. ET2 hours ago

2 hours ago

Michael Gold

Trump is still not expected to appear in court until about 2:15 p.m., when the charges against him will be unsealed and he will be arraigned. In the meantime, Trump will spend a short time in custody in the district attorney’s office, where he will be fingerprinted.

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Michael D. Shear

April 4, 2023, 1:41 p.m. ET2 hours ago

2 hours ago

Michael D. Shear

The White House on Tuesday continued its purposeful disregard of Trump’s New York spectacle. Even as Trump was being booked, Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, started her briefing by hailing Finland’s entry into NATO. Her opening announcements made no mention of the former president, part of a longstanding strategy not to comment.

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Credit...Sarah Silbiger for The New York Times

Jesse McKinley

April 4, 2023, 1:34 p.m. ET2 hours ago

2 hours ago

Jesse McKinley

Trump waves to onlookers as he arrives at the courthouse to face charges.

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0:47

Trump Arrives for Arraignment on Felony Charges

Former president Donald J. Trump departed Trump Tower and traveled in a motorcade to the Manhattan district attorney’s office.CreditCredit...Kirsten Luce for The New York Times

Donald J. Trump, the nation’s 45th president and the Republican Party’s leading presidential candidate in the 2024 race, arrived at a Manhattan courthouse on Tuesday afternoon to face arraignment on criminal charges.

After stepping out of a S.U.V. and briefly waving, Mr. Trump was escorted inside the office of the Manhattan district attorney where he was expected to surrender and face charges related to a payment made by a fixer during the waning days of the 2016 election to buy the silence of a porn star, Stormy Daniels.

The exact charges contained in the indictment against Mr. Trump, voted on by a grand jury last week, will not be unsealed until he appears before Justice Juan M. Merchan, a state Supreme Court judge, who will hear the case.

The former president entered the courthouse on Hogan Place at about 1:24 p.m. through a special door that provides access to a private elevator reserved for the district attorney and judges, after taking a motorcade from Trump Tower in midtown Manhattan, where he spent Monday night. He rode alone in a car with Secret Service agents but was accompanied to the courthouse by several lawyers and political aides in other vehicles.

Shortly before leaving, Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social. “Heading to Lower Manhattan, the Courthouse,” he wrote. “Seems so SURREAL — WOW, they are going to ARREST ME. Can’t believe this is happening in America. MAGA!”

Hundreds of onlookers — supporters, opponents, and the merely curious — had been drawn to the Manhattan courthouse, where a pro-Trump demonstration was held earlier in the day. Cheers erupted from some in the crowd outside the courthouse after the first news alerts went out that Mr. Trump had officially surrendered.

Mr. Trump, 76, has railed against the indictment and the district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, a Democrat whom the former president has accused of waging a “political persecution.” Many prominent Republican leaders, including some of Mr. Trump’s rivals for next year’s presidential nomination, have echoed that accusation.

Mr. Trump’s initial court appearance gave way to a circuslike atmosphere, with supporters and opponents filling the streets around the courthouse in Lower Manhattan, and members keeping round-the-clock watch on the former president’s whereabouts. Police presence has been intense, though city and law enforcement officials have not warned of credible threats.

Mr. Trump arrived in New York, his onetime home and the seat of his business empire, on Monday and is expected to soon return to his estate in Florida, where he has announced he will make a prime-time address on Tuesday night.

William K. Rashbaum, Jason Silverstein and Maggie Haberman contributed reporting.

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April 4, 2023, 1:25 p.m. ET2 hours ago

2 hours ago

Chelsia Rose Marcius

Trump has entered the district attorney’s office.

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CreditCredit...Chelsia Rose Marcius/The New York Times, Associated Press

Maggie Haberman

April 4, 2023, 1:24 p.m. ET2 hours ago

2 hours ago

Maggie Haberman

Trump is traveling in a car alone with members of his Secret Service detail, a person briefed on his travels says. His two lawyers, Todd Blanche and Susan Necheles, are in a second car. His adviser Jason Miller and his aide Walt Nauta are in yet another car.

April 4, 2023, 1:23 p.m. ET2 hours ago

2 hours ago

Chelsia Rose Marcius

Trump’s motorcade has turned onto Baxter Street, which runs behind the Manhattan Criminal Courts Building. About 200 people, mostly press, looked on as helicopters whirred overhead.

William Rashbaum

April 4, 2023, 1:13 p.m. ET3 hours ago

3 hours ago

William Rashbaum

The motorcade taking the former president from Trump Tower to surrender at the district attorney’s office in Lower Manhattan before his arraignment on felony charges includes about a dozen vehicles. They include a lead car and a tail car from the Police Department’s Highway Patrol, several Secret Service vehicles, two limousines and several staff cars. The motorcade for a sitting president can include up to 30 vehicles, and in New York City, it can be led by as many as 25 police motorcycles. It includes an ambulance in case of emergency.

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CreditCredit...Associated Press/Reuters

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April 4, 2023, 1:11 p.m. ET3 hours ago

3 hours ago

Liset Cruz

Trump’s motorcade has left Trump Tower to head downtown.

Jonah E. Bromwich

April 4, 2023, 12:58 p.m. ET3 hours ago

3 hours ago

Jonah E. Bromwich

Here is a timeline of the events that led to the indictment.

Image

Donald Trump stands in front of an American flag.

The winding investigation into the now-former president twice reached the Supreme Court.Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times

The investigation by the Manhattan district attorney’s office into Donald J. Trump’s involvement in hush-money payments to a porn star, which led to the indictment of the former president, has spanned nearly five years.

Here are some key moments:

AUG. 21, 2018

Michael D. Cohen says he arranged hush-money payments for the president, and the investigation begins.

Mr. Cohen, previously a personal lawyer and fixer for Mr. Trump, pleaded guilty to federal crimes and told a court that Mr. Trump had directed him to arrange payments to two women. The payments were made during the 2016 campaign to keep the women from speaking publicly about affairs they said they had conducted with Mr. Trump.

Soon after Mr. Cohen’s admission, the Manhattan district attorney’s office opened an investigation to examine if the payments broke New York State laws. The office soon paused the inquiry at the request of federal prosecutors, who were looking into the same conduct.

AUGUST 2019

The district attorney’s office subpoenas the Trump Organization.

After federal prosecutors said that they had “effectively concluded” their investigation, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., the Manhattan district attorney at the time, revived his own inquiry. Late in the month, prosecutors in his office issued a subpoena to the Trump Organization and another subpoena to Mr. Trump’s accounting firm, demanding eight years of Mr. Trump’s personal and corporate tax returns.

SEPT. 19, 2019

Mr. Trump’s lawyers sue to protect his tax returns.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, argued that a sitting president cannot be criminally investigated. It led to a lengthy delay.

JULY 9, 2020

Mr. Vance wins his first key victory at the U.S. Supreme Court.

After appellate judges ruled against Mr. Trump, the lawsuit found its way to the Supreme Court, where the justices ruled that the presidency did not shield Mr. Trump from criminal inquiries and that he had no absolute right to block the release of his tax returns.

The ruling left Mr. Trump with the opportunity to raise different objections to Mr. Vance’s subpoena.

AUTUMN 2020

The investigation intensifies.

Prosecutors interviewed employees of the main bank and insurance company that serve Mr. Trump and issued several new subpoenas.

The district attorney’s office also signaled in another court filing that it had grounds to investigate the president for tax fraud.

Image

Donald Trump climbing the steps to Air Force One. 

The investigation that led to the indictment of Donald J. Trump has spanned nearly five years.Credit...Stefani Reynolds for The New York Times

FEB. 22, 2021

The Supreme Court denies Mr. Trump’s final bid to block the release of his returns.

The brief unsigned order was a decisive defeat for Mr. Trump and a turning point in Mr. Vance’s investigation.

Just hours later, eight years of financial records were handed over to Mr. Vance’s office.

MARCH 1, 2021

The investigation’s focus turns to a top executive.

In the spring, Mr. Vance’s prosecutors set their sights on Allen H. Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s long-serving chief financial officer, whom they hoped to pressure into cooperating with their investigation.

The prosecutors were particularly interested in whether the Trump Organization handed out valuable benefits to Mr. Weisselberg as a form of untaxed compensation.

JULY 1, 2021

The Trump Organization is charged with running a 15-year tax scheme.

When Mr. Weisselberg refused to testify against his boss, prosecutors announced charges against him and Mr. Trump’s company, saying that the company helped its executives evade taxes by compensating them with benefits such as free cars and apartments that were hidden from the authorities.

JAN. 1, 2022

A new Manhattan district attorney takes office.

Mr. Vance left office, and his successor, Alvin L. Bragg, took over the case. Both are Democrats.

Mr. Bragg, a former federal prosecutor, retained two of the investigation’s leaders, Mark F. Pomerantz, an experienced former federal prosecutor and white-collar defense lawyer, and Carey Dunne, Mr. Vance’s general counsel.

FEB. 23, 2022

Two prosecutors resign, leaving the investigation’s future in doubt.

After Mr. Bragg expressed reservations about the case, Mr. Pomerantz and Mr. Dunne suspended the presentation of evidence about Mr. Trump to a grand jury. A month later, they resigned, prompting a public uproar over Mr. Bragg’s decision not to proceed with an indictment.

In his resignation letter, which was later obtained by The New York Times, Mr. Pomerantz said that Mr. Trump had been guilty of numerous felonies.

AUG. 18, 2022

Mr. Bragg’s investigation continues.

After staying mostly silent through weeks of criticism, the district attorney publicly discussed his office’s investigation of Mr. Trump for the first time. His fundamental message: The inquiry would continue.

AUG. 18, 2022

Allen Weisselberg pleads guilty and agrees to testify against the Trump Organization.

Though the chief financial officer declined to turn on Mr. Trump himself, he agreed to testify at the October trial against the company that he had served for nearly half a century.

LATE SUMMER, 2022

The prosecutors turn back to hush money.

After several months, Mr. Bragg’s prosecutors returned to the long-running investigation’s original focus: a hush-money payment to Stormy Daniels, a pornographic film actress who said she had a sexual relationship with Mr. Trump.

DEC. 6, 2022

The Trump Organization is convicted, securing a significant victory for the district attorney.

Mr. Bragg’s prosecutors won a conviction of Mr. Trump’s family business, convincing a jury that the company was guilty of tax fraud and other crimes.

JANUARY 2023

The district attorney impanels a new grand jury.

The grand jury met throughout the next three months and heard testimony about the hush-money payment from at least nine witnesses.

MIDWINTER 2023

Prosecutors signal that an indictment is likely, offering Mr. Trump a chance to testify before the grand jury.

Such offers almost always indicate an indictment is close; it would be unusual to notify a potential defendant without ultimately seeking charges against him.

MARCH 18, 2023

Mr. Trump predicts his arrest and calls for protests.

Without any direct knowledge, the former president posted on his Truth Social account that he would be arrested three days later and sought to rally supporters to his side. His prediction was soon walked back, and he was not arrested at that time.

MARCH 30, 2023

Mr. Trump is indicted by a grand jury.

The charges, which are still unknown, will be the first against any American president, current or former.

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April 4, 2023, 12:49 p.m. ET3 hours ago

3 hours ago

Michael Regan

At Trump Tower in Midtown, a throng of reporters filled a pen across the street one block south on Fifth Avenue as at least one helicopter buzzed overhead. Onlookers stopped to snap photographs and take video on their phones as police officers stationed nearby ordered them to keep moving.

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Credit...Anna Watts for The New York Times

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April 4, 2023, 12:35 p.m. ET3 hours ago

3 hours ago

Alan Feuer

Even as Trump is poised to appear for his arraignment in Manhattan, a federal appeals court in Washington has just denied an emergency petition by his lawyers to stop a group of his top aides — including Mark Meadows, his former chief of staff — from testifying in front of a grand jury investigating Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

James Barron

April 4, 2023, 12:30 p.m. ET3 hours ago

3 hours ago

James Barron

Trump will be arraigned today. Clinton will be honored.

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Hillary Clinton, in a green jacket, gives a speech.

Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state, will receive an honor from a private club in Manhattan on Tuesday evening.Credit...Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

New York will be focused Tuesday on the arraignment of a former president, the first proceeding of its kind in American history.

But other things are on the day’s agenda besides Donald J. Trump’s scheduled appearance for booking, fingerprinting and entering a plea in court. In the evening, a private club on East 66th Street will continue a tradition dating to the 1870s with a black-tie dinner.

The honoree will be Hillary Clinton, who lost the presidency to Mr. Trump in 2016.

The timing is a coincidence, said John Sussek III, the president of the Lotos Club, which is holding the event. The date was chosen around the beginning of the year, long before the grand jury hearing the case against Mr. Trump voted on the indictment that brought him to Manhattan from Mar-a-Lago, his resort in Florida.

“We have had princes and princesses, senators and congressmen,” Mr. Sussek said, noting that one recent honoree was Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, a leader in the federal response to the pandemic. Another past honoree was Robert Morgenthau, a predecessor of Alvin L. Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, whose office brought the case against Mr. Trump.

The criteria “are essentially an individual who has made great contributions in whatever field or fields they’re in,” Mr. Sussek said. “It’s recognition of their accomplishments in society.”

The club, which took its name from the “Lotos-eaters” in a poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, has held state dinners since the 1870s. Its early members included Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, who took a nap during the 12-course meal lauding him. Also on the club’s membership roll in its early years was John Hay, who held a job that Mrs. Clinton later took: He was secretary of state under Presidents William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt.

Democrats and Republicans have been cheered at state dinners, as the club calls gatherings like the one on Tuesday. Former President Harry Truman, a Democrat, and former President Dwight Eisenhower, a Republican, were each hailed at dinners after leaving the White House. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the Supreme Court was celebrated at one in 1996, a couple of years after President Bill Clinton nominated her to the court.

Over the years, the club has also invited people with no political connections, including the Yankees star Joe DiMaggio, the astronaut John Glenn and at least two musical theater teams: Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II (of “Oklahoma!” and “South Pacific,” among others) and John Kander and Fred Ebb (of “Cabaret” and “Chicago”).

Lotos gives state dinner honorees lifetime memberships ($4,800 a year for regular resident members). Mrs. Clinton will also be presented with a small bust of Justice Ginsburg by the sculptor Zenos Frudakis, a Lotos member who did the larger busts of Twain and Ulysses S. Grant at the club.

“You may recall what Donald Trump said in 2016, that if we voted for Hillary Clinton, we’d have a criminal president under constant investigation and who would soon be indicted,” Mr. Sussek will say in the speech he has prepared to deliver Tuesday night. “And you know what? Trump was right. I voted for Hillary Clinton and ended up with a criminal president under constant investigation and has now just been indicted.”

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Michael C. Bender

Maggie Haberman

April 4, 2023, 12:18 p.m. ET3 hours ago

3 hours ago

Michael C. Bender and Maggie Haberman

The response from many of Trump’s potential 2024 opponents shows their campaign predicament.

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Ron DeSantis, in a blue suit and tie, holds his right hand in the air.

Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida at the Pennsylvania Leadership Conference in East Pennsboro Township, Pa., on Saturday.Credit...Mark Pynes/The Patriot-News, via Associated Press

Last month, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida took a measured dig at Donald J. Trump by publicly mocking the circumstances that led New York investigators to the former president.

“I don’t know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some type of alleged affair,” Mr. DeSantis said.

But as soon as Mr. Trump was indicted, Mr. DeSantis promptly vowed to block his state from assisting a potential extradition. In a show of support for his fellow Republican, Mr. DeSantis called the case “the weaponization of the legal system to advance a political agenda.”

In the hours after a grand jury indicted Mr. Trump, many of his potential rivals for the Republican presidential nomination snapped into line behind him, looking more like allies than competitors. All passed on the opportunity to criticize him, and some rushed to his defense, expressing concerns about the legitimacy of the case.

The turnaround by some prospective contenders was so swift and complete that it caught even the Trump team off guard. One close ally suggested to Mr. Trump that he publicly thank his rivals.

The reluctance to directly confront Mr. Trump put his strength as a front-runner on full display. His would-be challengers have been sizing up political billiard balls for the possibility of an increasingly tricky bank shot: persuading Republican voters to forsake him, while presenting themselves as the movement’s heir apparent.

In one reflection of Mr. Trump’s durability, his team said it had raised more than $4 million in the 24 hours after the indictment was made public by The New York Times.

“There has been a narrative for a while that we could have Trump policies with someone more electable, but the reaction to the indictment showed that power is unique to Trump,” Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, said in an interview. “Trump was the leading contender for the nomination before the indictment, and now he’s the prohibitive favorite.”

Trip Gabriel and Rebecca Davis O’Brien contributed reporting.

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April 4, 2023, 11:45 a.m. ET4 hours ago

4 hours ago

William K. Rashbaum and Kate Christobek

The only other arrest of a U.S. president involved a speeding horse.

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A photo portrait of a bearded Ulysses S. Grant in his union army uniform. 

President Ulysses S. Grant was arrested after speeding in a horse-drawn buggy near the White House in 1872.Credit...Mathew B. Brady/Associated Press

The last time anything remotely similar happened was 150 years ago. It involved a speeding horse and buggy, the thunder of hooves near the White House and a repeat offender who happened to be the president of the United States.

Ulysses S. Grant, who had an eye for spirited horses and an apparent yen to test their mettle, was arrested in 1872 for speeding on a street in Washington, where he had been driving a two-horse carriage. It was the second time in two days that the policeman had stopped the president; the first time, the officer had issued him a warning.

On Tuesday, Donald J. Trump will become the second American president to be taken into custody by the authorities.

The Grant episode apparently wasn’t reported in the press at the time, but it came to light in 1908 when The Sunday Star of Washington published an interview with the then-retired officer who pulled the 18th president of the United States over. The former officer’s name was William West, a Black man who had served in the Union Army during the Civil War. The story was confirmed more than 100 years later by the Washington Police Department.

While past commanders in chief have been investigated — notably Richard M. Nixon and Bill Clinton — the arrest of President Grant for his equestrian high jinks is the closest thing history has to offer to the arrest of Mr. Trump.

President Grant and several of his friends, with whom he had apparently been racing, were taken to a police station. They all had to put up $20 in bail — what was described in the news account as “collateral” — a sum that would be equivalent today to about $500.

The president, who had “the look of a schoolboy who had been caught in a guilty act by his teacher,” was good-natured about the arrest, according to the news account. He even drove Officer West in his carriage to the police station, where his arrest was processed.

On the way, the policeman and the president talked about the officer’s experience during the civil war. The former general “told him that he would not get into any trouble for making the arrest, as he admired a man who did his duty,” according to the 1908 news report.

Since then, the closest thing to a presidential arrest came when Mr. Nixon, faced with criminal prosecution, resigned and was issued an unconditional pardon by his successor, President Gerald Ford, in 1974. In a 10-minute address announcing the pardon, Mr. Ford explained that a lengthy trial would polarize the American people and damage the government’s credibility at home and abroad. It was later disclosed that he chose to deliver the pardon on a Sunday to convey mercy over justice.

Just 11 months earlier, Mr. Nixon’s vice president, Spiro Agnew, had pleaded no contest to a single charge of income tax evasion and resigned. The chief prosecutor said at the time that there was fear Mr. Agnew might become president. A no-contest plea avoided prolonged litigation and allowed Mr. Agnew to avoid federal charges for a kickback scheme.

One of the nation’s first vice presidents also faced legal challenges. After leaving office, Aaron Burr was put on trial for treason in 1807 and was ultimately acquitted for lack of evidence.

In recent years, presidential candidates have come under varying degrees of scrutiny for possible crimes. Following his unsuccessful bids for the presidency and vice presidency, the Justice Department charged John Edwards, a former senator from North Carolina, with campaign finance fraud in his own hush money scandal.

In 2014, a state grand jury indicted Rick Perry, then the governor of Texas, charging that he abused his power when he threatened to cut off state funding to a Democratic district attorney. With the indictment still hanging over his head, he announced his candidacy for the presidency in June 2015. He dropped out of the race three months later and the indictments were ultimately dismissed.

The case against President Grant and the other men was heard in Police Court the day after his arrest, according to the news account. The judge levied heavy fines against the president’s friends, though they protested mightily, criticizing Officer West’s conduct.

“When Gen. Grant’s name was called there was no response,” according to the account, “and his $20 was forfeited.”

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April 4, 2023, 11:27 a.m. ET4 hours ago

4 hours ago

Alan Feuer

The Manhattan indictment is just one facet of Trump’s legal troubles.

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Former President Donald J. Trump, in a blue suit and red tie, is surrounded by large U.S. flags while speaking at an America First Education Policy event in Iowa in March.

Former President Donald J. Trump is under scrutiny in three other criminal investigations.Credit...Desiree Rios/The New York Times

The criminal charges filed by the Manhattan district attorney’s office are only one part of the array of legal threats confronting former President Donald J. Trump. He is under scrutiny in three other criminal investigations and has been accused of misconduct in a barrage of civil actions.

Georgia Election Interference Investigation

Outside Manhattan, the inquiry that has advanced the most is in Fulton County, Ga., where prosecutors are deciding whether to charge Mr. Trump and some of his allies with criminal interference in the 2020 presidential vote. Mr. Trump and his associates had many interactions with Georgia officials after the election, including a famous call in which he urged the secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, to “find 11,780 votes,” the number he would have needed to overcome Joseph R. Biden Jr. in the state.

Last month, a special grand jury recommended that Fani T. Willis, the Fulton County district attorney, bring indictments against several people on a range of charges, although most of the report remains sealed. The grand jury’s forewoman, Emily Kohrs, was asked in an interview whether charges had been recommended against Mr. Trump, but she declined to answer directly. “You’re not going to be shocked,” she said. “It’s not rocket science.”

Federal Inquiries Into Government Documents and Jan. 6

A special counsel, Jack Smith, who was appointed by the U.S. Justice Department, is conducting two other investigations into Mr. Trump. One concerns his handling of sensitive government documents after he left office. The other is focused on his role in schemes to overturn the 2020 election.

For more than a year, Mr. Trump repeatedly resisted the federal government’s efforts — including a subpoena — to retrieve classified and sensitive material still in his possession. Then, in August 2022, acting on a court-approved search warrant, the F.B.I. descended on Mar-a-Lago, his private club and residence in Palm Beach, Fla., and discovered about 100 documents bearing classification markings.

Through interviews and grand jury subpoenas, Mr. Smith and his team are trying to determine whether Mr. Trump illegally retained national security records at any of his properties or obstructed the government’s efforts to retrieve them.

Mr. Smith, building on the work of other prosecutors in Washington, has also used the grand jury process to get records and testimony from lawyers and White House aides close to Mr. Trump, to determine whether the former president broke the law in the run-up to the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

The special counsel’s office has focused on an array of schemes that Mr. Trump and his allies used in an attempt to stave off defeat, among them a plan to create false slates of pro-Trump electors in key swing states that Mr. Biden actually won. Prosecutors under Mr. Smith have also sought information about Mr. Trump’s main fund-raising operation after the election.

The process has been hindered, however, because several witnesses have asserted claims of executive and attorney-client privilege, requiring time-consuming litigation.

New York and Washington Lawsuits

In the civil arena, Mr. Trump was sued in September by Letitia James, the New York attorney general, who accused him of lying to lenders and insurers by fraudulently overvaluing his assets by billions of dollars. Ms. James is seeking to bar Mr. Trump and his adult children from running any businesses in New York. The case could go to trial as early as this fall.

Mr. Trump is scheduled to go on trial in New York this month to defend himself against charges that he defamed the writer E. Jean Carroll by lying about her claims that he raped her years ago. Ms. Carroll, in a 2019 book and in an excerpt in New York magazine, accused Mr. Trump of the assault in the mid-1990s at the Bergdorf Goodman department store.

Mr. Trump is also facing a half-dozen lawsuits from Capitol Police officers and others who have accused him of inciting the mob that attacked America’s seat of government with his speech on Jan. 6, and with other statements before the riot.

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April 4, 2023, 10:58 a.m. ET5 hours ago

5 hours ago

Chelsia Rose Marcius

Reporters, protesters and supporters of Marjorie Taylor Greene followed her to a white Ford Expedition parked on Leonard Street. Police officers and her security team stretched out their arms to keep the crowd at bay. Even after she got into the vehicle and closed the door, people banged on the windows as it pulled away.

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0:01/0:19

1 00:00:00,000 —> 00:00:03,355 [whistles] 2 00:00:05,842 —> 00:00:08,242 Jan. 6 was an insurrection. 3 00:00:09,366 —> 00:00:12,356 Jan. 6 was an insurrection. 4 00:00:13,693 —> 00:00:15,453 Jan. 6 was an insurrection. 5 00:00:16,400 —> 00:00:20,180 Jan. 6 was an insurrection.

[whistles]

CreditCredit...Chelsia Rose Marcius/The New York Times

Lola Fadulu

April 4, 2023, 10:48 a.m. ET5 hours ago

5 hours ago

Lola Fadulu

Sally Hogan, 48, traveled two hours on the train from Kinderhook, N.Y., to lower Manhattan for Trump’s arraignment. “I wanted to come out and support the president that has stood up for us for so long, even though it was difficult for him to get up and fight the battles each day,” said Hogan, who is the president of the Republican Women’s Club of Columbia and Rensselaer counties. “I just wanted to show a little courage.”

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Credit...Lola Fadulu/The New York Times

Michael Gold

April 4, 2023, 10:42 a.m. ET5 hours ago

5 hours ago

Michael Gold

George Santos made a brief appearance at Tuesday’s rally.

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George Santos, wearing sunglasses, is surrounded by media.

George Santos, the Republican congressman who is under investigation for extensive lies about his résumé, expressed support for the former president.Credit...Ahmed Gaber for The New York Times

Representative George Santos, the New York Republican facing multiple investigations over his lies about his background and irregularities in his campaign finances, joined a crowd of former President Donald J. Trump’s supporters demonstrating outside the Manhattan courthouse on Tuesday morning.

“I’m here in support of the president,” Mr. Santos said after being mobbed by a group of reporters.

Mr. Santos was not set to speak at Tuesday morning’s rally, where a number of speakers including Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, the brash Republican congresswoman from Georgia, will criticize Manhattan’s district attorney for bringing a criminal case against Mr. Trump.

A number of reporters said that Mr. Santos — who, since taking office in January amid questions about his background and finances, has often been followed by a swarm of journalists — told them that the chaotic media scene had driven him away.

The congressman, who represents parts of Long Island and Queens, has been an outspoken supporter of Mr. Trump’s for years, with his emergence in politics tied closely to the former president. Mr. Santos has already championed Mr. Trump’s ongoing presidential campaign and has criticized local Republicans for failing to back him.

Mr. Santos spoke at a rally in Washington on Jan. 5, 2021, the day before the Capitol riot, when he falsely claimed that his election that year, which he lost, had been “stolen.” He asked the crowd, “Who here is ready to overturn the election for Donald Trump?”

He has also said that he was at the pro-Trump rally in Washington on Jan. 6 that preceded the riot, but that he did not follow a mob of Mr. Trump’s supporters to the Capitol itself.

Mr. Santos is closely aligned with the New York Young Republican Club, the conservative group holding Tuesday’s rally. His operations director, Viswanag Burra, is the group’s executive secretary, and Mr. Santos attended the organization’s gala in December, at which the guest list included white nationalists and right-wing conspiracy theorists.

The congressman has also called Ms. Greene, the rally’s keynote speaker, a “friend,” and she was one of the earliest members of Congress to express support for him as he became engulfed in controversy.

Mr. Santos is currently facing investigations from federal prosecutors, as well as district attorneys in Queens and Nassau County on Long Island. The House Ethics Committee has also started an inquiry into his behavior.

Jason Silverstein contributed reporting.

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Michael Gold

April 4, 2023, 10:41 a.m. ET5 hours ago

5 hours ago

Michael Gold

As he has often in recent days, Donald Trump wrote on his social networking site, Truth Social, that he wants his trial to be moved from Manhattan to Staten Island, where he received considerably more support among voters in 2016 and 2020. Judges rarely agree to such a change of venue, and legal analysts have said that Trump is unlikely to get one in this case.

April 4, 2023, 10:40 a.m. ET5 hours ago

5 hours ago

Chelsia Rose Marcius

A crowd of journalists and spectators is swarming toward Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene in the park in front of the courthouse. Opponents shout insults as hundreds of people flood toward her, cameras in the air. She can barely be heard above the noise.

Jesse McKinley

April 4, 2023, 10:34 a.m. ET5 hours ago

5 hours ago

Jesse McKinley

Marjorie Taylor Greene attacks Democrats as protesters converge at the courthouse.

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0:24

Marjorie Taylor Greene Speaks Outside Manhattan Criminal Court

Trump supporters gathered around Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and chanted “U.S.A.”, while anti-Trump protesters booed during her remarks outside the courthouse.CreditCredit...Ahmed Gaber for The New York Times

Supporters and opponents of former President Donald J. Trump gathered in Lower Manhattan on Tuesday, galvanized by his impending arraignment, in a tense display of passions surrounding Mr. Trump, who is currently the Republican Party’s leading presidential candidate in 2024.

Scores of demonstrators from both sides began amassing hours before Mr. Trump, 76, was due at the Manhattan Criminal Courts Building, with a pro-Trump rally outside the courthouse headlined by Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a far-right Republican from Georgia.

Wearing sunglasses and speaking into a megaphone, Ms. Greene delivered brief remarks, attacking Democrats as “communists” and “failures” and reeling off a list of her and her party’s policy positions.

“We’re the party that wants to protect the lives of the unborn, we’re the party of male and female, two genders only,” said Ms. Greene, who had been invited to Manhattan by the New York Young Republican Club. “We’re the party of secure borders. We’re the party that will bring peace to the world like President Trump did, not World War III, like Joe Biden is doing.”

The appearance by Ms. Greene, who supports conspiracy theories and has falsely suggested that Democrats support pedophilia, had brought a crush of onlookers and counterprotesters.

Police were separating pro- and anti-Trump demonstrators in Collect Pond Park, keeping an aisle — and an array of officers — between the two groups, who were largely peaceful, though at least one small skirmish broke out. Ms. Greene’s arrival was accompanied by heavy security.

“Go back to Georgia!” one person shouted.

Some Trump supporters started chanting “U.S.A.! U.S.A.!” as the congresswoman concluded her remarks. Several Trump opponents banged on the windows of her car as it pulled away.

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Four Trump supporters wearing red baseball caps saying “MAGA,” “Make America Great Again,” “USA” and “America First.”

Demonstrators began amassing hours before Donald J. Trump was due at the Manhattan Criminal Courts Building.Credit...Ahmed Gaber for The New York Times

Several streets in the area were closed to both cars and pedestrians, as Trump supporters waved flags bearing sentiments like “Trump or Death” and “Covid-19 is a lie.” Counterprotesters held signs that said “Fascists” and “Thank you, Alvin,” a reference to the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, who has brought charges against Mr. Trump.

During a City Hall news conference on Monday, Mayor Eric Adams warned protesters from out of state to “control yourselves.”

“New York City’s our home, not a playground for your misplaced anger,” the mayor said, provoking a furious response from Ms. Greene, who falsely accused the mayor of sending “henchmen” to the pro-Trump event on Tuesday.

Ms. Greene was not the only controversial lawmaker at the rally, which was promoted by the New York Young Republican Club. Representative George Santos, the serial liar and embattled freshman Republican from Long Island, also showed up, though he left shortly after arriving, saying he felt unsafe.

Some fans of Mr. Trump had traveled for hours to support him, including Sally Hogan, who had come from Kinderhook, in the Hudson Valley.

“I wanted to come out and support the president that has stood up for us for so long, even though it was difficult for him to get up and fight the battles each day,” said Ms. Hogan, who is the president of the Republican Women’s Club of Columbia and Rensselaer Counties. “I just wanted to show a little courage.”

Jason Silverstein, Lola Fadulu, Chelsia Rose Marcius, Daniel Victor and Kate Christobek contributed reporting.

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April 4, 2023, 10:31 a.m. ET5 hours ago

5 hours ago

Christopher Maag

As Trump’s arraignment consumed the area around the federal courthouse, New Yorkers transacted the city’s daily business. Cheryl Davidson needed a copy of her birth certificate. She bumbled around lower Manhattan, asking police officers and journalists for directions to the Bureau of Vital Statistics, located in a pale government building on Worth Street. Asked about the world news event happening half a block away, Davidson was dismissive.

“I’m not worried about Donald Trump,” said Davidson, 54. “If it was me, I’d be locked up and under the jail.”

William Rashbaum

April 4, 2023, 10:25 a.m. ET5 hours ago

5 hours ago

William Rashbaum

In an email to his staff late Monday, District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg laid out measures by his office and the state agency that runs the courts “to allow for the safe and efficient Supreme Court arraignment of former President Donald Trump.”

He said access would be restricted to the 15th floor of the courthouse, where Trump will be arraigned. The entrance to the district attorney's office, which is part of the Criminal Courts Building on Centre Street, “will be inaccessible for a short period,” presumably during Trump’s early-afternoon arrival. Bragg also told his staff that the office’s wireless network would be disabled for much of the afternoon, apparently a precaution taken at the request of the Secret Service.

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Credit...Dave Sanders for The New York Times

Michael Gold

William K. Rashbaum

April 4, 2023, 10:23 a.m. ET5 hours ago

5 hours ago

Michael Gold and William K. Rashbaum

Here’s why Trump is not expected to have a mug shot taken.

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Police officers stand along a steel barricade.

Though most defendants have their mug shot taken before arraignment, it is not required by law.Credit...Anna Watts for The New York Times

When former president Donald J. Trump is formally arrested in Manhattan on Tuesday, he will in some respects be treated like any other criminal defendant: He will have his fingerprints taken and will be assigned a New York State Identification Number to track his criminal history.

But Mr. Trump is not expected to be handcuffed, and he will likely not have a mug shot taken, according to several people with knowledge of the matter.

Under New York State law, the authorities must take the fingerprints of anyone charged with a felony. But law enforcement officials have discretion over whether they take a mug shot.

Mug shots are meant to help the authorities identify a defendant and find them if they flee; in such instances, the photographs are distributed to law enforcement agencies and sometimes the media in order to help apprehend the fugitive.

But Mr. Trump is not considered a significant flight risk, and as he is a former president who hosted a widely popular reality television show after spending decades as a fixture of the tabloids, photographs of him are more than readily available.

Several officials also said there was concern that a mug shot of Mr. Trump, which would be provided to the New York Police Department and other agencies, would be leaked. That would be a violation of law and could prompt an investigation and a political firestorm.

Taking Mr. Trump’s mug shot would also be complicated for logistical reasons, one law enforcement official said. He is expected to surrender to the authorities at the Manhattan Criminal Courts Building. The official said that facility does not have the equipment necessary to take Mr. Trump’s mug shot.

That means doing so would require that he be taken to either the Police Department’s Central Booking facility or to the Manhattan Detention Complex, which would entail more movements for the former president. Mr. Trump’s surrender and arraignment has already been highly choreographed by the Secret Service, the Police Department and court security to reduce the possible security risk to Mr. Trump.

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Lola Fadulu

April 4, 2023, 10:18 a.m. ET5 hours ago

5 hours ago

Lola Fadulu

New York City police officers swiftly escorted a woman holding up a neon orange “Trump 4 Prison” sign out of the side of the park dedicated to Trump supporters; there is a side for anti-Trump protesters, too. There have been few skirmishes between the two sides ahead of the arraignment. Mayor Eric Adams has said confidently that the city is prepared to handle today’s events.

William Rashbaum

April 4, 2023, 10:16 a.m. ET5 hours ago

5 hours ago

William Rashbaum

Trump is expected to arrive at the district attorney’s office by limousine to surrender. He will most likely enter the office’s door at 1 Hogan Place, a small side street. The Secret Service may erect a tent as a security precaution to obscure the entryway. The office is adjacent to the imposing gray Criminal Courts Building, and Trump, accompanied by his protective detail, can enter the courthouse through the district attorney’s office after his arrest is processed and he is fingerprinted.

April 4, 2023, 10:10 a.m. ET6 hours ago

6 hours ago

Brittany Kriegstein

As protesters began to gather in a downtown park, a very different kind of gathering was already underway near Federal Plaza. A line of hundreds of immigrants stretched as far as the eye could see, many waiting for appointments for asylum proceedings. Some had no idea about the Trump arraignment about to unfold nearby.

“For me, I think he’s a hateful person,” Victor Garcia, 29, said in Spanish about the former president. He said he had just arrived from Colombia this week and had already been waiting on the immigration line with his wife for three hours. “He doesn’t want to give immigrants opportunities to come to this country and find a better future.”

Lola Fadulu

April 4, 2023, 10:02 a.m. ET6 hours ago

6 hours ago

Lola Fadulu

New York City police officers put out fencing separating the downtown park where the Trump rally was being held into two large sections on Tuesday morning. On one side, a man wearing a Make America Great Again hat held up a flag with the words “Trump or Death.” Signs with phrases including “Covid-19 is a lie” and “Honk for unmasking our kids” were stuck into the ground. On the other side, people stood near the metal fencing holding their own signs, including “Fascists” and one that said “Thank you, Alvin.”

Image

Credit...Ahmed Gaber for The New York Times

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Jason Silverstein

April 4, 2023, 9:44 a.m. ET6 hours ago

6 hours ago

Jason Silverstein

Representative George Santos of New York arrived in the park where a pro-Trump demonstration is planned and immediately drew a swarm of news media as hecklers taunted his history of lies.

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Credit...Ahmed Gaber for The New York Times

April 4, 2023, 9:53 a.m. ET6 hours ago

6 hours ago

Christopher Maag

George Santos made a long tour of Centre Street, a knot of reporters in tow. Asked whether he would be flying to Mar-a-Lago tonight, Santos laughed. “Guys,” he said. “I don’t have a plane.”

Nate Schweber

April 4, 2023, 9:44 a.m. ET6 hours ago

6 hours ago

Nate Schweber

“The best day of my life,” Gregory Williams, a 57-year-old Bronx resident, said as he relaxed into a folding chair with a view of the criminal courthouse in Manhattan with a life-size cardboard cutout of Hillary Clinton for company.

“All this is just a big show,” Williams said. “I got the popcorn. This is American theater at its best.”

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Credit...Nate Schweber for The New York Times

Maggie Haberman

April 4, 2023, 9:33 a.m. ETApril 4, 2023

April 4, 2023

Maggie Haberman

Ahead of Trump’s court date, his allies have been heavily focused on the idea that he could face a gag order, something his advisers are also aware is a possibility after his broadsides against District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, who pushed for indictment, and Justice Juan Merchan, who is presiding over the case. There is no indication so far that the judge plans to impose one. Still, conservative news outlets have covered it as a potential outcome.

Glenn Thrush

April 4, 2023, 9:32 a.m. ETApril 4, 2023

April 4, 2023

Glenn Thrush

Trump’s legal team wants to associate the Bragg indictment with the continuing Georgia and Justice Department investigations, portraying all the cases as one big, politically motivated persecution. “We have a rule that’s been set up for Donald Trump and Donald Trump alone,” James Trusty, a lawyer representing Trump on the federal probe, told the BBC early Tuesday. “That’s the commonality of these criminal investigations — overbearing, nonjudicious prosecutors who target a man rather than following the evidence.”

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Credit...Brittainy Newman/Associated Press

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April 4, 2023, 9:29 a.m. ETApril 4, 2023

April 4, 2023

Brittany Kriegstein and Jason Silverstein

How long do you wait in line for tickets to a historic arraignment? About 18 hours.

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Reporters sit and stand in line in the dark next to metal police barricades.

Journalists waited in line outside the Manhattan Criminal Courts Building early Tuesday morning.Credit...Benjamin Norman for The New York Times

As New York City braced for the formal unveiling of charges against Donald J. Trump, a curious phenomenon began to unfold on Monday afternoon next to Collect Pond Park, in the shadows of the Manhattan Criminal Courts Building.

Seemingly out of thin air, a line of reporters formed — queuing for an event that was not scheduled to take place until more than 24 hours later.

Here is what happened in the line to get into the courtroom for the arraignment of the first American president ever to face criminal charges.

2 p.m.

It started with journalists from NBC and Hell Gate, a local news website. Soon, they were joined by others. The line swelled to 10, then 20, as time passed and word traveled. Caught off-guard, some of the early arrivals wore light jackets, unprepared to spend long hours in the evening chill.

Those who came later were ready. They carried backpacks, notebooks, cameras and lawn chairs. They greeted longtime friends and sized up acquaintances with knowing glances. They wore coats and hoods. It’s going to be a long night, they said, as if it weren’t already obvious. Eventually, police officers set up a metal barricade for them to wait against.

The reporters approached their task as if competing in a Journalism Olympics — after all, it kind of was. International news agency employees rubbed shoulders with reporters from local news outlets, jockeying for precious spots. Young, hungry freelancers showed up smiling, ready to test their stamina. Everyone wanted a piece of the gold: a seat in the courtroom for an unprecedented moment in American history.

5 p.m.

Local residents grew curious, asking what the line was for. One man offered hot toddies to the line waiters, who were growing chillier by the minute.

Anxiety began to build. Some publications hired professional line sitters to take their places for the next few hours, hoping to secure their entries.

One recipient of a frantic call was Robert Samuel, the founder of Same Ole Line Dudes. A business as New York as it gets, Mr. Samuel’s company is exactly what it sounds like: guys who get paid to wait in line.

By about 7 p.m., he already had at least eight people, including himself, holding spots for media outlets trying to get inside the courtroom. He said his clients included ABC, NBC, CNN and Rolling Stone, and he was scrambling to bring more people in to cover demand from other news outlets.

“Can you do an overnight?” he asked one employee on the phone. “If you don’t have a chair I’ll reimburse you.”

Mr. Samuel, 47, a Brooklyn native who now lives in Chelsea, said he started the business in 2012 after he waited in line at the Apple Store on 14th Street to purchase an iPhone 5 for someone who had posted on Craigslist. When that client instead ended up purchasing the phone online, Mr. Samuel sold his spot and two others for $100 each, and the idea for his business began to take shape.

His business over the years has involved waiting for rare sneaker drops, book signings, celebrity meet-and-greets and new, must-have foods. More recently, there has been a demand for court cases.

“I like it because it flexes my company’s muscles and gives us more to do, instead of just cronuts and sneakers and fashion stuff,” he said.

One of Mr. Samuel’s line-sitters, Adonis Porch, was hired to hold a spot for NBC, at the very front of the line. In tranquil contrast to some of the jittery reporters, Mr. Porch calmly unpacked a blue and yellow personal weatherproof sitting tent and eased himself into it for the night.

2 a.m.

The line was about 50 or 60 people long. Food containers, blankets and lawn chairs were strewn about. One person was stretched on the ground, sleeping.

Katie Way, 28, a reporter from Hell Gate, guarded her company’s coveted third-place spot wearing white earmuffs and orange Ugg boots. She was quick to point out that, despite Hell Gate’s interest in covering the case, they’d sell their spot to support their site.

“They can totally pay us low five-figures, minimum 10K,” she said. “You too can see the arraignment. We’re straight-up about it.”

Farther back, groggy newspeople socialized to stay awake. Kerry Burke, a New York Daily News reporter who glanced up from a magazine, mused about the possibility of “unrest” in the morning but said he was not expecting much to happen.

“This isn’t like Jan. 6,” he said. “There’s no build-up. It’s not spontaneous. Where are they?” he said of Trump supporters who might protest.

5 a.m.

After coffee runs and shift changes, the buzz in the air began to pick up. Or maybe that was just the whirring of the engines of dozens of television news trucks, as sharply dressed broadcast reporters began their live shots. Surrounded by wires and cables, their camera crews shone bright lights on Centre Street.

Off to the side, still in the yellowed half-dark of the street lamps, dozens of bundled reporters were starting to awaken.

7 a.m.

Things began to grow tense toward the front of the line as reporters sought to hold down their spots. Helicopters circled overhead and the sun came up, shining on the federal court buildings to the south. The American flag waved over the building where Mr. Trump was indicted by a grand jury last week.

8 a.m.

A group of court officers appeared with a stack of cards in three colors: green, yellow and white. The green cards were given to those near the front of the line. It was the equivalent of a golden ticket: They had gained access to the courtroom where Donald J. Trump would be arraigned in just over six hours.

Nate Schweber, Sean Piccoli, Kate Christobek, Michael D. Regan, Lauren Hard, Carly Olson and Jonah E. Bromwich contributed reporting.

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Daniel Victor

April 4, 2023, 9:21 a.m. ETApril 4, 2023

April 4, 2023

Daniel Victor

Road closures are expected in Manhattan, but officials have not detailed where or when.

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Four uniformed police officers stand outside near metal barricades.

Police officers waited outside the courthouse on Tuesday morning.Credit...Ahmed Gaber for The New York Times

New York City officials warned motorists to expect road closures on Tuesday, but have not announced which roads will be closed or the hours they will be impassable.

As of Tuesday morning, some streets in the vicinity of the courthouse in Lower Manhattan were closed to both cars and pedestrians, including the stretch of Baxter Street next to Columbus Park, and Hogan Place outside the courthouse.

Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said at a news conference on Monday that people should expect “intermittent road closures over the next two days, particularly in Manhattan.”

“There is one area close to Trump Tower that will have a road that is closed just to facilitate his transport, but beyond that, there’ll be rolling road closures intermittently through the city,” she said, referring to the Midtown building that includes one of Mr. Trump’s homes. “We’re trying to have minimal amount of intrusion into city life.”

She added that “we will make sure we have enough officers to facilitate transport throughout the city.”

Commissioner Sewell and Mayor Eric Adams did not indicate there would be any disruptions to subway service, and encouraged people to take public transportation.

“There’s a great deal of additional traffic that may come in the city,” Mr. Adams said.

Kate Christobek contributed reporting.

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Daniel Victor

April 4, 2023, 9:21 a.m. ETApril 4, 2023

April 4, 2023

Daniel Victor

Road closures are expected in Manhattan, but officials have not detailed where or when.

Image

Four uniformed police officers stand outside near metal barricades.

Police officers waited outside the courthouse on Tuesday morning.Credit...Ahmed Gaber for The New York Times

New York City officials warned motorists to expect road closures on Tuesday, but have not announced which roads will be closed or the hours they will be impassable.

As of Tuesday morning, some streets in the vicinity of the courthouse in Lower Manhattan were closed to both cars and pedestrians, including the stretch of Baxter Street next to Columbus Park, and Hogan Place outside the courthouse.

Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said at a news conference on Monday that people should expect “intermittent road closures over the next two days, particularly in Manhattan.”

“There is one area close to Trump Tower that will have a road that is closed just to facilitate his transport, but beyond that, there’ll be rolling road closures intermittently through the city,” she said, referring to the Midtown building that includes one of Mr. Trump’s homes. “We’re trying to have minimal amount of intrusion into city life.”

She added that “we will make sure we have enough officers to facilitate transport throughout the city.”

Commissioner Sewell and Mayor Eric Adams did not indicate there would be any disruptions to subway service, and encouraged people to take public transportation.

“There’s a great deal of additional traffic that may come in the city,” Mr. Adams said.

Kate Christobek contributed reporting.

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Jason Silverstein

April 4, 2023, 9:17 a.m. ETApril 4, 2023

April 4, 2023

Jason Silverstein

Several Trump supporters, most wearing MAGA clothing, have appeared in the park across the street from the courthouse, where Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia will be holding an event this morning. Counter-protesters hoisting signs cheering on Trump’s indictment have also started filing in.

Maverick Stow, a Trump supporter from Long Island, is walking through the park holding an American flag. He said he came to protest what he called “the politically weaponized prosecution” of the former president and “the misuse of the justice system in general.”

Jesse McKinley

April 4, 2023, 9:16 a.m. ETApril 4, 2023

April 4, 2023

Jesse McKinley

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who is expected to speak at a rally in front of the courthouse this morning, said on Twitter that planned demonstrations opposing her appearance could amount to “assault that can cause audible damage to everyone’s ears including NYPD.”

“If counter protestors are violating freedom of speech and committing assault, they should be arrested,” she said.

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Maggie Haberman

April 4, 2023, 9:15 a.m. ETApril 4, 2023

April 4, 2023

Maggie Haberman

Jason Miller, a Trump adviser, said on Twitter on Monday night that Trump had raised another $1.1 million the day before the arraignment. Trump's camp has said it has raised well over $7 million since the indictment was made public Thursday.

Maggie Haberman

April 4, 2023, 9:14 a.m. ETApril 4, 2023

April 4, 2023

Maggie Haberman

Trump has been focused on making sure District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg and his office do not have the last word on the charges. He is trying to exert control over a process that is very much out of his control by influencing the news coverage.

April 4, 2023, 9:11 a.m. ETApril 4, 2023

April 4, 2023

Anna Watts

Before sunrise at Trump Tower, several dozen members of the media set up camp with ladders and tripods in press pens, prepared to wait. Groups of police officers are at every street corner surrounding the building, and barricades have been set up to prevent pedestrian traffic from accessing any sidewalks. A few supporters of the former president are milling around the media pens holding up pro-Trump signs and taking videos.

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Credit...Anna Watts for The New York Times

Maggie Haberman

April 4, 2023, 9:08 a.m. ETApril 4, 2023

April 4, 2023

Maggie Haberman

Trump has been preparing to use the day for as much of a show of defiance as possible. The news that he would deliver the words “not guilty” himself was unsurprising.

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Jonah Bromwich

April 4, 2023, 9:06 a.m. ETApril 4, 2023

April 4, 2023

Jonah Bromwich

The news that Trump will enter his own plea and will possibly speak outside the courtroom has rippled through the press room on the ground floor of the courthouse. Photographers are considering what they’ll shout at Trump as he passes, while some of the journalists have questioned whether the former president will keep to the two words “not guilty.”

Maggie Haberman

April 4, 2023, 9:05 a.m. ETApril 4, 2023

April 4, 2023

Maggie Haberman

Trump is expected to enter his own not-guilty plea, rather than having his lawyers do it, a person familiar with his plans said Tuesday morning. He is also weighing addressing the cameras before or after the arraignment, another person familiar with the discussions said.

April 4, 2023, 8:34 a.m. ETApril 4, 2023

April 4, 2023

William K. Rashbaum, Maggie Haberman, Charlie Savage and Jonah E. Bromwich

Trump could turn to a familiar legal strategy: attack and delay.

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Donald Trump, wearing a dark suit with an American flag lapel pin, standing against a backdrop of American flags.

Former President Donald Trump speaking at an event in March in Davenport, Iowa.Credit...Desiree Rios/The New York Times

Two tactics have been at the center of Donald J. Trump’s favored strategy in court cases for much of his adult life: attack and delay. And if the former president sticks to his well-worn legal playbook, they will be part of his approach to fighting the criminal charges now leveled against him.

In fact, his attacks against both the prosecutor and the judge in the case have already begun.

Over more than four decades, Mr. Trump has sued and been sued in civil court again and again. In recent years, he has faced federal criminal investigations, congressional inquiries and two impeachments. Now the former president faces an indictment stemming from a hush-money payment made to a porn star in the final days of the 2016 presidential campaign.

Mr. Trump, who has steadfastly contended he committed no crime and almost certainly will decline any plea deal, will fight the case in State Supreme Court in Manhattan.

The details of Mr. Trump’s defense strategy are still unclear because the specific charges in the indictment against him will stay under seal until his arraignment on Tuesday. But two things seem certain: The defense approach will include aggressively attacking the credibility of Michael D. Cohen, Mr. Trump’s onetime fixer and lawyer who is expected to be the prosecution’s central witness; and, if the indictment relies on a legal theory that has never been evaluated by a judge, the defense will zero in and challenge it zealously.

Mr. Trump has long used delay tactics in legal matters that emerged from business disputes, and since becoming a politician he has repeatedly tried to throw sand in the gears of the legal system, using the resulting slow pace of litigation to run out the clock until seismic events shifted the playing field.

One of the more notable examples came in the early stages of the Manhattan district attorney’s investigation that led to the indictment. Prosecutors in 2019 subpoenaed Mr. Trump’s tax returns and other records, and the president sued in federal court to block the document demand. That move delayed the inquiry for 18 months while the case went to the Supreme Court of the United States — twice. (Mr. Trump lost both times.)

Similarly, when Democrats took over the House after the 2018 midterm elections and began trying to conduct oversight, Mr. Trump vowed to stonewall their subpoenas and raised a host of objections once the matters got into court. The disputes chewed up time — for briefings, arguments and then the period judges took to craft opinions — and while Mr. Trump often lost those decisions, he would simply appeal again and restart the process.

In that way, Mr. Trump effectively won despite losing, thwarting the ability of House Democrats to extract potentially damaging information — such as testimony by his former White House counsel about his efforts to obstruct the Russia investigation — before voters went to the polls for the 2020 election.

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Jonah Bromwich

April 4, 2023, 8:17 a.m. ETApril 4, 2023

April 4, 2023

Jonah Bromwich

I’m now inside the press room with a phalanx of the state court reporters who work out of this dark room, with old tabloid front pages posted all over the walls. We’re settling in to wait. Barely anyone but reporters and court officers are inside this early, but the court will fill with people conducting regular business in short order.

Daniel Victor

April 4, 2023, 8:15 a.m. ETApril 4, 2023

April 4, 2023

Daniel Victor

Cameras won’t be allowed to cover Trump’s full arraignment.

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A large number of cameras and television lights are positioned on a street under a dark sky.

Members of the news media waiting outside Manhattan Criminal Courthouse on Tuesday morning. Credit...Ahmed Gaber for The New York Times

Donald J. Trump has spent much of his life courting the cameras, but on Tuesday, when he is arraigned on criminal charges in a Manhattan courtroom, the full proceedings won’t be broadcast or photographed.

Video and radio journalists will not be permitted inside the courtroom as the former president is arraigned. Five still photographers will be allowed in before the start of the proceedings and given “several minutes” before they must leave, Juan M. Merchan, an acting New York Supreme Court justice, ruled on Monday.

The judge also said that the use of electronic devices will not be permitted in the courtroom.

Cameras are typically not allowed in New York courtrooms, but news organizations had asked for an exception to allow for a limited number of videographers, photographers and radio journalists. Mr. Trump’s lawyers contended that cameras would create a “circus-like atmosphere,” raise security concerns and “inevitably result in prejudice.”

Under the judge’s ruling, the five pool photographers will be allowed in the jury box before the arraignment, and once they are escorted out of the courtroom, “no further photography will be permitted.” Cameras will be permitted in hallways, potentially capturing Mr. Trump walking into the courtroom.

News organizations had asked that journalists attending the arraignment be able to use their electronic devices so they could email, text and post to social networks during the proceedings. The judge said any devices in the courtroom must be turned off and put away, and any device in public view would be confiscated.  Show more

Jonah Bromwich

April 4, 2023, 8:06 a.m. ETApril 4, 2023

April 4, 2023

Jonah Bromwich

Reporters are being handed green tickets to get into the room where Mr. Trump will be arraigned.

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Jason Silverstein

April 4, 2023, 7:56 a.m. ETApril 4, 2023

April 4, 2023

Jason Silverstein

Four sketch artists who will be capturing Donald Trump’s arraignment stood outside the courthouse early in the morning, carrying art supplies. Despite the media attention, the artists said it would be a simple job, as they expect Trump to appear for only a few minutes. “It’s just like every other assignment,” said one of the artists, Jane Rosenberg. “It’s just bigger.”

The artists agreed that the intense media presence was the most difficult part of their task. “El Chapo was better,” said Andrea Shepard, referring to the Mexican drug kingpin’s trial in Brooklyn years ago, which she covered. “It was much calmer there.”

Mark Landler

April 4, 2023, 7:45 a.m. ETApril 4, 2023

April 4, 2023

Mark Landler

POLITICAL MEMO

Many world leaders view Donald Trump’s political resilience as inevitable.

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Two men on a stage in front of a white backdrop, wearing suits and half-smiles.

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, left, with the chairman of the Munich Security Conference, Wolfgang Ischinger, at the Munich Security Conference in Germany in February last year, days before Russia’s full-scale invasion of his country.Credit...Pool photo by Ronald Wittek

LONDON — Whether foreign leaders view the potential return of Donald J. Trump to the White House with hope or horror, the prospect of a Trump restoration is so deeply ingrained overseas that leaders in several countries have hedged their bets in diplomacy, security, and even where they invest their fortunes.

There were few signs that Mr. Trump’s indictment last week on criminal charges in New York has changed those calculations.

Foreign leaders have watched Mr. Trump bounce back from so many disasters, according to diplomats and foreign-policy experts, that they now regard his political resilience with something approaching fatalism. This is especially true in Europe, whose leaders spent four years enduring Mr. Trump’s hectoring on issues ranging from military spending to climate change.

Even if Mr. Trump’s legal woes end his political viability in a way that two impeachments and an election defeat to Joseph R. Biden Jr. did not, many worry that he will be replaced by any number of Trump-like alternatives, of whom the Republican governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, is the most prominent example.

“If Trump were really history, many in Europe would have fewer sleepless nights,” said Wolfgang Ischinger, a former German ambassador to the United States who ran the Munich Security Conference until 2022. “But the fundamental fear Trump provoked six years ago would not disappear.”

“What if the isolationist virus Trump unleashed continued to infect other candidates?” Mr. Ischinger said. “What if, instead of Trump, Republicans nominate another isolationist candidate for the presidency? And what if that candidate wins?”

These fears were deepened when Mr. DeSantis, the leading potential challenger to Mr. Trump for the Republican presidential nomination, recently characterized Russia’s war on Ukraine as a “territorial dispute.” He later walked back the comment under intense criticism from fellow Republicans.

But his remark, which echoed Mr. Trump’s casual treatment of the Russian invasion, arguably landed with a bigger thud in European capitals than in the United States, given the heavy dependence of Europe on American military and diplomatic support to maintain a unified resistance to Russian aggression.

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Jonah Bromwich

April 4, 2023, 7:37 a.m. ETApril 4, 2023

April 4, 2023

Jonah Bromwich

I’m near the front of the line waiting for a ticket that grants access to the courtroom where Donald Trump will be arraigned later today. There are helicopters overhead and it’s a little tense up here — people have been waiting all night to get access to this extraordinary court proceeding.

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April 4, 2023, 7:06 a.m. ETApril 4, 2023

April 4, 2023

Benjamin Norman

As the sun rises in New York, there are well over 100 members of the press in position across from the criminal courthouse on Centre Street in Lower Manhattan where Donald Trump is expected to appear later today. Many journalists have been here since last night, if not earlier. There’s also a sizable line of reporters and members of the public waiting for the chance to enter the courtroom.

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Credit...Benjamin Norman for The New York Times

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CreditCredit...Associated Press

April 4, 2023, 7:00 a.m. ETApril 4, 2023

April 4, 2023

Jonah E. Bromwich, Ben Protess and William K. Rashbaum

A series of turning points led to Trump’s indictment last week.

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Alvin L. Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, center, leaving 1 Hogan Place on Thursday after it became known that former President Donald Trump had been indicted.

Alvin L. Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, center, leaving 1 Hogan Place on Thursday after it became known that former President Donald Trump had been indicted.Credit...Dave Sanders for The New York Times

One year ago, the Manhattan district attorney’s investigation into Donald J. Trump appeared to be dead in the water.

The two leaders of the investigation had recently resigned after the new district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, decided not to charge Mr. Trump at that point. Amid a fierce backlash to his decision — and a brutal start to his tenure — Mr. Bragg insisted that the investigation was not over. But a disbelieving media questioned why, if the effort was still moving forward, there were so few signs of it.

“Unless y’all are great poker players,” Mr. Bragg told The New York Times in an early April 2022 interview, “you don’t know what we’re doing.”

What they were doing, new interviews show, was going back to square one, poring over the reams of evidence that had already been collected by his predecessor.

For a time, their efforts were haphazard as they examined a wide range of Mr. Trump’s business practices, including whether he had lied about his net worth, which was the focus of the investigation when Mr. Bragg had declined to seek an indictment. But by July, Mr. Bragg had decided to assign several additional prosecutors to pursue one particular strand that struck him as promising: a hush-money payment made on Mr. Trump’s behalf to a porn star during the final days of the 2016 presidential campaign.

On Thursday, Mr. Trump was indicted on that strand. Interviews with about a dozen people familiar with the investigation revealed the circuitous and sometimes uncertain road that led to the first criminal charges against a former American president.

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Dan Barry

April 4, 2023, 6:30 a.m. ETApril 4, 2023

April 4, 2023

Dan Barry

An indictment against the 45th president is the latest chapter in a life made for the tabloids.

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Donald Trump, when he was co-owner of the Miss USA Pageant, with contestants gathered in Branson, Mo., in 1998.

Donald Trump, when he was co-owner of the Miss USA Pageant, with contestants gathered in Branson, Mo., in 1998.Credit...John Sleezer/Kansas City Star, via Associated Press

The particulars of the indictment against former President Donald J. Trump have yet to be revealed, but the salient details are heaven-made for headlines and screen crawls:

Sex. Porn star. Sex. Hush money. Sex.

Mr. Trump maintains his innocence in now-familiar fashion, framing himself as the righteous victim of “thugs and radical left monsters.” But the indictment’s salacious nature resurrects the Donald Trump who existed well before he became the 45th president — before his ubiquitous MAGA catchphrase, before his claims to be greater than Washington or Lincoln, before the two impeachments and one Capitol riot.

That would be the Donald Trump who liked to present himself as a player, extremely confident that his wealth and looks made him catnip to women. A man who could talk about threesomes with a radio shock jock, boldly stroll through a dressing area filled with pageant contestants, rate women on a 1-to-10 scale based on their physical appearance.

It is a part of Mr. Trump’s persona that has repeatedly come back to haunt him, most recently on Thursday, when a Manhattan grand jury forever branded him as the first former president formally charged with a crime.

Mr. Trump, who recently began his campaign for the 2024 presidential election, is hardly the first president to be linked to sexual impropriety. Bill Clinton had sexual relations with the female intern he infamously said he didn’t have sexual relations with — in the Oval Office. John F. Kennedy’s many affairs included one with a woman who was also intimate with a Chicago mob boss. Warren G. Harding fathered a child with a mistress who claimed that they had sex in a White House coat room. There are more.

But Mr. Trump’s long public history of entanglements, boasts and crude comments distinguishes him in the presidential pantheon.

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March 30, 2023, 7:03 p.m. ETMarch 30, 2023

March 30, 2023

William K. Rashbaum, Ben Protess and Jonah E. Bromwich

The indictment stems from a nearly five-year investigation.

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Former President Donald J. Trump in a blue suit raising his fist.

Former President Donald J. Trump had often drawn scrutiny in his long career as a businessman.Credit...Rebecca Noble for The New York Times

For nearly five years, confidential records have identified a continuing grand jury inquiry in Manhattan as “Investigation Into the Business and Affairs of John Doe.”

But soon that secret matter will get a more recognizable name: “The People of the State of New York against Donald J. Trump.”

That case, which the Manhattan grand jury approved on Thursday, is the product of a tortuous investigation that began in the summer of 2018.

At the time, Mr. Trump was president and the investigation’s leader was Cyrus R. Vance Jr., the then-district attorney. Mr. Trump’s fixer, Michael D. Cohen, had just pleaded guilty to federal charges stemming from the payment of hush money to a pornographic film star.

Mr. Vance seized on the guilty plea, opening the investigation to determine whether Mr. Trump and his company ran afoul of New York State law as well.

The assistant district attorneys he assigned did not get far: The federal prosecutors who charged Mr. Cohen asked Mr. Vance’s office to stand down until their own investigation was complete, which took nearly a year.

Once the federal prosecutors stepped aside in July 2019 — writing in a court document that they had effectively concluded their investigation without charges — Mr. Vance’s team swooped in. Within weeks, it issued a flurry of subpoenas.

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Cyrus Vance Jr. gestures at a lectern.

Cyrus Vance Jr., who did not seek re-election, ran out of time to pursue an indictment of Mr. Trump.Credit...Desiree Rios for The New York Times

But prosecutors soon hit another obstacle. After they subpoenaed Mr. Trump’s tax returns and other financial records, he sued to prevent his accountants from producing the records.

The lawsuit took nearly 18 months, ultimately reaching the U.S. Supreme Court, which twice ruled in Mr. Vance’s favor. And by the time Mr. Vance’s prosecutors obtained Mr. Trump’s tax returns in March 2021, they had broadened the investigation beyond the hush-money deal to examine his business practices.

Mr. Trump had often drawn scrutiny in his long career as a businessman, but one thing stood out to Mr. Vance’s prosecutors: his annual financial statements. The statements, they came to suspect, were a grand work of fiction that inflated the value of his hotels, golf clubs and other properties.

As they assembled the evidence, however, a key element was missing: a Trump Organization insider willing to testify against Mr. Trump. So Mr. Vance — who had recruited an outside lawyer, Mark Pomerantz, to help steer the investigation — waged a pressure campaign on one of Mr. Trump’s most loyal lieutenants. They targeted Allen H. Weisselberg, his financial gatekeeper for decades.

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Allen Weisselberg, wearing a face mask, emerges from a vehicle. 

Allen Weisselberg, left, the financial gatekeeper of the Trump Organization, refused to implicate its namesake.Credit...Jefferson Siegel for The New York Times

Prosecutors began amassing evidence that Mr. Weisselberg had orchestrated a long-running tax scheme in which he awarded himself off-the-books perks including a rent-free apartment and leased Mercedes-Benzes. When Mr. Weisselberg resisted the pressure to cooperate with prosecutors against Mr. Trump, they obtained an indictment against him and the Trump Organization, the former president’s business.

Mr. Pomerantz and another leader of the inquiry, Carey R. Dunne, pushed ahead with the investigation into Mr. Trump’s financial statements. That inquiry had been joined and jump-started by lawyers from the office of Letitia James, the New York attorney general, who had been conducting a separate civil inquiry.

By the end of 2021, Mr. Vance had authorized them to present evidence to a grand jury in hopes of securing an indictment, but his time was running out. He had not sought re-election, and his successor, Alvin L. Bragg, was set to take over on Jan. 1. The call on whether to indict Mr. Trump was his to make.

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Alvin L. Bragg gestures at a lectern.

The decision on whether to proceed with a prosecution fell to Alvin L. Bragg, the current district attorney.Credit...Karsten Moran for The New York Times

In the early weeks of Mr. Bragg’s tenure, the new district attorney developed concerns about whether his office could prove that Mr. Trump intended to defraud the banks and insurance companies that received his financial statements. He soon decided not to seek an indictment of Mr. Trump, prompting Mr. Pomerantz and Mr. Dunne to resign in protest.

Yet his office continued to investigate. In November, it became clear that Mr. Bragg’s prosecutors had again begun to examine the hush money payment. And in December, the office secured the conviction of the Trump Organization in the unrelated tax fraud case involving the off-the-books perks. Mr. Bragg’s star witness at trial was Mr. Weisselberg, who had pleaded guilty to his role in the scheme, but still refused to turn on Mr. Trump himself.

After the year-end holidays, Mr. Bragg gathered a new grand jury to hear evidence about Mr. Trump. Rather than focus on his financial statements, Mr. Bragg’s prosecutors began calling witnesses to testify to the jury about the hush money. The long-running investigation had come full circle.

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Michael Rothfeld

March 30, 2023, 6:06 p.m. ETMarch 30, 2023

March 30, 2023

Michael Rothfeld

Stormy Daniels is the woman at the heart of the case against Trump.

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Stormy Daniels speaks outside a courthouse, in front of an array of microphones.

Stormy Daniels in 2018. She rose to prominence as a pornographic film star, eventually becoming a director.Credit...Mary Altaffer/Associated Press

Before Stormy Daniels met Donald J. Trump, she was a porn star — known in her industry but not well beyond — who had moved into directing X-rated films and had aspirations for more.

In 2005, she made a cameo as herself in Judd Apatow’s “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” appearing in the bedroom of Steve Carell’s character as he watched one of her movies.

The next year, shortly before a celebrity golf tournament in Nevada where she encountered Mr. Trump — and had sex with him, she has said — Ms. Daniels told the authors of an academic paper on women in the porn industry that she appreciated the lifestyle it had given her.

“I enjoy the writing, the directing and creating something,” she said. “The money’s good, and I have nice things. I set my own schedule. I could be digging ditches. I’m very lucky.”

Today Ms. Daniels, who recently turned 44, is known the world over for receiving the $130,000 hush payment on the eve of the 2016 presidential election that has now led to a vote to indict Mr. Trump by a Manhattan grand jury.

Mr. Trump has denied all wrongdoing, as well as any sexual involvement with Ms. Daniels.

She was born Stephanie Gregory in 1979 and moved around as a child, but grew up mostly in Baton Rouge, La. Her father, an industrial technician, traveled for work and eventually left her mother, she recounted in a 2018 memoir, “Full Disclosure.”

As a girl, she had fallen in love with horses, a passion she would carry into adulthood as a competitive equestrian. In school, she pursued journalism. But after seeing what other women earned dancing at strip clubs, she joined them at a local joint called Cinnamon’s while still in high school. After a trip to California at 23, she began appearing in pornographic films.

She married Bartholomew Clifford, who directed porn films under the name Pat Myne. After they divorced, her legal name remained Stephanie Gregory Clifford, the one she used to sign the hush money agreement. She married twice more and had a daughter, who is now 12. She married a fourth time last year and changed her name to Stormy Daniels Barrett.

Ms. Daniels had taken an interest in politics even before roiling Mr. Trump’s presidency. In 2009, after a Republican U.S. senator from Louisiana became embroiled in a sex scandal, a Democratic operative launched a “Draft Stormy” campaign. She played along, saying her slogan would be “Screwing People Honestly,” and held a listening tour. She did not qualify for the race.

In early 2018, after the hush money agreement became public, Ms. Daniels spoke in television interviews about her interactions with Mr. Trump. She also embarked on a strip club tour, playing on his campaign slogan. She called it “Make America Horny Again.”

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The Indictment of Donald Trump in New York

A Test for Democracy: For more than two centuries, American presidents were effectively shielded from indictment. The case against Donald Trump breaks that taboo and sets a new precedent.

New York Prepares: As Trump traveled to Manhattan to face arraignment, Mayor Eric Adams warned Trump’s supporters to keep the peace.

A Predictable Strategy: Across many court cases over the decades, Trump has regularly leaned on two tactics: attack and delay. Now facing criminal charges in Manhattan, the attacks have already begun.

Trump’s Scandalous Past: The indictment’s salacious nature resurrects Trump’s playboy persona, which existed well before his presidency and has repeatedly come back to haunt him.

Right Wing’s Familiar Villain: George Soros has long been cast as a puppet master by conspiracy theorists. Now, the billionaire’s indirect donations to the Manhattan district attorney are animating Trump allies.

The Other Inquiries: The Manhattan case may not even be the biggest legal threat facing Trump. Here’s a look at the other three criminal investigations of the former president.

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