Donald Trump pleads not guilty to criminal charges in hush-money case: Top updates

Former United States president Donald Trump on Tuesday (April 4) pleaded not guilty to 34 criminal charges stemming from hush money of $130,000 paid to porn actor Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election which he won. Trump, 76, became the first American president to be arrested on criminal charges, which have already upended the 2024 White House campaign.

Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges inside a Manhattan courthouse. The charges reportedly include the felony of conspiracy and stem from hush money paid to Daniels to keep quiet over an alleged affair.

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Last week, he was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury in the case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

Wearing a dark blue suit and red tie, Trump exhibited little emotion on his face as he waved to a crowd assembled outside the courthouse on Tuesday after he was driven in a motorcade from his New York residence at Trump Tower. "Seems so SURREAL -- WOW, they are going to ARREST ME," Trump posted on his Truth Social app ahead of the historic hearing.

Here are the top updates:

>Hitting out at current President Joe Biden and his administration, Trump said that America was going to hell, and the world was already laughing at the country for so many reasons.

> In his first remarks following arraignment, Trump said he never thought anything like this could happen in America. "The only crime that I've committed is to fearlessly defend our nation from those who seek to destroy it... It's an insult to our country," he told an audience of several hundred donors, political allies and other supporters at the Mar-a-Lago, his beachfront mansion in southern Florida.

>Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Braggsaid on Tuesday that he would not allow Donald Trump to getaway with lawbreaking after charging him with multiple felonies over thehush money payments."These are felony crimes in New York State. No matter who you are we cannot and will not normalize serious criminal conduct," Bragg said, adding "We today uphold our solemn responsibility to ensure that everyone stands equal before the law."

> Trump was released from custody without any pre-trial restrictions at the arraignment. Judge JuanMerchan said during the hearingthat a trial could potentially start in January 2024, althoughTrump's lawyers indicated they would rather push it back to the spring, according to a report by the news agency AFP.

ALSO WATCH |Donald Trump pleads not guilty to 34 felony counts in hush money case

> Trump has been charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records stemming from three pre-election hush-money cases. In a statement,Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said, "Donald J.Trumprepeatedly and fraudulently falsified New York business records to conceal criminal conduct that hid damaging information from the voting public during the 2016 presidential election."

>Trump's lawyer Todd Blanche vowed to fight the criminal charges that the former president faces. "The indictment itself is boilerplate," Blanche said, addingthe indictment was "sad and we're going to fight it, we're going to fight it hard."

> The former US president was seen leaving the court after pleading not guilty to the criminal charges. Heexited the building and made his way to a waiting motorcade, just over two hours after arriving at the Manhattan court complex for the historic hearing.

(With inputs from agencies)

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