And we are on the air, obviously, with a truncated version of Meet the Press.

Now, literally picking up coverage where we just left off.

I'm Chuck Todd. I've been reporting here in Washington on this historic day as Donald Trump became the first former president in the United States

ever to appear in court having to face a criminal charge. Donald Trump wasn't just a former

president when he appeared in court today. He's also an active current candidate for president

in the United States. He's arguably the frontrunner for the Republican nomination right now,

and he holds considerable sway over his party.

There are pictures of Mr. Trump inside that Manhattan courtroom a short time ago,

where after nearly a week of speculation, we found out what charges he would face.

34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree, all of which the former

president pled not guilty to. This indictment is focused on the Stormy Daniel's case.

There is no specific conspiracy count included in it. But in the statement of facts, there seems to be an implication of a conspiracy for what that's worth.

Perhaps a more telling document is the statement of facts.

It was released alongside the indictment itself.

And it's the statement that describes the so-called conspiracy of a catch-and-kill scheme. It accuses the former

president of orchestrating the scheme with others to influence the 2016 presidential election

in an attempt to suppress any negative information about Trump with the National Enquirer,

basically. It's the magnet as people tried to sell their stories. They would in some ways almost

help catch the story and kill it.

Donald Trump did not speak to reporters as he entered and exited both the courthouse and the courtroom.

It's a notable thing because if he felt so good about this, felt it was such a positive that bravado might have carried over it in the courthouse.

He chose not to do that.

...