Donald Trump arrest: Chris Rock lambasts lawmakers

American comedian Chris Rock, who made headlines due to the fallout of his slap from Will Smith at the Oscars, has labelled those who wanted to arrest former US President Donald Trump as 'stupid'.

Trump is the first former US President to be arrested on criminal charges said to be related to hush money payments made to a former film star Stormy Daniels in 2016. The former president pleaded not guilty to 34 criminal charges against him in Manhattan criminal court Tuesday afternoon, a source familiar with the matter told CNN.

The American comedian, who was helping to honour Adam Sandler at the Mark Twain Prize on Sunday, addressed the lawmakers who were in the audience, which included Nancy Pelosi.

"Are you guys really going to arrest Trump?" Rock asked the crowd, according to the Daily Mail, which noted that several officials from the Biden administration were in the Kennedy Center crowd.

"Do you know this is only going to make him more popular. It's like arresting Tupac. He's just gonna sell more records. Are you stupid?"

Rock also appeared sharing his funny comments about the charges that Trump faces after allegedly paying hush money to Stormy Daniels to try and stop her talking about their supposed affair in the run-up to the 2016 US Presidential election.

He joked that the future president "f***ed a star and paid off someone so his wife couldn't find out. That's romantic. We've all been cheated on. Don't you wish that the person that cheated on you paid off somebody so you wouldn't find out?"

The 76-year-old was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury last week in a case stemming from a 2016 hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.

Trump reportedly arrived at the Manhattan district attorney’s office earlier Tuesday afternoon, where he was placed under arrest and in police custody before his upcoming arraignment.