Former US President Donald Trump was on Tuesday 4th April arraigned in a Manhattan Criminal Courthouse following his indictment by a grand jury in at the end of March.
The historic indictment and subsequent arraignment makes Trump the the first former US president to be arrested and charged in court on criminal charges.
The charges stem from a 2016 hush money payment to a porn actress Stormy Daniels aka Stephanie Clifford to buy her silence regarding an affair she had with the former President. The woman claims she met Trump at a celebrity golf tournament and slept with him, a claim that Trump denied. The prosecutors believe the former president was on a mission to suppress negative information from Stormy Daniels which could have affected his 2016 presidential bid. As a result, Trump’s action in conspiracy with his lawyer Michael Cohen undermined the integrity of the 2016 polls.
However Trump who was in the company of his lawyers denied all the 34 counts and flew to his Mara Lago home where he addressed a rally condemning his arrest. Trump hit out at the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and other prosecutors investigating him. He also criticised the presiding judge saying his daughter had previously worked with his political opponents.
