Former US President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty Tuesday in a New York state court to a 34-count indictment that accuses him of falsifying business records to further an unspecified crime, described by prosecutors as an attempt to of hiding a secret money payment to a porn actress in his bid to win the presidency in 2016.
In the first criminal case against a current or former leader of the United States, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg alleged in a “statement of facts” accompanying the indictment that Trump “repeatedly and fraudulently falsified business records of New York to conceal criminal conduct that concealed harmful information” from the voting public during the 2016 presidential election.”
As part of the scheme, according to the attached statement, Trump allegedly orchestrated a secret $130,000 payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels just before the election to silence her about her claim of a one-night stand with Trump a decade earlier. Trump has long denied the sexual relationship, but not the payment.
In addition, the indictment alleges that, with Trump’s support, political allies of American Media Inc., the publisher of the supermarket tabloid National Enquirer, paid $150,000 to Karen McDougal, Playboy magazine’s 1998 Playmate of the Year, to buy his written account in which he claimed to have a months-long affair with Trump in 2006 and 2007 and then delete the article. Trump has also denied McDougal’s claim that she was in a relationship with him.
After Trump’s arraignment on the charges, prosecutor Bragg said Trump participated in the tabloid’s “catch and kill” scheme to buy and suppress negative information about him ahead of the 2016 election to “help Trump has a chance to win.”
The fact sheet accompanying the indictment also alleges that the tabloid paid $30,000 to a doorman at Trump Tower, the former president’s New York residence and office, to suppress his claim that Trump had fathered a child out of wedlock, otherwise which the tabloid later realized was unfounded.
Trump, his lawyers and many Republicans have claimed that Bragg, an elected Democratic prosecutor, is engaging in a “political witch hunt.” One of Trump’s lawyers, in brief comments after the hearing, said the charges indicated that the rule of law was “dead” in the United States.
Trump’s reaction
Hours after his court appearance in New York City, Trump told a crowd inside his private Mar-a-Lago resort in the state of Florida that “I never thought something like this could happen in the United States.”
The former president added: “The only crime I have committed is fearlessly defending our nation from those who seek to destroy it.”
Bragg should be prosecuted for leaking grand jury documents or, at the very least, resign, Trump said of the Manhattan district attorney, who filed the nearly three dozen felony charges against him, suggesting the case was filed to interfere with the 2024 presidential election.
Polls show Trump comfortably leading all other declared and anticipated contenders for next year’s GOP nomination.
Trump, during his 25-minute speech, also verbally attacked the judge in his criminal case.
“I have a Trump-hating judge with a Trump-hating wife and family,” said former Chief Acting New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan.
Trump also discussed other legal problems he faces in New York and Georgia, as well as the matter of a special prosecutor investigating whether he violated the Presidential Records Act by bringing classified documents to his Florida home after leaving the White House.
In all those other cases, Trump claimed, he did nothing wrong.
Bragg said his office has a history of “vigorously enforcing white collar crime” and that keeping accurate business records is especially important in New York, the financial center of the world.
Each of the 34 counts in the indictment relates to entries Trump allegedly made in his corporate books recording payments made to Michael Cohen, his former lawyer and political ombudsman, to reimburse him for using his own funds to make the payment to Daniels.
Cohen pleaded guilty to crimes related to paying Daniels and served more than a year in prison. While he was once loyal to Trump, he later turned on him, testifying before the grand jury investigating the case, and is expected to be a key witness in Trump’s eventual trial.
But the trial could take up to a year, amid Trump’s bid to win the 2024 Republican presidential nomination and win back the White House. Bragg’s lawyers called for a trial in January 2024, but a Trump attorney suggested his defense team might need until next spring to prepare. The next scheduled court date in the case is December 4.
Trump pleaded not guilty in his appearance before Merchan after the lawyer revealed the indictment.
There was no live television broadcast of the proceedings after Merchan refused requests from the media to air it. But justice allowed a small group of photographers to take pictures before the process began.
The former president, dressed in his customary blue suit and red tie, looked somber, attentive and contemplative in a photo taken moments after taking a seat among his defense attorneys at the defendants’ table.
His defense attorneys Todd Blanche, Susan Necheles and Joe Tacopina sat on either side of him as armed courtroom security guards stood behind him.
Trump has long denied the claim by Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, who said she had a one-night stand with him after they met at a golf tournament in 2006. But Trump has not denied that Cohen has made the payment to Daniels and that the reimbursement payments to Cohen were recorded in a Trump Organization trade ledger as legal expenses. Trump denies the payment was related to his presidential campaign seven years ago.
Trump’s lawyers say he has no intention of negotiating a plea deal in the case. The outcome of a trial could depend on the intent behind the payment to Daniels.
Since his indictment Thursday, the Trump campaign said it has raised $8 million and logged more than 16,000 volunteer signups, which campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said were “key indicators that Americans of all origins are Sick and tired of the militarization of the justice system against President Trump and his supporters.”
The former president also faces other criminal investigations that could result in more charges against him or possibly clear him of wrongdoing. They include federal investigations into his efforts to overturn his 2020 re-election loss to Biden, including Trump’s role in encouraging supporters to try to stop Congress from certifying Biden’s victory on January 6, 2021, and his withholding of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. He was asked to turn the material over to the National Archives when he left office.
Meanwhile, in a more limited case, a prosecutor in the southern state of Georgia is investigating Trump’s efforts there to reverse Biden’s victory when Trump asked state election officials to “find” enough votes to claim victory.
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