Former US president Donald Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, as prosecutors accused him of paying two women to suppress their accounts of sexual encounters with him.
The indictment, unsealed after Mr Trump’s court appearance along with a statement of facts, alleged that Mr Trump and others violated election laws through a scheme to suppress the publication of negative information about him ahead of the 2016 US election.
The two women were adult film actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal.
Mr Trump, the first sitting or former US president to face criminal charges, sat with his hands folded at the defence table as he entered his plea flanked by his lawyers.
“Not guilty,” Mr Trump said when asked how he pleaded.
“We’re going to fight it. We’re going to fight it hard,” Todd Blanche, a lawyer for Mr Trump, told reporters after the arraignment, adding that Mr Trump was frustrated, upset and angry about the charges.
“But I’ll tell you what – he’s motivated. And it’s not going to stop him. And it’s not going to slow him down. And it’s exactly what he expected,” Mr Blanche added.
The judge set the next court hearing for 4 December and did not issue a gag order on any of the parties.
Some of the evidence against Mr Trump was caught in an audio recording in September 2016 as he and his attorney discussed how to suppress stories about his affair, prosecutors said. Court documents said Mr Trump can be heard saying, “So what do we got to pay for this?”
Mr Trump’s reimbursement cheques to a lawyer for the suppression payments falsely stated that the money was for a “retainer agreement,” prosecutors said.
The indictment accused Mr Trump of falsifying his real estate company’s books with intent to defraud.
Taken together, the charges carry a maximum sentence of more than 100 years in prison under New York law, but an actual prison sentence – if he is convicted at a trial – would almost certainly be far less than that.
While falsifying business records in New York on its own is a misdemeanour punishable by no more than one year in prison, it is elevated to a felony punishable by up to four years in prison when done to advance or conceal another crime.
The Manhattan grand jury convened by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg that indicted Mr Trump heard evidence about a $130,000 payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in the waning days of the 2016 presidential campaign.
“Donald J Trump repeatedly and fraudulently falsified New York business records to conceal criminal conduct that hid damaging information from the voting public during the 2016 presidential election,” Mr Alvin Bragg said in a statement.
Ms Daniels has said she was paid to keep silent about a sexual encounter she had with Mr Trump at a Lake Tahoe hotel in 2006.
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Mr Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen has said he coordinated with Mr Trump on payments to Stormy Daniels and to a second woman, former Playboy model Karen McDougal.
Mr Trump has denied having had sexual relationships with either woman, but has acknowledged reimbursing Mr Cohen.
A payment of $30,000 was made through an intermediary to a former Trump Tower doorman who was claiming that Trump had fathered a child out of wedlock, Mr Bragg said.
Mr Trump earlier held his fist in the air in a gesture to reporters as he departed his New York residence at Trump Tower in a motorcade bound for the courthouse. He exhibited little emotion when he waved to a crowd assembled outside the courthouse.
From his motorcade, Mr Trump posted on social media: “Heading to Lower Manhattan, the Courthouse. Seems so SURREAL – WOW, they are going to ARREST ME. Can’t believe this is happening in America.”
Mr Trump surrendered to Mr Bragg’s office before the arraignment began in Justice Juan Merchan’s court.
At an arraignment, a defendant hears charges and can enter a plea. Mr Trump was fingerprinted but no mugshot photo was taken, according to a Twitter post by a New York Times reporter.
In other social media posts ahead of the arraignment, Mr Trump renewed his attacks on Mr Merchan, who last year presided over a trial in which Mr Trump’s real estate company was convicted of tax fraud.
Mr Trump served as US president from 2017 to 2021. In November, he announced a bid to regain the presidency in 2024 in a bid to deny Democratic President Joe Biden, who beat him in 2020, a second term in the White House.
A photo taken by a photographer in the courtroom authorised by the judge showed Mr Trump sitting at the defence table, flanked by his lawyers. Mr Trump’s lawyers had urged the judge to block any videography, photography and radio coverage, arguing it would worsen “an already almost circus-like atmosphere”.
The businessman-turned-politician has been a familiar figure for decades in New York, the city where he was raised, built his real estate business and became a celebrity.
Today Trump supporters and detractors were separated by barricades set up by police to try to keep order, though there were some confrontations.
“Let’s keep it civil, folks,” a police officer told them.
Hundreds of Trump supporters, at a park across from the Manhattan courthouse, cheered and blew whistles, outnumbering his detractors. The Trump critics held signs including one that read, “Lock Him Up”.
The White House remained quiet on the drama in New York.
“I think the American people should feel reassured that when there is an ongoing case like this one that we’re just not commenting,” White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters.
Any trial is at least more than a year away, legal experts said. Being indicted or even convicted does not legally prevent Mr Trump from running for president.
In a social media post, Mr Trump said Manhattan Criminal Court was a “very unfair venue” and urged that the case be moved to the New York City borough of Staten Island, which regularly votes Republican.
Mr Trump’s lead has widened over rivals in the Republican Party’s presidential nominating contest, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released yesterday, conducted after news broke that he would face criminal charges.
Some 48% of Republicans say they want Mr Trump to be their party’s presidential nominee, up from 44% last month.
Second-place Florida Governor Ron DeSantis fell from 30% to around 19%. More than two-thirds of poll respondents said they believed Mr Trump paid hush money to Ms Daniels, but half said the charges were politically motivated.
Mr Trump faces a separate criminal probe by a Democratic local prosecutor in Georgia into whether he unlawfully tried to overturn his 2020 election defeat in the state.
He also faces two US Justice Department investigations led by a special counsel into efforts to overturn the 2020 election results and his handling of classified documents after leaving office.
Trump pleads not guilty to 34 criminal charges in NY
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