As part of his arraignment, Trump will undergo the standard booking procedure of being fingerprinted and photographed, likely to result in one of the most famous mugshots of the modern era.
Donald Trump has left Florida for New York where he will surrender to criminal charges, taking the United States into uncharted and potentially volatile territory.
The 76-year-old Republican, the first American president ever to be criminally indicted, will be formally charged Tuesday over hush money paid to a adult movie actress during the 2016 election campaign.
Dozens of people, many waving pro-Trump banners and American flags, lined the route as Trump's motorcade raced from his Florida mansion to the airport on Monday where he boarded his private Boeing 757 emblazoned with his name on the fuselage.
"HEADING TO NEW YORK. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!," Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social, minutes before he took off at 1700 GMT (1 pm).
"WITCH HUNT, as our once great Country is going to HELL!"
READ MORE: No handcuffs but a mug shot: Trump to be arraigned in hush money case
New York on high alert
New York police were on high alert ahead of Trump's arrival, with security cordons and Secret Service agents outside Trump Tower and the criminal court where he will appear before a judge Tuesday afternoon.
New York Mayor Eric Adams warned that anyone protesting violently during Trump's historic arraignment will be "arrested and held accountable, no matter who you are."
"While there may be some rabble rousers thinking about coming to our city tomorrow our message is clear, is simple: 'control yourselves'," the mayor told a press conference, adding that there were no specific, credible threats.
'Perp walk'
There is no roadmap for a former president's surrender to court authorities, and it remains to be seen whether the famously unpredictable Trump will follow the script, or find a way to upend events.
"It's all up in the air," Trump lawyer Joe Tacopina said on TV channel CNN on Sunday.
But a "perp walk" - in which a defendant is escorted in handcuffs past media cameras - is unlikely for an ex-president under US Secret Service protection, Tacopina said.
"Hopefully this will be as painless and classy as possible for a situation like this."
A grand jury indicted Trump last week in the case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, an elected Democrat.
Facing myriad charges
The specific charges will be revealed during Tuesday's hearing.
They revolve around the investigation of $130,000 paid to adult movie actress Stormy Daniels just days before Trump's election win.
Trump's former lawyer and aide Michael Cohen, who has since turned against his ex-boss, says he arranged the payment to Daniels in exchange for her silence about a tryst she says she had with Trump in 2006.
Trump, who was already married to his wife Melania at the time, denies the affair.
Legal experts have suggested that if not properly accounted for, the payment could result in misdemeanor charges for falsifying business records that could be raised to felonies if it was intended to cover up a campaign finance violation.
The Daniels case is only one of several investigations threatening Trump.
Trump survived two impeachments while in the White House and kept prosecutors at bay over everything from the US Capitol riot to missing classified files.
He faces felony investigations in Georgia relating to the 2020 election and in Washington over both the classified files and the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol by his supporters.
READ MORE: Trump indicted: What are the possible scenarios for ex-US President
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