Trump faces criminal charges in court after historic indictment

By Aditi Sangal, Adrienne Vogt, Mike Hayes, Tori B. Powell, Kaanita Iyer, Amir Vera and Maureen Chowdhury, CNN

Updated 8:33 a.m. ET, April 5, 2023

What we covered here

In his first speech since pleading not guilty to 34 felony counts, former President Donald Trump railed against the Manhattan district attorney and the indictment.
It’s the first time a former president has faced criminal charges. The charges stem from an investigation into a 2016 hush money payment to an adult film actress.
Prosecutors alleged the former president sought to undermine the integrity of the 2016 election and was part of an unlawful plan to suppress negative information.
Trump appeared in a New York City court Tuesday where he heard the charges against him. Trump denies all wrongdoing and his lawyers have said they’ll fight to get the charges dropped.
Trump's team has until August 8 to file any motions and the prosecution will respond by September 19. Judge Juan Merchan said he will rule on the motions at the next in-person hearing, scheduled for December 4.

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6:12 a.m. ET, April 4, 2023

What we know about how Trump's arraignment will likely unfold Tuesday

From CNN's Jack Forrest

Former President Donald Trump arrives at Trump Tower in New York on Monday, April 3. (Bryan Woolston/AP)

Donald Trump — the first former president in history to face criminal charges — is in New York for an arraignment today, after being indicted last week by a Manhattan grand jury.

Here is what we know about today's events:

The Secret Service is scheduled to accompany Trump to the district attorney’s office, which is in the same building as the courthouse.
Trump will be booked by the investigators, which includes taking his fingerprints. Ordinarily, a mug shot would be taken, but sources familiar with the preparations were uncertain as to whether there would be a mugshot, because Trump’s appearance is widely known and authorities were concerned about the improper leaking of the photo, which would be a violation of state law.
Typically, after defendants are arrested, they are booked and held in cells near the courtroom before they are arraigned. But that won’t happen with Trump. Once the former president is finished being processed, he’ll be taken through a back set of hallways and elevators to the floor where the courtroom is located. He’ll then come out to a public hallway to walk into the courtroom.
Trump is not expected to be handcuffed, as he will be surrounded by armed federal agents for his protection.
Trump is expected to be brought to the courtroom, where the indictment will be unsealed and he will formally face the charges. After he is arraigned, Trump will almost certainly be released on his own recognizance. It is possible, though perhaps unlikely, that conditions could be set on his travel.
Ordinarily, a defendant who is released would walk out the front doors, but Secret Service will want to limit the time and space where Trump is in public. So instead, once the court hearing is over, Trump is expected to walk again through the public hallway and into the back corridors to the district attorney’s office, back to where his motorcade will be waiting.
Then he’ll head to the airport so he can get back to Mar-a-Lago, where he’s scheduled to speak publicly in the evening.

CNN’s John Miller, Jeremy Herb, Katelyn Polantz, Tierney Sneed, Sydney Kashiwagi, Kristen Holmes, Holmes Lybrand, Hannah Rabinowitz, Paula Reid, Alayna Treene, Gregory Clary and Devan Cole contributed reporting to this post.

8:21 a.m. ET, April 4, 2023

CNN poll: Majority of Americans approve of Trump indictment

From CNN's Jennifer Agiesta

Former U.S. President Donald Trump arrives at Trump Tower in Manhattan on Monday, April 3, in New York City. (James Devaney/GC Images/Getty Images)

Sixty percent of Americans approve of the indictment of former President Donald Trump, according to a new CNN Poll conducted by SSRS following the news that a New York grand jury voted to charge him in connection with hush money payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.

About three-quarters of Americans say politics played at least some role in the decision to indict Trump, including 52% who said it played a major role.

Here's how views about the indictment break down by political affiliation:

Independents largely line up in support of the indictment — 62% approve of it and 38% disapprove.
Democrats are near universal in their support for the indictment — 94% approve, including 71% who strongly approve of the indictment.
Republicans are less unified in opposition — 79% disapprove, with 54% strongly disapproving.

While views on the indictment are split along party lines, the poll finds that majorities across major demographic divides all approve of the decision to indict the former president. That includes gender (62% of women, 58% of men), racial and ethnic groups (82% of Black adults, 71% of Hispanic adults, 51% of White adults), generational lines (69% under age 35; 62% age 35-49; 53% age 50-64; 54% 65 or older) and educational levels (68% with college degrees, 56% with some college or less).

A scant 10% overall see Trump as blameless regarding payments made to Daniels, but Americans are divided about whether his actions were illegal or merely unethical. About 4 in 10 say he acted illegally (37%), 33% unethically but not illegally, and another 20% say they aren't sure. Only 8% of political independents say Trump did nothing wrong, and among the rest, they are mostly on board with the indictment even if they aren't already convinced Trump did something illegal.

The survey suggests that the indictment has not had a major effect on views of Trump personally. The poll finds his favorability rating at 34% favorable to 58% unfavorable, similar to his standing in a January CNN poll, in which 32% held a favorable view of the former president and 63% an unfavorable one. Among Republicans, 72% hold a favorable view in the new poll, similar to the 68% who felt that way in January.

Note: The CNN poll was conducted by SSRS on March 31 and April 1 among a random national sample of 1,048 adults surveyed by text message after being recruited using probability-based methods. Results for the full sample have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4.0 percentage points. It is larger for subgroups.