Donald Trump latest: Handcuff deal agreed for former president – as his niece calls for celebration
Donald Trump has become the first ex-president to face criminal charges after an investigation into hush money paid to two women, including a porn actress. He has urged his social media followers to protest against his arrest, sparking fears of violence similar to the Capitol Riots.
Donald Trump
Why you can trust Sky News
Key points
Handcuff deal agreed for Trump, lawyer says – but ‘zero’ chance he will plead guilty View post
Date set for his first court appearance – where he will enter pleas View post
Former president claims he is victim of ‘political persecution’ – statement in full View post
Why Trump can still run for president even if he’s jailed | Dominic Waghorn View post
His niece calls for celebration: ‘We’ve all earned it’ View post
How the ‘hush money’ probe unfolded View post
A porn star, an ex-Playboy model and lawyers-turned-prisoners – key players in the case View post
Live updates by Bhvishya Patel and (earlier) Katie Williams
Sort by:
LatestSort by latest OldestSort by oldest
8h ago
17:17
The courtroom for Trump’s hearing has history, Sky’s James Matthews says
The 15th floor, where else?
As information dripped out around Donald Trump’s court appearance, it emerged he’ll appear in the same courtroom as Harvey Weinstein.
Trump will learn of the charges against him in the room where the film executive was convicted of rape and sexual assault in 2020.
There’ll be other cases heard within the court on the 15th floor that aren’t sordid – that one, and this one, aren’t among them.
So, the Trump case that has a one night stand with a porn star at its heart will commence at 2.15pm next Tuesday, in the room on the 15th floor.
He won’t be in handcuffs, that much has been established between the district attorney and Trump’s lawyers.
It’s a break with normal procedure in these circumstances – in these unprecedented circumstances, there is a choreography being pulled together ‘on the hoof’ by sets of lawyers who have no drawings to work from.
The full details around Trump’s appearance will only become clear as they happen.
In the meantime, the mood music from Team Trump is defiantly upbeat, outwardly at least.
Alina Habba, a lawyer for the former President, told us: “he’s doing well. It’s not surprising for me. Very well. He’s resilient and strong, and of course, not happy with the news of the indictment. But ready to fight, I would say.”
With one case on the books and three in the pipeline, he’ll need to be.
Copy link
8h ago
16:54
What will happen next week?
On Tuesday next week former president Donald Trump will be formally arraigned in his hush money case.
But what will happen during the process?
Speaking to Sky News this evening, Joseph Cosgrove, former judge of the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, has said he assumes there will be “some accommodation” made because Trump is a former president.
However, he will be processed “just like any other criminal”.
He said: “He will be finger printed, he will have his mugshot taken and then he will be marched a few blocks away to appear before the judge who will just do something very simple – ask him if he understands the nature of the charges against him and understands that he has a right to remain silent.
“He will also be advised that he has the right to counsel and if he cannot afford counsel one will be appointed for him.”
Mr Cosgrove said Trump will be released on “some sort of bail condition” and most likely told where he will appear
He added it will be a “simple brief process” and it is expected the judge will handle it formally.
Copy link
9h ago
16:20
Trump to be arraigned at around 2.15pm on Tuesday, sources say
We reported earlier that Donald Trump will be arraigned on Tuesday afternoon at a Manhattan court.
He faces around 30 counts of document fraud-related charges in the indictment, according to two sources, but the indictment itself has remained sealed.
Sources have now told CNN that the former president is expected to be arraigned at around 2.15pm New York time (7.15pm GMT).
Copy link
9h ago
15:56
Stormy Daniels interview with Piers Morgan cancelled due to ‘security issues’
Stormy Daniels had been due to do an interview with Talk TV’s Piers Morgan tonight.
However, in the last few moments Morgan has said the interview has been postponed due to “some security issues”.
Copy link
Advertisement
9h ago
15:51
‘We are turning into a banana republic’
The US is “turning into a banana republic” and the country is losing its status, Liz Harrington, a spokesperson for Donald Trump, has told Sky News.
She said Trump was “doing good” and “knew he had done nothing wrong”.
However, he was “concerned” for the US because “this was totally baseless”, she added.
She said: “He has been under baseless investigations for seven years now and he always comes out more clean on the other side because the truth is on his side.”
She said his team were “ready for anything” and called the investigation “corrupt”.
“This cannot happen in a great country like ours and we are losing our status as a great nation and we are turning into a banana republic,” she added.
She went on to say the case against Trump showed the justice system in the US was “not a legitimate” one.
Copy link
9h ago
15:34
Trump supporters gather outside his Mar-a-Lago estate
Wearing MAGA (Make America Great Again) clothing and waving Trump flags, backers of Donald Trump have been gathering outside his Mar-a-Lago estate to show their support.
In the first criminal case against a former president, Trump has been indicted on charges involving payments made during the 2016 campaign to allegedly silence claims of an extramarital sexual encounter.
Trump, who is running for the White House again in 2024, called the decision by a Manhattan grand jury to indict him “political persecution and election interference at the highest level”.
Copy link
10h ago
15:10
Who is Stormy Daniels?
We have been reporting throughout the day on porn actress Stormy Daniels who is at the centre of the case against Donald Trump.
Ms Daniels was paid $130,000 to keep quiet about what she says was an awkward and unexpected sexual encounter with Mr Trump in 2006. Mr Trump denies having sex with Ms Daniels.
Mr Trump has also described the investigation as a politically motivated “witch hunt”.
Here, we take a look at the porn actress who could face Trump in court…
Copy link
11h ago
14:25
Biden learned of Trump indictment through news reports
We reported earlier that President Joe Biden had been asked about the indictment against his predecessor in the White House.
Asked three times for a comment on the case against Donald Trump, the president said repeatedly: “I have no comment on Trump.”
The White House has now said that Mr Biden and other White House officials found out about the New York indictment through news reports.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that Mr Biden’s chief of staff told him of the reports.
She declined to comment further.
Copy link
11h ago
13:57
New York tabloid on Trump indictment
The New York Post, one of the city’s daily newspapers and among the largest in the US, has gone with a pun in its front page coverage of the Trump indictment today.
Trump’s expected appearance before a judge in Manhattan on Tuesday comes as the Republican mounts a comeback bid for the presidency.
A New York judge today authorised Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to make the charges public, but it is not clear when he will do so.
Copy link
12h ago
13:28
‘There’s no way he could be scarier with his clothes on’: Stormy Daniels says she is ready to face Trump in court
The charges facing Donald Trump is “vindication” and shows he is “no longer untouchable”, Stormy Daniels has said.
In an interview with The Times, the porn actress, whose birth name is Stephanie Clifford, said the case, which is a US first, was “monumental and epic” and she was “proud”.
However, she stressed it was “going to continue to divide people and bring them up in arms”.
She said: “He’s done so much worse that he should have been taken down [for] before.”
Speaking from an undisclosed location in the US, Ms Daniels said that within hours of the indictment, she had started receiving threats of violence.
She also said it was “especially scary because Trump himself is inciting violence and encouraging it”.
Despite the increasing threats, she said she was not fearful of facing Trump in court.
“I’ve seen him naked. There’s no way he could be scarier with his clothes on,” she added.
Ms Daniels has not yet been officially called to give evidence against Trump, but she has stressed she is “not afraid”.
“I have nothing to hide, and I look forward to telling everybody what I know,” she said.
For context: The case against him centres on a $130,000 (£105,000) payment made to porn actress Stormy Daniels during the final days of the 2016 presidential campaign.
Ms Daniels claims she had an affair with Mr Trump in 2006, which the former US president denies.
In 2016 when he was running for president, she offered to sell her story to the press.
Mr Trump’s then-lawyer Michael Cohen was notified of her plans, resulting in a $130,000 (£105,000) payment being made to keep Ms Daniels quiet.
Once he was elected, Mr Trump reimbursed Mr Cohen by paying him more than double the original amount. He continued to deny the affair, however.
According to court documents, Mr Trump falsely listed his former lawyer’s reimbursement as “legal services”.
Copy link
12h ago
13:20
What is an indictment and what happens at an arraignment?
Donald Trump is due to be fingerprinted and photographed in a New York courthouse next week.
Here, we take a look at some of the legal words that are being used in this US case.
What is an indictment?
It is similar to a charge in the UK. It is a formal statement of the accusations, and the circumstances around them.
In Trump’s case, it is believed he is facing around 30 counts of document fraud-related charges. In his case, a grand jury voted to indict the former president after investigating the evidence against him.
What is a grand jury?
Unlike trial juries, grand juries don’t determine the guilt of a defendant but instead decide after consulting evidence whether the threshold to indict has been crossed.
They are randomly drawn from lists of voters and are anonymous, and can call witnesses to give evidence in secret to help them make their decision.
While there are 21 members of the grand jury in this case, they can run from six to 23 people.
What happens at the arraignment?
Trump is expected to appear in person for his arraignment next week.
The arraignment is the first time that a defendant appears in court to answer the charges against them. They must answer guilty or not guilty to the charges.
If, as expected, Trump pleads not guilty, the judge will then set a court date for a further hearing or a trial. His lawyer Joe Tacopina has already set out that Trump will not seek a plea bargain.
Trump would not have to post bail given the nature of the charges.
Copy link
12h ago
12:56
Trump indictment shows why he needs to ‘take back the White House’, lawyer says
The indictment facing Donald Trump is another example of why he needs to “take back the White House”, the lawyer for Trump, Alina Habba, has said.
Speaking to Sky News, she said the former president’s reaction is “resilient and strong” and he had heard the rumours that this “witch hunt” would be coming to fruition.
She said: “When we understood that there was an indictment, he took it.
“I think he was disappointed in the state of our country, as he has been for the past couple of years. And this is just another example of how we need to take back the White House.”
She went on to say, “this has been his life since 2016 when he went down the escalator”.
Asked how Trump planned to deal with this going forwards, she added: “The same way anybody would deal with it.
“When somebody is bringing garbage charges, you hire attorneys and you move one thing at a time and then you go to trial and you win.”
Speaking on whether she felt the case strengthened support for Trump, she said: “Yes, look at the polls. He’s up 30 points over DeSantis right now. His poll numbers have gone up since this whole hoax started. And it will probably continue to.
“The country is angry. I know you’re in the UK but this country is angry.”
Copy link
13h ago
12:19
Ivanka Trump responds to father’s indictment
Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka has responded to her father’s indictment in the last few moments.
In a statement on Instagram, she wrote: “I love my father, and I love my country. Today, I am pained for both.”
During Trump’s presidency, Ivanka served as a White House aide.
However, she declined to join her father’s 2024 president campaign, saying she had chosen “to prioritise my young children and the private life we are creating as a family”.
Copy link
13h ago
11:49
Trump will be arraigned on Tuesday
Donald Trump will be arraigned on Tuesday afternoon at a Manhattan court, New York court officials have confirmed.
He faces around 30 counts of document fraud-related charges in the indictment, according to two sources, but the indictment itself has remained sealed, as is standard in New York before an arraignment.
The former US president’s appearance before a judge in Manhattan could further inflame divisions across the country.
An arraignment is a court proceeding in which the defendant is read the charges in the indictment and asked to enter a plea.
Copy link
13h ago
11:36
Pence: Trump indictment an ‘outrage’ and ‘political persecution’
The indictment is “nothing short of a political persecution”, Mike Pence, who was Donald Trump’s vice-president, has said.
In an interview at the National Review’s Ideas Summit, Mr Pence said: “The unprecedented indictment of a former US president for a campaign finance issue is an outrage.
“I think it is clear to the overwhelming majority of the American people that this is nothing short of a political persecution.”
His comments echo those of Trump himself, who also likened the indictment to a “witch-hunt”.
Mr Pence said every American deserves “equal treatment under the law” and the American people “will see this for what it is”.
“There are dictators and authoritarians around the world that will point to that to justify their own abuse of their own so-called justice system, so I’m very troubled by it,” he added.
Copy link
14h ago
11:12
US is like a ‘third world dictatorship’, Trump Jr says
Donald Trump’s eldest son has said his father’s indictment is something usually reserved for “a third world dictatorship”.
“It’s happening before your very eyes,” Donald Trump Jr added in his tweet.
Trump Sr, who has denied any wrongdoing and has repeatedly assailed the investigation, has called the indictment “political persecution” and predicted it would damage the Democrats in the 2024 presidential election – in which he is running.
Copy link
14h ago
10:44
Trump facing around 30 counts of document fraud-related charges
Donald Trump is facing around 30 counts of document fraud-related charges in the indictment, two sources familiar with the matter have said.
Sources have said the indictment remains sealed and it is at the discretion of the district attorney’s office if they choose to seek to unseal the indictment before Tuesday.
The judge will consider any unsealing application if it is made.
As of now, it appears the district attorney will follow normal procedure and wait for the indictment to be unsealed on Tuesday when Trump has his in-person court appearance.
Copy link
14h ago
10:41
Why Trump can still run for president even if he’s jailed
Less than a week ago, Donald Trump held his first campaign rally in his bid to be re-elected president in 2024.
He told his supporters gathered in Waco, Texas, that the investigations swirling around him were “something straight out of the Stalinist Russia horror show”.
“From the beginning it’s been one witch hunt and phony investigation after another,” he said.
One of those investigations has now come to fruition and Trump has been indicted.
But, as our international affairs editor Dominic Waghorn explains, this should not scupper his attempt to re-win the White House…
“The American constitution says the qualification to run for president is you have to be 35, you have to have been a resident for 14 years and you have to be born in America,” he says.
“No other qualifications are allowed to get in the way so you cannot apply any other qualification, including whether you are a convicted felon or not.
“In fact in 1920 a man called Eugene Debs ran for president from a jail cell so it is possible and it might actually help Donald Trump in certain ways.
“Republicans are making the most of this as he certainly will.
“He certainly thinks it will help him. He said that before.
“And with Republicans, their defence at the moment is that everyone knows that these claims are baseless – that is how they are presenting it.
“They are saying this is a very thin case that has been brought against the former president.”
Waghorn notes that Trump is in a “world of legal jeopardy” and this could in fact help him in the presidential nominations.
“He is an anti-establishment figure and he will make the most of this,” he adds.
Copy link
15h ago
10:25
After calling for celebration, Trump’s niece tweets again…
This time, it’s just one line.
But it suggests Mary Trump didn’t lose much sleep over the indictment of her uncle.
In a tweet last night she said the decision is “finally some measure of justice”.
“Let’s take a minute to celebrate,” she said.
Copy link
15h ago
10:06
Trump won’t be handcuffed when he surrenders, lawyer says
Donald Trump won’t be handcuffed when he surrenders in New York next week, his lawyer Joe Tacopina has said.
A deal has been agreed between the former president’s legal team and prosecutors in Manhattan, Mr Tacopina confirmed in an interview.
Trump’s in-person court appearance over the criminal charges he faces is expected to take place on Tuesday.
Earlier, Mr Tacopina told NBC News that Trump had committed “no crime” and there is “zero” chance of him accepting a plea deal (see post at 12.17pm).
Trump was “initially shocked” at the decision by a Manhattan grand jury to indict him and believes it is an “injustice”, the lawyer said.
