•Manhattan District Attorney says thorough investigation led to former US president’s indictment
In the city that made him famous, under extraordinary courtroom security, United States’ former president, Donald Trump, yesterday, pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts related to payments to silence an adult film actress during his 2016 presidential campaign.
He made history as the first former or sitting US president to be criminally charged.
According to Washington Post, the charges — falsifying business records in the first degree — were announced at an arraignment hearing yesterday afternoon, and detailed in an indictment released immediately after.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg was investigating reimbursement payments Trump made to his then-lawyer, Michael Cohen, who during Trump’s candidacy in 2016, paid $130,000 to actress Stephanie Clifford, known professionally as Stormy Daniels, to prevent her from disclosing an alleged sexual encounter years earlier with Trump.
Trump denied the sexual encounter, which Daniels said occurred years before the campaign.
Assistant Manhattan district attorney Chris Connolly told the court that Trump falsified business records in order to undermine the integrity of the 2016 election, disguised false payments in violation of election laws and worked with others to suppress damaging information.
He said Trump’s lawyer, presumably Cohen, paid Daniels for the purpose of avoiding negative attention, and that Trump reimbursed Cohen in monthly payments afterward, disguising those payments and also disguising them in tax records. The intent to further another crime is a felony under New York law.
Connolly did not ask for a gag order at the arraignment but did ask for New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan to address recent public statements and what he called threatening communications from Trump, including a social media post two weeks ago in which the former president warned of potential “death and destruction” if he was charged in the case.
Trump, for four years, one of the most powerful people in the world, left his penthouse at Trump Tower in midtown Manhattan in a private motorcade early Tuesday afternoon, accompanied by New York City police vehicles. The procession arrived at the courthouse about 14 minutes later, and Trump pumped his fist to supporters before entering the building to be taken into custody and fingerprinted.
Around 2:30 p.m., television news camera captured an unsmiling Trump — in his trademark blue suit and red necktie, but now a criminal defendant — entering the courtroom on the 15th floor for his arraignment.
Trump was flanked at the defendant’s table by four of his attorneys: Todd Blanche, Susan Necheles, Joe Tacopina and Boris Epshteyn.
The former president adjusted his suit jacket when those present were asked to stand as Merchan entered.
As the hearing ended, Trump stood up at the defense table and again adjusted his blazer. He looked around the courtroom and glared for a few seconds at Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who was seated in the front row. Trump then departed in his motorcade almost immediately.
The prosecution of a former president sets up an extraordinary test for the judicial system amid a viciously partisan political environment: Trump, who is running for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination and leading in most polls, already has verbally attacked Merchan and Bragg (D), calling the case a politically motivated “witch hunt.”
Trump, 76, who gained celebrity as a New York-based real estate and reality television mogul before launching his 2016 campaign, has denied any wrongdoing. Aides had said Trump would make remarks to the media Tuesday evening at his Mar-a-Lago home and private club in south Florida, where he has spent most of his post-presidency.
On March 30, Donald Trump became the first former president in US history to be charged with a crime. The unprecedented case would test the judicial system and have far-reaching implications across US politics.
He was charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. The case involves Trump’s alleged involvement with hush-money payments to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
There are multiple ongoing investigations involving Trump, including an investigation of classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago; a criminal probe by the Justice Department of the Jan. 6 insurrection; an investigation into the Georgia election results; and the lawsuit over Trump’s business practices in New York.
Meanwhile, Manhattan District Attorney, Alvin Bragg told reporters after the arraignment of Trump that a “thorough investigation” led to his office’s decision to charge Trump with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
“This is the business capital of the world,” Bragg said about New York City. “We regularly do cases involving false business statements. The bedrock of the basis for business integrity and a well-functioning business marketplace is accurate record-keeping.”
The charges were announced after Bragg conducted a grand jury investigation related to a $130,000 payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels made by Trump’s former attorney and “fixer” Michael Cohen in the days before the 2016 presidential election.
At a news conference, Bragg alleged that Trump “repeatedly made false statements on New York business records” and “caused others to make false statements.”
“Why did Donald Trump repeatedly make these false statements?” Bragg said. “The evidence will show he did so to cover up crimes relating to the 2016 election.”
Bragg accused Trump of “paying Mr. Cohen for fictitious legal services in 2017 to cover up actual crime committed the prior year.” To pay Cohen back, “they planned to mischaracterize the repayments to Mr. Cohen as income to the New York State tax authorities,” Bragg said.
In addition to the payment made to Daniels, the indictment also detailed an alleged “catch and kill” scheme by Trump, Cohen and American Media Inc., which “agreed to identify and suppress negative stories about him,” CBSNEWS reported.
Both Cohen and American Media, Inc., have “admitted to committing illegal conduct in connection with the scheme,” according to court documents. In August 2018, AMI, the owner and publisher of magazines and supermarket tabloids including the National Enquirer, “admitted in a non-prosecution agreement that it made a payment to a source of a story to ensure that the source ‘did not publicize damaging allegations’ about the Defendant ‘before the 2016 presidential election and thereby influence that election,’” according to a statement of facts filed by prosecutors along with the indictment.
