Trump arraignment: Judge bans use of digital devices, allows photos before hearing

Trump lawyer Joe Tacopina said today that if Judge Juan Merchan were to issue a gag order against the former president, it would “really set ablaze the passions and the tempers that already have been inflamed by this case.”

Tacopina, however, predicted that the judge would not issue an order that could prevent Trump from speaking about the case.

"Obviously, that's not going to happen," Tacopina told Fox News’ Sean Hannity when he was asked about the possibility. "There's no scenario where that's going to happen, I'm sure of that."

Trump had warned of "potential death and destruction" if he were to be indicted.

Tacopina went on to say Trump planned to plead "very loudly 'not guilty' before the judge," adding that Trump's legal team was preparing to file "a host of motions," including a motion to dismiss the case, citing what Tacopina argued was selective prosecution and prosecutorial misconduct.

The fake video of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis dunking on himself is surreal, the stuff of former President Donald Trump’s fantasies.

“Today, we’re seeing the success of our uniparty NeverTrump campaign,” DeSantis, who is Trump’s leading rival for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, says in the video. “Yes, we’re 30 points behind in polling with zero credibility. But now, Trump’s been indicted. Now, the people will have no choice but to accept me as their assigned candidate, and finally we can sweep the GOP establishment back into power.”

Standing in front of a lectern bearing a “Stealing Your Future” sign, DeSantis concludes with “Hail Hydra,” a reference to the Nazi-rooted criminal enterprise of the Marvel universe, and “Please clap” — words once uttered by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush during his failed 2016 presidential campaign.

It’s obviously bogus — a parody posted by pro-Trump tweeter @ramble_rants — and would fool few viewers. But the smoothly altered video is emblematic of the way a small army of Trump-aligned social media influencers has honed its tools in the early phase of the 2024 presidential campaign.

Trump’s online war machine is training those virtual weapons on DeSantis and has repeatedly attached him to another enemy — Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg — in the run-up to Trump’s arraignment Tuesday. The goal is to portray DeSantis as insufficiently supportive of Trump at a time when most Republicans are rallying to his side.

Read the full story here.

New York University today told its employees to be prepared for potentially “significant demonstrations" leading up to Trump's arraignment tomorrow.

"While City authorities have not shared word of any specific threats or anticipated violence, they are very publicly making preparations in the event that any protests or demonstrations do become disruptive," Fountain Walker, the school’s vice president for global campus safety, said in a memo. "With that in mind, I wanted to urge NYU employees to take extra care as you move about the city this evening and tomorrow."

Many of NYU’s main buildings are in lower Manhattan, surrounding Washington Square Park, just over a mile from the courthouse where Trump's arraignment is scheduled to take place tomorrow.

Former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, an MSNBC political analyst, told host Nicolle Wallace he was “annoyed” by the live coverage of Trump’s motorcade after the former president landed in New York.

“I’m really annoyed that we’re actually watching this unfold this way,” Steele said. “We’re not outraged by it, we’re not turned off by it, we’re not disgusted by it — we’re actually intrigued, and we’re curious. And it literally is like watching a reality TV series, and this is the next episode.”

Steele, a longtime critic, added that Trump should no longer be the primary concern for Republicans or the country. “We have to do some real hard-core soul-searching and re-evaluating of what our priorities are, because this shouldn’t be it,” he said.

Wallace said that while she shared Steele’s “queasiness,” there's still importance to following Trump's moves.

“We’re not taking a motorcade because Trump announced a rally in Manhattan. We’re taking a motorcade because Trump has to appear in court tomorrow to be arraigned,” she said.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said the grand jury's indictment "almost ensures" Trump will be the Republican nominee in 2024.

“I think it almost ensures that Trump will be the nominee, and I think independents are going to see this for what it is — it’s just a liberal prosecutor out of control,” Graham said today in an interview on Sean Hannity's radio show.

Graham also accused Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg of trying to "taint" Trump, adding that he believed the efforts would lead to "backlash" from voters and end up unifying Republicans.

"I don’t think anything Donald Trump could have done himself would have united the Republican Party like this action by the Manhattan DA," Graham said. "The Manhattan DA has done something that I’ve never thought was possible to unite the entire Republican Party."

Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., one of Trump's most vocal supporters, told NBC News that he will be at Mar-a-Lago for the former president's speech tomorrow night.

Rep. Greene has also confirmed she'll be there.

Trump is in Trump Tower for the night and he is not expected to leave until tomorrow for his scheduled hearing at 2:15 p.m. ET, two senior law enforcement officials said.

Trump loves to say his indictment is a sign that the U.S. is becoming a "third world country."

His point is that political opposition leaders are sometimes jailed on trumped-up charges in countries that don't respect the rule of law. Sometimes they are captured and imprisoned — or worse — without trial. Often, they are denied the ability to communicate effectively with their supporters.

But as anyone who turned on a television Monday could see, Trump arrived in New York by private jet. He is expected to appear voluntarily for a public arraignment in a Manhattan courthouse Tuesday and return home to the Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, that night. He has said he will give a speech upon his return, and major news organizations are expected to cover it.

Whatever the verdict in Trump's case, he is being given every consideration afforded to the accused in a nation of laws — most important, the presumption of innocence and a jury trial. That hardly puts the U.S. in a category with banana republics and "third world" countries.

Fulton County, Georgia, DA Fani Willis' office said it is "watching" how the arraignment unfolds in Manhattan this week, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Willis is weighing separate potential indictments against Trump regarding allegations of “coordinated attempts to unlawfully alter the outcome of the 2020 elections.”

Willis’ office, the Atlanta Police Department and the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office are monitoring security measures and protests, a source familiar with the matter said. Willis’ office is not in communication with Bragg’s office, however, the source said, emphasizing that “the two cases are totally separate.”

The Georgia grand jury foreperson has told multiple media outlets, including NBC News, that the grand jury recommended indicting over a dozen people.

GOP presidential candidate Asa Hutchinson said it's a "sad day" to see Trump's motorcade headed to an arraignment.

"As an American, as somebody who’s a competitor that’s in the presidential race, this is not a good thing for America, it’s not a good thing for the GOP,” Hutchinson, the former governor of Arkansas, said in an interview on MSNBC's "Andrea Mitchell Reports."

Hutchinson also repeated his stance that Trump should not run for re-election.

"I’ve said the office of presidency is more important than any person, and I’ve had that consistent view while I’ve been governor for eight years, calling on people very close to me to resign once they were indicted, so there’s a consistent position there," he said.

Hutchinson said that Trump will be the defining issue in the GOP primary and that the "worst thing for America in terms of the body politic" would be a rematch between Biden and Trump.

Hutchinson announced that he was running Sunday.

Trump arrived at his residence at Trump Tower in Manhattan shortly before 4:15 p.m. ET.

Trump waved at the crowd as he entered the building.

Trump's latest legal filings reveal that he has added lawyer Todd Blanche to his legal team.

"I have been asked to represent Trump in the recently charged DA case, and after much thought and consideration, I have decided it is the best thing for me to do and an opportunity I should not pass up," said Blanche, who previously represented former Trump associate Paul Manafort.

His former firm, New York-based Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, confirmed that he had resigned.

A biography from the firm's website that has been removed described him as representing clients who faced "grand jury subpoenas, criminal charges, regulatory inquiries and actions, and internal investigations." He spent nine years as a prosecutor in the U.S. attorney's office for Southern New York.

Trump's motorcade departed LaGuardia Airport at about 3:50 p.m. ET.

Police appeared to arrest a man who had been yelling in the area near the courthouse around 3:30pm.

Multiple officers surrounded the area, handcuffing the man and leading him away from the scene.

"He is harassing everybody," an observer audibly yelled to police.

Trump has disembarked from his plane at LaGuardia. He is expected to be taken by motorcade to his residence in Trump Tower.

Even as Republicans rally around Trump, potential GOP candidates are not changing their thinking about whether to get into the 2024 race.

As a person close to former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Trump’s indictment has no impact on Pompeo's thinking about entering the race and may give some Republican hopefuls a "better argument" to challenge Trump.

"What kind of world are we living in where a president gets indicted and people are like, ‘Ooh, it’s going to have a chilling effect on people jumping in the race, because it only makes him stronger'?" this person said.

But this person cautioned that there’s a long time until the first primary debate in August, which candidates see as when voters will begin to follow the race more closely.

“A lot of things could happen to him, and this could move quickly, could go to trial pretty fast,” this person said. “He’s going to have to run for president and go to trial at the same time. He’s got a double podium. That trial is going to be covered out the wazoo. It’s kind of hard to take a guy who’s on trial and put him as your candidate as a party.”

Trump just landed at LaGuardia Airport in Queens just before 3:30 p.m. ET.

President Joe Biden said he has faith in the New York Police Department when a reporter asked him whether he was worried about unrest ahead of Trump's arraignment.

Asked on a visit to a Minnesota power generation facility as part of his “Investing in America” tour whether he has faith in the legal system, Biden replied "yes" before he walked away.

If protesters gathering in New York City in support of Trump want to stay out of legal trouble, they might want to make sure they are more than 200 feet away from the Manhattan courthouse where his arraignment takes place tomorrow.

That’s because a New York state law criminalizes various activities around state courthouses, including efforts to influence proceedings inside.

The full text says anyone can be prosecuted for second-degree criminal contempt if they are within 200 feet of a courthouse and make comments "concerning the conduct of a trial being held in such courthouse or the character of the court or jury engaged in such trial or calling for or demanding any specified action or determination by such court or jury in connection with such trial.”

A planned protest tomorrow across the street from the Manhattan criminal courthouse in Collect Pond Park headlined by firebrand Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia is most likely far enough away not to violate the law, which has rarely been enforced over the years. It is one of several laws aimed at protecting the administration of justice that could be implicated during Trump’s prosecution.

Just last year, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the law in the face of a challenge brought by the American Civil Liberties Union claiming it violates free speech rights. The case involved Michael Picard, who was arrested for handing out flyers to passersby outside a courthouse in the Bronx.

Brian Hauss, the ACLU lawyer who represented Picard, said in an interview that protesters are free to say what they want as long as they keep their distance.

“If you are 201 feet away, you are totally within your rights to talk about a case,” he said.

As to whether Collect Pond Park is outside the 200-feet radius of the court, Hauss thinks it is, but, he added, "I haven't measured it."

Dareh Gregorian contributed to this report.

Trump's lawyers are arguing against a media request to allow cameras in the courtroom for his arraignment.

"We respectfully write in opposition to the media request ... to permit videographers, photographers, and radio journalists to take audio/visual recordings during tomorrow’s arraignment," they wrote in a letter to Judge Juan Merchan, who’s expected to oversee Trump’s arraignment tomorrow.

"We submit that the media request should be denied because it will create a circus-like atmosphere at the arraignment, raise unique security concerns, and is inconsistent with President Trump’s presumption of innocence," Trump's lawyers said.

In a separate letter sent to Merchan, the Manhattan district attorney's office said it will "defer to Your Honor’s discretionary determination of how best to manage these proceedings."

The letter, however, listed several points the DA's office said might help the judge decide on the media's request. It says, for example, that there "does not appear to be a categorical prohibition on cameras during an arraignment," but it also says denying the request would be acceptable "in the interest of avoiding potential prejudice to the defendant, maintaining an orderly proceeding, assuring the safety of the participants in the proceeding, or for other reasons."

Trump campaign adviser Jason Miller said on Twitter that Trump's presidential campaign has raised $7 million since news of the indictment broke.

NBC News cannot independently verify those claims because candidates are not required to file federal campaign finance reports until April 15.

Miller has previously advised Trump's campaign but had a stint as CEO of the right-leaning social media platform GETTR before coming back to Trump's 2024 campaign.

In a number of posts that Trump shared on Truth Social while en route to New York today, he lambasted the Manhattan DA's office and special counsel Jack Smith.

Trump ranted about President Joe Biden's handling of classified documents and said he did nothing wrong with how he dealt with similar documents that were taken from the White House and discovered at Mar-a-Lago.

The former president called Smith, who's leading the federal probe into Trump's handling of classified documents and his role in Jan. 6, a "lunatic."

"When will they be looking at the Biden Documents ... I followed the Presidential Records Act, he didn’t. He OBSTRUCTED, I DIDN’T. Trump hating Prosecutor Jack Smith, a lunatic, should 'GET BIDEN!'" he wrote.

Rep. Daniel Goldman, D-N.Y., issued a stern warning against Trump's escalation of attacks against Bragg ahead of the former president's arraignment tomorrow.

Goldman served as lead counsel for House Democrats in the first impeachment trial of Trump. He won the House seat for New York's 10th Congressional District in the November midterm elections.

The U.S. Secret Service is preparing for Trump's arrival in New York ahead of his high-profile arraignment tomorrow.

Patrick Freaney, special agent in charge of the Secret Service’s New York field office, said in a statement that officers are trying to "minimize disruptions" to normal court proceedings while protecting Trump.

"We have the utmost trust and confidence in the New York State Court officers and New York City Police Department," he said.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene lashed out at New York Mayor Eric Adams, calling him "delusional" after he called her out at a briefing over her plans to protest against Trump's arraignment.

In a tweet, Greene said that Adams is "trying to intimidate, threaten, and stop me from using my 1st amendment rights to peacefully protest the Democrat’s unconstitutional weaponization of our justice system against our top Republican Presidential candidate, President Trump."

"Mayor Adams should be more concerned about NY citizens and taxpayers being murdered, raped, robbed, and carjacked than an elected Member of Congress coming to town," Greene said. "Or should I be the one concerned that the mayor of NYC will weaponize his government or maybe his thugs like DA Alvin Bragg against me?"

Adams warned Greene earlier today to "be on your best behavior."

Greene said Friday that she planned to be in New York tomorrow to protest against the indictment.

Trump's plane took off for New York just before 1 p.m. ET.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters that the administration is monitoring indictment fallout and is in touch with state and local authorities.

"We’ll be prepared should there be a need," he told reporters today. "Hopefully there won’t be that need."

Kirby also emphasized that violence has no place in the country and there should be no need "for anybody to want to visit violence on fellow citizens around this or any other legal proceeding."

Several senior Trump campaign aides are traveling with him to New York City today, an official confirmed to NBC News: Susie Wiles, Chris LaCivita, Jason Miller, Steven Cheung and head of operations Justin Caporale.

Wiles, LaCivita and Miller are the three top officials in the Trump campaign, which has a small formal staffing roster.

A Trump-branded plane has departed Palm Beach International Airport for New York.

Trump boarded the plane without fanfare.

Most commercial flight tracking websites will be unable to follow Trump's progress while his plane is in the air.

When Trump addresses the public following his arraignment tomorrow, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene will be on hand at the Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, according to her office.

That will make for a busy day for the Georgia Republican, who is one of Trump’s most loyal backers in Congress and a frequent speaker at his rallies. Earlier in the day, she is scheduled to participate in a protest denouncing the still-secret charges against him.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams expressed confidence today that the city is ready for the expected arrival of Trump, who plans to surrender and be arraigned tomorrow, and he warned people not to engage in violence.

"We are prepared," Adams said at a press conference, flanked by other top city officials, adding that Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell has repeatedly said there are "no credible threats" to the city.

He said that New Yorkers should go on about their daily activities, going to work and school, but he acknowledged that there will be "some disruptions" and "additional traffic." He encouraged people to use public transit instead of driving because there will be road closures throughout the city.

"While there may be some rabble-rousers thinking about coming to our city tomorrow, our message is clear and simple: control yourselves. New York City is our home, not a playground for your misplaced anger," Adams said. "Although we have no specific threats, people like Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is known to spread misinformation and hate speech, she stated she’s coming to town. While you’re in town, be on your best behavior. As always, we will not allow violence or vandalism of any kind and if anyone is caught participating in any act of violence, they will be arrested and held accountable, no matter who you are."

Sewell said at the press conference that she also urges people to rely on mass transit tomorrow. She said there will be "rolling road closures" and one area close to Trump Tower will be closed, she said. There will be a "healthy complement of officers in the transit system" tomorrow, she added.

She also indicated that there are zones where it's a felony to carry a firearm even if an individual has a license. Those include courthouses, federal buildings and in First Amendment activity, she said.

"I think responsible ownership requires that you know what the laws are where you are protesting and we expect everyone to adhere to ours," she said.

As of today, Sewell said, her department hasn't seen a major influx of people coming into the city or anything out of the ordinary. "We don't see that happening," she said.

She also noted that the NYPD has provided "some assistance" to Bragg's office after the threats he's received and the department continues to investigate them.

In Asa Hutchinson's interview yesterday on ABC's "This Week," the new GOP presidential contender said Trump should no longer run for president.

"I do believe if -- if we’re looking at the presidency and the future of our country, then we don’t need that distraction, and he needs to be able to concentrate on the legal issues that he faces," he said to Jonathan Karl.

While Hutchinson said Trump should drop out, he did not support the predicted charges.

"I don’t like the idea of the charges, from what I’ve seen coming out of New York," he said in the interview. "But the process has got to work, and we’ve got to have respect for our criminal justice system, but also for the office of presidency.

The former governor of Arkansas is the most critical GOP primary opponent of Trump so far.

Hutchinson said that while he thinks Trump should drop out, he will not, so voters will ultimately have to decide.

Trump has left his Florida residence and is headed toward New York.

As his motorcade drove toward the airport, a small number of people lined up on the side of the road to support him.

In a social media post yesterday, Trump said he would leave Mar-a-Lago at noon and spend a night in Trump Tower in Manhattan before going to the courthouse tomorrow morning.

For days, Trump has been on a tear on social media, railing against Bragg’s hush money investigation, Michael Cohen, prosecutors, and more recently, the judge presiding over the historic case.

Without evidence, he’s referred to Judge Juan Merchan as “Trump Hating” and suggested that Merchan was “handpicked” by Bragg.

Trump has previously referred to Bragg an “animal” in a post on his social media platform, Truth Social. In another earlier Truth Social posting, he appears to have shared an article that included an image of him wielding a baseball bat juxtaposed next to an image of Bragg’s head. That post was deleted.

All defendants have a right to vigorously defend their innocence, but Trump can’t threaten the prosecutor without risking other legal charges under New York law.

Read more of this story here.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán shared his support for Trump this morning on Twitter.

"Keep on fighting, Mr. President! We are with you, @realDonaldTrump," he wrote.

Orbán has veered Hungary increasingly to the right during his four terms at the country's helm. He and Trump have supported each other, with the former president endorsing Orbán at the beginning of last year, shortly before Orbán's re-election. Orbán was also a speaker at the 2022 Conservative Political Action Conference, a Republican gathering that has favored Trump in recent years.

Orbán's tweet has garnered more than 14,000 likes so far.

When Trump arrives at LaGuardia Airport today, the plan is to have a couple of NYPD highway units escort the vehicle out of the airport for the drive to Trump Tower in Manhattan, three senior officials say.

One NYPD vehicle will be driving in front of Trump's car and one will be behind.

The NYPD escort plan is to provide general security and to mitigate any safety concerns. One official said security officials don’t want a paparazzi “Princess Diana motorcycle-like chase” — or any other safety issue — during the drive to Trump Tower, the sources said.

As of this morning, there was no plan to have additional units shut down any roads or lanes from LaGuardia to Trump Tower.

The U.S. Service Service has the final say regarding which route to take or what form of travel to take. Several routes have been mapped out, which is routine.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., one of Trump's fiercest supporters on Capitol Hill, moved her "Rally for Trump" to 10:30 a.m. tomorrow, before the former president's scheduled arraignment.

Greene will be in New York ahead of Trump's planned surrender to law enforcement. Late last week, Greene called for protests after Trump's indictment. She will hold her rally at Collect Pond Park, blocks from the court.

“I’m going to New York on Tuesday. We MUST protest the unconstitutional WITCH HUNT!” she tweeted.

The calls have so far received a muted response, with few protesters coming out against Trump's indictment. But the New York City Police Department has ramped up security ahead of Trump's expected arraignment.

William Barr, Trump's former attorney general, said yesterday that it would be a "particularly bad idea" for the former president to testify on his own behalf, as Trump "lacks all self-control."

“I’m not his lawyer. Generally, I think it’s a bad idea to go on the stand, and I think it’s a particularly bad idea for Trump, because he lacks all self-control, and it would be very difficult to prepare him and keep him testifying in a prudent fashion,” Barr said in an interview with "Fox News Sunday."

Barr served twice as the country's top law enforcement officer, under the first President Bush and then again under Trump. But he has come out against Trump for his false claims about the 2020 election.

GOP allies continue falling in line behind Trump, criticizing the indictment of the former president and calling prosecution "politically motivated."

Republican primary competitor Vivek Ramaswamy put out a television ad calling on the Manhattan DA to drop the "corrupt" charges. He said he expects every Republican to join him.

"We're not some banana republic where the ruling party gets to use its police power to arrest its political opponents," Ramaswamy said in the ad. He is not considered to be a top GOP contender for the nomination.

AdImpact, an advertisement data tracking company, found the ad running nationally on Newsmax and a media market that covers much of New Hampshire, an early nominating state.

Trump's campaign says it's raised more than $5 million since the news of his indictment was first reported Thursday night.

While the campaign initially touted raising $4 million in the first 24 hours after the indictment, a campaign official tells NBC News it's since eclipsed $5 million. (Axios first reported the updated total.)

It won’t be possible to verify those claims until fundraising reports are filed with the Federal Election Commission on April 15. Friday was also the last day of the first fundraising quarter, when campaigns typically make a final push before closing their books on the first three months of the year. 

But the Trump campaign is clearly trying to send the message that the indictment is helping — not hurting — his presidential bid. The campaign noted in a press release that in the first 24 hours after the indictment, 25% of contributions came from first-time donors. 

Trump claimed it would be "IMPOSSIBLE" for him to get a fair trial in New York and called for a new trial venue and judge in an overnight post on his Truth Social site.

"The Corrupt D.A. has no case," he wrote. "What he does have is a venue where it is IMPOSSIBLE for me to get a Fair Trial (it must be changed!)".

Trump lawyer Joe Tacopina said yesterday that it was "way too premature" to be thinking about venue changes. Speaking about motions Trump's team could file, he added, that “everything’s on the table," in an interview with ABC News' "This Week."

In his post, Trump also referred to Judge Juan Merchan as "Trump Hating," and said "he must be changed!"

Tacopina said yesterday that he doesn't believe Merchan is unfair. “Do I think the judge is biased? Of course not,” he said. “How could I subscribe to that when I’ve had no interactions with the judge that would lead me to believe he’s biased?”

Trump attorney James Trusty, who represents him in a separate case, said on “Fox News Sunday” about Trump's attacks on Merchan, “Well, the president’s a big believer in free speech — as you know, he’s got strong opinions."

As many as 60% of Americans approve of the Trump indictment, even though 76% say politics played a role in it, according to a new CNN poll of 1,048 adults conducted Friday through Saturday by the polling firm SSRS.

Americans have been following news of the indictment closely, with 94% saying they had heard at least a little about it and 51% saying they had heard a lot, even though the poll was conducted in the first 48 hours after the news broke.

Americans were split on whether Trump’s payments to porn star Stormy Daniels were illegal — 37% said they were, while 33% said they were unethical, but not illegal. Only 10% said the payments were “not wrong at all” while another 20% weren’t sure.

While Democrats nearly universally approved of the indictment, Republicans were slightly less unanimous in their opposition to it, with only 54% strongly disapproving. Independents were mostly in favor of the indictment, with 62% approving of it and 38% disapproving.