Ex-President Donald Trump faces jury in Manhattan court over malfeasances bordering on crimes. He is the first of American leaders to be so charged
Former President of the United States Donald Trump, has pleaded not guilty to 34 charges bordering on felony leveled against him.
NPO Reports quotes BBC saying the former US president is seen sitting alongside his lawyers to hear the charges against him.
Donald Trump pleads not guilty to 34 felony criminal charges during a court hearing in New York
The former US president was accused of falsifying records to conceal crimes in the almost hour-long hearing
The charges focus on a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election – she claims to have had an affair with Trump, which he denies
But the indictment also details other such pay-offs to suppress potentially damaging stories, one involving a doorman and another to a former Playboy model.
The charges all arise from Trump’s alleged reimbursement over the course of 11 months of “Lawyer A” for a $130,000 payment to “Woman 2”, who was shopping a story about an alleged affair she had with Trump in the days before the 2016 presidential election.
Although not identified, the facts would indicate that Lawyer A is former president’s lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen, while Woman 2 is adult film star Stormy Daniels.
The indictment alleges that Trump falsified cheque records and ledger entries to make it appear that those payments were for “legal fees” and not reimbursements.
It also alleges that the total amount provided to Lawyer A was in excess of the amount he paid Woman 2 in order to compensate for income-tax payments.
The charge of business record falsification is typically a lesser crime – a misdemeanor – but in this case the district attorney’s office elevated the charges to a more serious felony level because, it said, Trump intended to cover up the felony federal campaign finance crime to which Lawyer A pleaded guilty in August 2018.
The indictment’s Statement of Facts provides further background information about what it called Trump’s “unlawful scheme” to prevent damaging information from being revealed about him in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election.
It provided two other instances of payments made on Trump’s behalf, by the National Enquirer tabloid newspaper to a doorman who alleged he knew of an illegitimate child Trump fathered and to Woman 1, who evidence suggests is Playboy model Karen McDougal.
“Ultimately,” the statement reads, “other participants in the scheme admitted that the payoffs were unlawful.”
Neither of these instances led to criminal charges against Trump, however.
The indictment is solely targeted toward the hush-money payment to Woman 2.
Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg has finished his news conference.
Defending his case against Trump, he reiterated several times that accurate business records were important, and “all the more important in Manhattan – the financial centre of the world”.
He said that was why the Manhattan DA’s office had a history of “vigorously enforcing white collar crime”, which is how he also repeatedly characterised the allegations against Trump and Cohen.
Trump’s charges were the “bread and butter” of the DA’s office’s work, Bragg added.
He insisted it was a “thorough and rigorous” investigation and pointed to his 24 years of experience. Defending the timing, he said the case was brought now because it was ready to be brought.
BBC