During his historic arraignment on 34 counts of first-degree falsification of company documents on Tuesday afternoon, former President Donald Trump entered a not guilty plea.
Trump was taken into custody at about 1:35, and he was formally charged with 34 counts of making false entries in company documents when he stood before a judge at 2:45.
Trump entered a not guilty plea in connection with charge 71543-23.
The magistrate had banned media outlets from streaming the trial in real time. However, photographers were permitted into the courthouse in advance of the start of the proceedings in order to capture photographs. For a brief period of time, the cameras were spotted taking pictures inside the courthouse.
According to Scott MacFarlane of CBS News, the courthouse “felt like an old middle school, not like ornate federal courtrooms” due to the high temperatures and muggy air.
At 1:30 p.m., the ex-president turned himself into officers at the Manhattan courtroom ahead of his hearing.
He turned, waived, and fist-bumped his backers before he ducked into a car and headed for the courtroom.
As Trump entered the courtroom, he tweeted, “Seems so SURREAL — WOW, they are going to ARREST ME. I refuse to accept this is occurring in the United States. MAGA!”