Donald Trump has arrived at the New York City courthouse where he’ll be arrested and arraigned later Tuesday on dozens of charges related to hush money payments — the first time in American history that a former president will face criminal charges. Trump arrived at the courthouse at 100 Centre St. in lower Manhattan in a presidential-style motorcade from Trump Tower in midtown, where he stayed overnight. He’s expected to be informed he’s under arrest, fingerprinted and processed ahead of his scheduled 2:15 p.m. ET arraignment before Judge Juan Merchan.

Trump is expected to enter a plea of not guilty. "Seems so SURREAL — WOW, they are going to ARREST ME. Can’t believe this is happening in America," Trump said in a post on his social media platform Truth Social that published as he was arriving at the courthouse. The legal troubles, media spectacle and porn-star-hush-money salaciousness at the heart of the case are a new chapter for the New York tycoon-turned-TV-star-turned-politician, whose career has careened from scandal to success for four decades. This time, unlike his bankrupted casinos or failed marriages, many of Trump's supporters and detractors argue that the fate of American democracy is hanging in the balance as the former president increasingly conflates any legal woes as an effort to illegitimately deny him a return to power.

With the failures of Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot still fresh in officials' minds, security was high in the courthouse and nearby areas as the police department, court officers and Secret Service braced for protests amid the unprecedented arraignment of a former president. While police shut down streets and the sound of a helicopter buzzed overhead, news outlets from around the world set up cameras near long lines of spectators, some of whom had camped out overnight in the hopes of getting a coveted seat inside. The judge has barred TV cameras from inside the courtroom but decided to allow some photographers, who will capture historic images likely to end up on newspaper front pages, in election-season ads and in future history books. "I think we’re on the eve of destruction. It’s just like surreal to me,” Trump attorney Joe Tacopina said Monday on Fox News.