Ammon News - Donald Trump, the ex-president and frontrunner for the Republican 2024 nomination, flew into New York City on Monday for an historic court appearance to face charges stemming from a probe into hush money paid to a porn star.

With New York taking security precautions and the mayor telling potential "rabble-rousers" to behave, Trump was due to surrender at the Manhattan District Attorney's Office on Tuesday and will likely be fingerprinted prior to appearing before a judge for an arraignment where he will plead not guilty.

Trump, 76, is the first former or sitting U.S. president to face criminal charges.

Yahoo News late on Monday said Trump would face 34 felony counts for falsification of business records. Citing a single source briefed on Tuesday's arraignment procedures, Yahoo said none of the charges against Trump were misdemeanors.

Beefing up his legal team, Trump hired Todd Blanche, a prominent white-collar criminal defense lawyer and former federal prosecutor, to join his defense, two sources familiar with the matter said.

Trump's lawyers opposed videography, photography and radio coverage of the arraignment, where a defendant is brought to court to hear charges and have a chance to enter a plea, saying it would "exacerbate an already almost circus-like atmosphere around this case", detracting from dignity and decorum.

Judge Juan Merchan late on Monday ruled that five photographers would be admitted before the arraignment started to take pictures for several minutes until they must stop, with cameras allowed in the hallways of the building.

Trump said on social media he would head to the courthouse on Tuesday morning.

Reuters