DONALD TRUMP became the first former US president to appear in court as a criminal defendant on Tuesday.

The ex-president flew back to his Mar-a-Lago palace in Florida after being indicted by a New York grand jury, having pleaded not guilty to 34 charges relating to payments made to two women with whom he reportedly had sex and a concierge privy to information about his sexual activities, supposedly to buy their silence.

Mr Trump was released on bail and will not appear in court again until December.