breaking news arrest and arraignment day for former president Donald Trump a historic event the first former U.S president ever to face criminal charges prompting unprecedented security measures and a chaotic scene outside the courthouse in lower Manhattan where a stoic looking Trump entered the courtroom walking past the Press making no comment after just shy of an hour before the judge pleading not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records the charges handed down from a grand jury indictment investigating a series of Criminal actions documenting payoffs to a doorman and two women including hush money payments made to an adult film star in 2016. the former president has maintained his innocence and attacked Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg's probe as a politically motivated Witch Hunt his defense team calling the charges in the indictment baseless and boilerplate the president is accused of orchestrating a catch and kill scheme falsifying records to conceal damaging information and unlawful activity he took part in to manipulate American voters before and after the 2016 election will senior correspondent Joanna gagas joins us from Lower Manhattan where she's been witnessing the events unfold Joanna that's right Brianna it's fair to call Lower Manhattan a circus today as the media and Trump supporters and protesters have descended in front of the Manhattan Criminal Court building where former president Donald Trump was arraigned earlier today he is the first former president to face criminal charges those charges in connection with his alleged involvement and hush money payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election President Trump did plead not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records those charges unsealed by the Manhattan District attorney's office today now I want to give you a sense of what's happening on this street I'm standing in the plaza just in front of the court building where you'll see hundreds of protesters were gathered throughout the day we heard chance in support of trump others chanting in date we saw Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene and George Santos walked through the crowd earlier this morning the crowd has remained controlled and that's in no small part because New York City's police force is out in full effect in fact every police officer in in New York was called to duty today now the former president and his legal team have called this a political persecution saying it was motivated by the politics of the Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg although a grand jury did vote to indict Trump Trump's legal team expected to request that this case be moved to a different Borough in fact he posted on his social media platform truth social that it should be moved to Staten Island saying that this venue was totally unfair and only about one percent Republican it seems that the presiding judge Juan Marshawn is unlikely to approve that now Trump is expected to give a speech when he returns to Mar-A-Lago in Florida tonight at sometime around 8 P.M but it remains to be seen how long this case will take to play out there are also two other pending indictments against the former presidents and of course this is all happening during election season in lower Manhattan I'm Joanna Gagis