Hundreds of raucous Donald Trump supporters and anti-Trump protesters swarmed a New York courthouse on Tuesday as the former president appeared for his historic arraignment on hush-money payments charges.
Crowds of people whistled, shouted, and waved placards in support of Trump, who has already announced his candidacy for president in 2024, hours before he turned himself in on Tuesday afternoon.
Counterprotesters appeared to outnumber Trump supporters, who were separated by barricades from the Trump crowd. Many of them carried signs that read “Lock him up!” about a chant directed at Trump’s opponent Hillary Clinton during his successful presidential campaign in 2016.
A large crowd of reporters gathered to witness the chaotic scene, which was punctuated by drums, cowbells, whistles, and horns.
Trump pleaded not guilty inside the courtroom to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. He did not speak to reporters as he entered and exited the courtroom.
While Trump waved to his supporters as he arrived at the courthouse at 1:30 p.m., he left in his motorcade about two hours later with little fanfare. The crowd in the park had thinned by then, and bystanders appeared to be unaware of his departure.
Earlier, Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican lawmaker from Georgia who supported Trump’s false claims that he won the 2020 election, made a brief appearance outside the Manhattan courthouse, where she had promised to lead a pro-Trump rally hosted by the New York Young Republican Club.
“I’d like to thank patriotic Trump supporters who are here today,” Greene said over a megaphone, drawing cheers and chants of “USA!”
She spoke for a few minutes before fleeing in a white SUV as counter-protesters heckled her and others cheered her on.
Gina Witcher, 55, said she was hesitant to travel to New York from her home in Maryland to show her support for Trump until she heard Greene would be there and felt reassured that other Trump supporters would as well.
She claimed the indictment was political.
“We’re banding together with like-minded individuals to ask, ‘How do we fight this?'” said Witcher.
George Santos, the freshman congressman from New York state who has faced calls from fellow Republicans to resign over his fabrications about his background, also attended the rally to show his support for Trump but quickly left.
Some protesters dressed up, including a Trump supporter wearing a mask shaped like President Joe Biden’s face and a Trump critic dressed as the former president in a black and white striped prison jumpsuit.
Trump is the first current or former US president to face criminal charges.
