Donald Trump on Tuesday pleaded not guilty to 34 felony charges of falsifying business records in what prosecutors alleged was a conspiracy to influence the 2016 presidential election by silencing claims of extramarital affairs, marking the first time in American history a former president has been charged with a crime.
Donald Trump arrived ashen faced and visibly angry for his arraignment in Manhattan criminal court on Tuesday, stopping to wave to the crush of supporters, reporters and onlookers gathered outside.
Once inside, Trump, like any other criminal defendant, was fingerprinted in custody. But he was also afforded special accommodations: he was not handcuffed and was not subject to a mug shot.
Wearing a dark navy suit and red tie, Trump entered the courtroom with two US secret service agents and two New York state courts officers under a quiet hush, and proceeded down the middle aisle with his jaw tightly locked towards his legal team who had arrived earlier. The former president had strategized for weeks about how he wanted to appear defiant when he made his initial appearance, but once in the courtroom without television cameras or photographers except at the very start of proceedings, he mainly appeared infuriated.
In his appearance before New York supreme court justice Juan Merchan, Trump said little, speaking only to say “not guilty” to the 34 felony charges for falsifying business records against him, and to sigh “I know” when Merchan warned he could be removed for being disruptive. The scene was a tense and surreal moment for the former president, who could face trial in this case in the spring of 2024, right in the middle of the presidential campaign primary swing as he seeks to recapture the Oval Office for a second term as an indicted defendant.
In a 13-page statement of facts, the district attorney’s office accused Trump of having “orchestrated a scheme” with the intent “to influence the 2016 presidential election by identifying and purchasing negative information about him to suppress its publication and benefit the defendant’s electoral prospects”.
The charges, according to the felony indictment unsealed on Tuesday, stem from payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels, who said she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006, as well as hush money deals made with Playboy model, Karen McDougal, who wanted to sell her story of an affair with Trump ahead of the 2016 election, and a former Trump Tower door man, who claimed Trump had fathered a child out of wedlock.
Trump has denied the sexual encounters and any wrongdoing, casting himself as the victim of a political “witch hunt”.
“We today uphold our solemn responsibility to ensure that everyone stands equal before the law,” Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg said at his press conference after Trump’s arraignment. “No amount of money, no amount of power changes that enduring American principle.”
Facing scrutiny over his decision to pursue the case, Bragg forcefully defended the case. He argued that falsifying business records was the “bread and butter” of his office’s white-collar investigations and that “true and accurate business records” were all the more important in Manhattan, which he called the “financial capital of the world”.
According to prosecutors, Daniels was paid $130,000 by Trump’s then lawyer, Michael Cohen, to buy her silence in the final days of the presidential campaign. Cohen said the payments were made at the direction of Trump, who reimbursed him while serving as president. Those payments, distributed to Cohen through Trump’s company, were falsely classified as legal expenses, prosecutors say.
In 2018, Cohen pleaded guilty to federal crimes involving the hush money payment and was sentenced to three years in prison, which Trump’s legal team has used to undermine his credibility.
Separately, prosecutors say, the parent company of the National Enquirer, American Media Inc, arranged two “catch and kill” deals to squash stories that could potentially damage Trump’s electoral prospects. One involved a $30,000 pay-off to the former Trump Tower doorman. The tabloid reached a $150,000 agreement with McDougal, purchasing the rights to her story in an effort to keep it from going public.
The prosecutors doubled down on the timing of Trump’s actions, which they said could have undermined his campaign during the 2016 election. And they asked for protective orders for discovery materials, including Trump’s escalatory posts on his platform Truth Social, such as when he vowed “death and destruction” in the event he was indicted.
In a combative exchange with reporters after the arraignment, Trump’s lawyers aggressively defended their client.
“Today’s unsealing of this indictment shows that the rule of law died in this country,” said Joe Tacopina, a member of Trump’s legal team. He added: “If this man’s name was not Donald J Trump, there is no scenario we’d all be here today.”
Asked to describe Trump’s outlook, Todd Blanche, another Trump lawyer, shot back: “What do you think his reaction was? He is frustrated and upset.”
The arraignment marks a politically and legally perilous moment for Trump, and also for the country, which has never before been confronted with the extraordinary situation of a twice-impeached, criminally charged former president now running for re-election to the White House.
The intense public interest in the case was underscored on Tuesday by dueling but peaceful demonstrations swelled on separate sides of a park near the courthouse. Metal barricades divided Trump’s supporters from his opponents, a stark visual of a nation still deeply divided over his presidency and his political future. While a conviction is far from certain, it would not preclude Trump from running or winning the presidency in 2024.
The New York case is just one of an array of legal threats confronting the former president, who faces criminal investigations over the January 6 Capitol attack, his retention of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago and his efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia, as well as civil inquiries into his business and a defamation suit arising from allegations of rape.
President Joe Biden, who has yet to formally announce that he’s seeking re-election next year, has declined to comment on the case. “This is not his focus for today,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Tuesday.
Immediately after the arraignment, Trump departed the courthouse for LaGuardian airport, where a private jet emblazoned with his name waited to ferry the former US president back to Mar-a-Lago. This evening he will host a primetime event with supporters and some of his most loyal allies on Capitol Hill.
The judge set the next court date for December.
