Photo Essay: Scenes from a Presidential Indictment

A giant flag reads, “Trump Lies All The Time,” in the park where hundreds gathered outside the courthouse where former U.S. President Donald Trump arrived for his arraignment on April 4, 2023 in New York City. With his indictment, Trump became the first former U.S. president in history to be charged with a criminal offense.

The criminal courthouse where former U.S. President Donald Trump arrived for his arraignment. Many of his supporters who gathered in the park across the street remain steadfast in believing his innocence and in his ability to lead the country as the next president.

Outside the courthouse, protesters screamed and chanted at each other while separated by police fences but were free to move about the park and occasionally intersected. Unlike this convergence, others turned into physical altercations. 

Multiple New York law enforcement agencies and dozens of Secret Service officers closed down streets and monitored downtown Manhattan in preparation for ex-president Trump to turn himself in to face criminal charges related to a 2016 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.

A Trump supporter holds a cartoon of D.A. Alvin Bragg, who leveled 34 felony charges on the former president.

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) began chanting “USA” after being drowned out by protesters. The election-denying congresswoman was then whisked back to her vehicle by a security detail. At the rally, which she helped organize with the Young Republicans of New York, she stayed no more than 10 minutes.

Protesters seemingly partook in competitive flag and banner waving.

A Trump supporter screams at counter-protesters behind police fences in a park that became progressively crowded as the scheduled time for Donald Trump to surrender at the criminal courthouse.

A die-hard Trump supporter confronts the media about Alvin Bragg not locking up real criminals but going after Trump for sleeping with a porn star. Other Trump supporters deny the illicit affair ever took place. Abe Lincoln would not comment.

Both pro- and anti-Trump attendees engaged in various, if not odd, forms of protest, including this person in a rubber Trump mask and tiny hands.

A person wearing an orange jumpsuit and a Trump mask poses as if behind bars outside the courthouse where former U.S. President Donald Trump will arrive for his arraignment. The next court date for the case is a pre-trial hearing in December, followed by a trial tentatively scheduled for early 2024, as Trump is simultaneously running for president again.