Trump in the dock: Security beefed up around Manhattan court ahead of arraignment

Security has been beefed up in Manhattan as former US president Donald Trump is set to fly from Florida to New York City ahead of his scheduled arraignment on charges related to hush money payments before the 2016 election.

The first former US president to face criminal charges, Trump is due to be arraigned, fingerprinted and photographed at the downtown Manhattan courthouse on Tuesday afternoon local time, according to US media reports.

His lawyers have been quoted as saying that he will enter a plea of not guilty in what will be his first appearance in court and in front of a judge in the case.

New York Police Department (NYPD) over the weekend began erecting barricades along the edge of the sidewalks around the Trump Tower and the Manhattan Criminal Court building downtown to prevent any chaotic scenes.

Some of the courtrooms will be cleared and the courthouse's higher floors will be shut down to beef up security, according to reports.

Demonstrations are expected as both supporters and detractors of the megalomaniac former US president will face each other outside the court.

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US Representative for Georgia and a far-right politician Marjorie Taylor Greene tweeted an invitation on Sunday to join her at a protest near the courthouse on Tuesday. "They're not coming after President Trump, they're coming after us, he's just in their way," she wrote.

"Officers have been placed on alert and the department remains ready to respond as needed and will ensure everyone is able to peacefully exercise their rights," the New York Police Department said in a statement.

Before the indictment, the grand jury heard evidence about a $130,000 payment Trump made to porn star Stormy Daniels in the waning days of the 2016 presidential campaign.

Daniels said she was paid to keep silent about a sexual encounter she had with Trump at a Lake Tahoe hotel in 2006. 

Trump and his allies have portrayed the charges against the former president, who sets record in this regard, as politically motivated.

"I honestly don't know how this is going to go — hopefully as smoothly as possible — and then we begin the battle to right this wrong," Tacopina told CNN, speaking about the arraignment.

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The legal team will "dissect" the indictment once it is made public and will look at "every potential issue" to challenge, Tacopina said, adding that he anticipates at some point making a motion to dismiss the charges.

Trump, 76, served as president of the US from 2017 to 2021. In November, he launched a bid to regain the presidency in the 2024 election, aiming to deny Democratic President Joe Biden a second term in office.

He is also facing investigations in the state of Georgia over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, by Justice Department over classified documents the FBI found at Mar-a-Lago, his attempts to overturn the 2020 election and his role in the January 2021 riots.

Word of the indictment, resulting from an investigation led by Manhattan's Democratic district attorney, Alvin Bragg, surfaced last Thursday.

A court official said on Sunday that the judge has asked both sides to submit their positions on whether cameras and video should be allowed in the courtroom and is expected to decide on the issue on Monday.

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