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narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. and by conutions to this pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. announcer: and now, "bbc news". anchor: in washington dc, this is bbc world news america. a day for the history books and legal record -- donald trump pleads not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in a new york courtroom. >> president trump, will you take some questions? how did you plead? anchor: as he entered and left the courthouse, the former president put up a defiant front. the da pressing the case says no

one is above the law. >> these are felony crimes in new york state, no matter who you are. we cannot and will not normalize serious criminal conduct. anchor: ever divisive, mr. trump has both supporters and opponents camped outside the courthouse loudly proclaiming their views. welcome to world news america on pbs and around the globe. we start tonight with an historic day in the u.s. donald trump has been arraigned on criminal charges. he's now the first u.s. president to ever face criminal charges. here he is at court earlier today. no video cameras were allowed in the courtroom, but mr. trump was filmed going into the room to hear the charges against him flanked by his lawyers and

secret service. he chose not to speak to reporters. take a look. >> president trump, will you come speak to us? anchor: earlier on monday, the former president took the trip from trump tower to surrender on charges linked to a hush money payment made to a poor and star before he took office. -- before a -- mr. trump p -- plead not guilty 234 criminal charges. in the people of the state of new york against donald j trump, the indictment, number 7154 323 which has now been unsealed. a short while ago, we heard from the person prosecuting mr. trump, alvin bragg. >> at its core, this case today

is one with allegations, like so many of our white collar cases, allegations that someone lied again and again to protect their interest and debate the laws to which we are all held accountable. as this office has done time and time again, we, today, uphold our solemn responsibility to ensure everyone stands equal before the law. anchor: while mr. trump's day proceeded with a flight bacto florida and his mar-a-lago residence, it has been a journey between the president's longtime homes -- as a real estate magnate in new york and former president in florida. this was an overnight trip with global implications. net a tough echo is outside the courthouse and tells us what has been happening. tell us what we have been learning from the indictment

that the da, alvin bragg, released. reporter: this was crucial because finally after donald trump's historic court appearance, the indictment was unsealed and we got a look at those already four counts. they are class e felonies, so the lowest level of felony. he's accused of faifying business records to conceal a crime. those felonies carry a maximum sentence of four years in prison, but we have to wait and see how this all plays out if he is convicted, perhaps legal experts speculate he could get off with just paying a fine. but looking deeper into these charges, it is clear they are not just looking at hush-money payments to stormy daniels. they talk about efforts to catch and kill negative stories about donald trump in the run-up to that 2016 election so that he could basically get on top of any stories and kill them.

that would put them in a bad light in front of voters. they point to a $150,000 payment the owner of the tabloid the national enquirer paid to the playboy model, karen mougal. she has alleged her and donald trump carried out an affair. they pointed to efforts to pay off a doorman it trump towerho is trying to shop his story that the foer president allegedly fathered a child out of wedlock. in all of these instances, they say michael cohen, donald trump's former lawyer, has pleaded guilty, served time in prison and said this catch and kill effort was all to influence the election, to make sure donald trump's voters did not hear about this. equally, they say the national enquirer's owner did this for the express purpose of helping donald trump ahead of the election. anchor: just after the arraignment, the manhattan district attorney, alvin bragg, did hold a press conference.

tell us about the key message he was delivering there. reporter: alv bragg has spent weeks now being attacked by not just donald trump but key republicans in congress, challengers of donald trump for the white house in 2024. it essential come a very influential members of the republican party attacking him, saying they want to investigate his probe, that he is doing this to influence the upcoming election, that this is the weaponization of the criminal justice system. this was his first public address on this matter and he was very, very clear. these white-collar crimes in new york, in this case, falsifying business records to conceal a crime. he said anytime that comes up in new york, they go after these cases like any other defendant and this has nothing to do with politics. in fact, he said it was his solemn responsibility to try

this case. anchor: we will be coming back to you later in the hour. with me now from south carolina is mick mulvaney, who served as mr. trump's chief of staff earlier. good to see you. thank you for joining us on the program. we heard a reporter speaking about what this indictment details. before the arraignment, you said this case was a mistake. now that you know what that charges are and have had a chance to look at the indictment, do you still think it is a mistake? guest: i thought it was a mistake if it was everything we had already heard. we didn't find out until late today what t indictment actually said, what the allegations were, so we are in a holding pattern until today. now that the indictment is out, it looks like what everybody expected. therebuharg, every check, every ledgerntry, every invoice is a separate charge. what you have is exactly what people thought, a misreporting of a business expense tied to

alleged campaign violation. that is it, it is a class e felony under new york law. ordinarily, just a business reporting by itself is a misdemeanor. i've been watching news coverage from around the world and everybody seems to be scratching their head at how weak this case seems to be. that is including former obama officis i've talked with. it is quite surprising didn't see anything new today. no new witnesses, no new news. a lot of this information is seven years old, if not older. it is a strange sort of thing. anchor: what about the information about further payments, 30 thousand dollars paid to a doorman? guest: i think a lot of that stuff was out. if not, it doesn't add much to the overall issue. the issue is going to be this -- is it a felony? i think everyone acknowledges that if this happened, it is a

misdemeanor. is it a felony? is donald trump being charged with this because he's donald trump? what anyone else be charged with the same circumstances. there are democrat commentators say they can't make that case. i know alvin bragg said they do this all the time. i'm sure that will be played out over the next several days whether there is a history here but keep in mind that the crime alvin bragg says this was in the furtherance of, which was a campaign finance violation, which is how he says he gets to a felony as opposed to a misdemeanor wasn't even osecuted by the federal authorities when they had a chance to do it. if it was a crime, it didn't rise to a crime to the level fedel government thought they should charge with. it is leaving a lot of people scratching their heads wondering if alvin bragg is following through on a campaign promise. but everybody will have their day inourt. anchor: i want to ask you about what we saw from the former president stop you use to be his

chief of staff. what would you advise him to say when he speaks from mar-a-lago andhat do you think he actually is going to say? guest: it is going to be a political speech tonight. what i would advise him to say is to stay away from anything personal about the district attorney, anything personal about the judge. as far as i know, there was no gag order entered yet. unless it s happened since you and i have waited on hold to this interview. it is still really bad practice to attack a judge, to attack a d.a., members of their family. you are never going to stop the president from talking, that's just not the way he is. you're not going to convince him to go in his room and be quiet. when he does peak, i would encourage them to speak to the actual allegations at how this is a political witch hunt and not get into personal attacks. anchor: we know he is someone who is concerned about his legacy and image. how do youth think he was feeling going through this process? guest: that's a great question.

i think a lot of people think he was defiant. i get the impression he was little worried. he wasn't happy about being indicted. he would consider it a blemish on his legacy, on his brand. but after reading the indictments and going through it, which is'm sure the same thing his team has done as he sits on the airplane. they are probably celebrating at how weak this is. you are going to see a very up eight president tonight. he is going to be angry, he's gog to push back on how he's being singled out. he is going to be very upbeat. he's running for president again. mitt romney, who can't stand him has defended him. john bolton is on tv right now defending him. even the presidents harshest republican critics are coming to his aid, it's hard to imagine him not being upbeat with that kind of response. anchor: this is just the start of a long process. the next hearing will be in december. how is this going to affect the

2024 race? guest: it's hard to say because december is a long way away. there are motions to dismiss. we are assuming the next hearing is in december. but when you are running against nikki haley, if you are running against ron desantis, running against mike pence and they are all defending you, doesn't that make you feel better about your chances? if you're going to try to beat donald trump in a republican primary, you have to show how you are different, you have to get distance between you and him. with all his opponents defending him, it's hard to do that. the fact the hearing is not until december means this will drive media cycles for many months instead of just a couple of weeks as if we had the trial in may. it's going to suck a lot of air out of the room. it's going to help donald trump and seal him as the front runner for the republican nomination. anchor: mick mulvaney formerly served as mr. trump's chief of staff. thank you for joining us on bbc.

let's get a reminder of who the key players are in donald trump's indictment. the new york judge presided over the arraignment previously presided over criminal cases against the trump organization, its former finance chief, and one of mr. trump's former white house aides. the manhattan district attorney, alvin bragg, he inherited the years long investigation when he took office la year. the new york times reports he shifted the focus of the probe to add the ledge it $130,000 payment made to x porn star stormy daniels. michael cohen is a key witness and alleges the former president directed him to make the payment to ms. daniels to keep her from going public about an alleged affair with mr. trump. the former president denies both claims. then there is mr. trump's lawyers. it has been reported the former president switches lead counsel less than 24 hours before his court appearance, replacing him

with a white collar criminal defense lawyer and prosecutor. for the legal view, i'm joined by the former assistant u.s. attorney for the so -- the southern district of new york. i know you have been going through this indictment and looking through it. tell us first and foremost what you have been picking out from it. guest: i think the most interesting part is the statement of facts which sets forth the district attorney's narrative. what they expect the story to show as this case unfolds during this pretrial and eventually the trial. what is interesting to me is there is nothing new here. there's nothing unexpected. this is the same set of facts that we, the public, has known about for some time. this was the same set of facts that emerged in connection with

the michael cohen investigation and forms the basis of the charges against the former president. anchor: if that is the case, do you think this is not a strong case? guest: i think both sides are going to do battle. think it is a difficult case for alvin bragg's office to elevate to the felony as they have done. i think trump team, with the addition of mr. blanche, has added tthe firepower and they are going to battle this out. anchor: can you explain this to us -- one felony, 34 counts. what does that mean? guest: each count relates to an individual entry in the ledger. what -- but it is one series of events related to stormy

daniels. but each count relates to an individual entry, a check meted out to mr. cohen in furtherance of those payments or some payment made to mr. cohen in furtherance of those payments to ms. daniels. anchor: if you look at what trumps team, they said this is a sad, boilerplate indictment. what do you think we can expect to see from them now? guest: interestingly, trumps legal team has been successful today in restraining the former president himself from speaking. but i'm sure that is to come later today. as a defense attorney now, it is in mr. trump's interest to stay quiet and let his attorneys do the talking. i think they wille rail against the indictment and i think they have a legal and factual argument they are going

to put forth about this indictment and attack the witnesses that have provided th facts underlying the indictment and will attack the legal basis for bringing these charges at this time. anchor: the next step of this process doesn't take place until december. what is happening between now and december? guest: what is going to happen is first of all, the district attorney's office has to turn over all the materials they based their caisson. all the investigative materials. this particular case, giving the interrelatedness between the u.s. attorney's office, that has to be a large amount of material. they have to turn those materials over. there are very strict timelines in new york for the district attorney to turn those over. then, trumps defense team has a chance to review those materials. once they review those materials, they have an

opportunity to bring motions, legal motions challenging the case on legal grounds. before we even get to the trial phase where they can attack the witnesses themselves. anchor: we will come back to you a little later in the hour. our disinformation and social media correspondent has been looking at how donald trump's arrest has been playing out on social media. take a look. reporter: i have been looking at what we have been seeing on social medias. there are five fictional charactersreated. they do not represent all u.s. -- what all u.s. voters are seeing but sit across the political spectrum and they give us a snapshot of what people are being recommended and targeted with. one of the most interesting accounts as populist right britney. she's a big trump supporter and is not on the main social media platforms only but other social media accounts like telegram where there are conspiracy theories linked to those riots that happened in 2021.

the chatter in those channels feels different than before the riots at the capitol. there is violent language. people thinking this is all part of a plan and should not ce out and protest because they are going to be framed in some way. it suggests there is not going to be violence necessarily as we saw before. but you never know and we can't enter all the closed troops that -- float -- all of the csed groups. there's a political gabriella who was not into politics but over the past few days, trump is all over her social media feeds. she's had other republicans like florida governor ron desantis who have been popping up on her social media up until now. w trump is winning, certainly in terms of the attention he is getting on her feet. whether it will have a net negative effect is another

question. when we look at progressive left,, her feet is mainly celebrating trumps indictment and how they believe justice will be served. but there are some doubts as well, people concerned may be this is the wrong thing to go after trump for and this could boost his popularity. it is imrtant to say that while her feet has had a lot of trump, it hasn'tjust been trump today. that tells us or makes me question is trump still cutting through to the broader social media audience or is he just playing well with the more extreme voters who set off the main platform and sites like telegram? anchor: according to the latt opinion polls, donald trump is the clear front runner for the nominee of thext presidential election. commentators are busy debating how today's events might affect voters opinions. our correspondent reports from the battleground state of

arizona where super for the former president still runs deep. reporter: they may be nearly 2.5 thousand miles away from new york city but they can still show solidarity with their former president. paul and betty say their support fodonald trump has never been stronger. >> he might be fun perfect, he might be someone who doesn't speak eloquently, but at the same time, he says things the way they are. >> he loves everybody, but the people say he is racist and it's not true. reporter: at their mexican restaurant, the clients tend to share their politics. it's kind of a prerequisite to getting serve. >> we need to stand up and say this is not ok, it's not ok for

you to attack your political opponent by arresting them. >> i think his time has come and gone. this whole indictment was happening today is changing everybody's opinion and giving him more strength and more to run on. reporter: arizona was once a reliably republican state but in 2020, it elected a democratic president for the first time in a quarter of a century. last year, voters here chose a democratic governor. the republican candidate won donald trump's endorsement did not win election. nor did other trump-backed election denying candidates. many moderate broke -- moderate public and independent voters want to move on. alberto is a lifelong ultra conservative republican. he voted for donald trump in 2016 and 2020. he has had enough. why wouldn't you vote for donald trump now?

i think we need change. we need to find someone else, others who are not as brash as donald trump that can carry and rebuild the republican party. not only in arizona but nationwide. reporter: in a state where every vote counts, a criminal court case, too. things are heating up for donald trump and for some here, they're getting too hot to handle. anchor: before we go, let's return to new york for a bit of insight into how the days court proceedings unfolded. reporter: reporters lined up from yesterday and stood overnight to try to get tickets into the courthouse. the bbc's kayla epstein was one who had a front row to history. you were sitting right behind donald trump in court today. how did he seem? >> donald trump entered the

court flanked by many secret service officers. his expression was somber. he didn't say anything or look at the press as he took his front row seat before the judge. we heard very little from former president trump. we are used to him talking for over an hour to supporters at rallies but we only heard a few words from him, including not guilty. reporter: such an interesting moment and the fact he chose not to even address the cameras -- many speculated he might. >> yes. there was back in full -- back and forth and throughout the day , he decided to leave court quietly without saying a word to the press. reporter: the irony of this all is the next hearing is not until december 5. this will be a long, long process. and it might not even be the most consequtial case if the other investigation drowned election interference, eorts to conceal classified document that mar-a-lago, if those and in

prosecution, that would make this case seem far less consequential. anchor: we will come back to you later in the hour. for viewers around the world, our coverage continues on bbc news. to our viewers on pbs and the u.s., thank you for watching the special edition of bbc world news america. narrat: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... narrator: financial services firm, raymond james. man: bdo. accountants and advisors. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. and by contributions to this pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ ♪ narrator: you're watching s.

geoff: good evening. amna: on the newshour tonight. former president trump appears in court facing 34 felony counts of falsifying business records as part of a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election. geoff: finland formally joins nato in the wake of russia's invasion of ukraine striking a blow against vladimir putin. amna: as climate change continues to alter the world, norway becomes more important than ever. >> in climate change, that means rapid climate, higher temperatures, longer droughts, morelooding. and our food, our crops need to