Trump pleads not guilty to 34 felony counts:

of falsifying business records linked to 2016 hush-money payments

Judge did not impose gag order

“Special Report” anchor Bret Baier reacts to the arrest of Donald Trump and discusses whether a gag order will be imposed on “America Reports.”

Former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty in a New York City court Tuesday after being charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree.

The charges, which are related to hush-money payments made during the 2016 presidential campaign, came out of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s years-long investigation.

Bragg alleged that 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.”

In 2019, federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York opted out of charging Trump related to the payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal. The Federal Election Commission also tossed its investigation into the matter in 2021.

Former President Donald Trump sits with his defense team in a Manhattan court during his arraignment on April 4, 2023, in New York City. (Seth Wenig / Pool / Getty Images)

Trump surrendered to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and was arraigned in court Tuesday afternoon after being indicted by a Manhattan grand jury last week.

The indictment was unsealed in court during Trump’s arraignment Tuesday before presiding trial Judge Juan Merchan. Trump was charged in a New York Supreme Court indictment with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree.

Bragg is alleging that Trump falsified New York business records in order to “conceal damaging information and unlawful activity from American voters before and after the 2016 election.”

“During the election, TRUMP and others employed a ‘catch and kill’ scheme to identify, purchase, and bury negative information about him and boost his electoral prospects,” Bragg alleged. “TRUMP then went to great lengths to hide this conduct, causing dozens of false entries in business records to conceal criminal activity, including attempts to violate state and federal election laws.”

Former President Donald Trump makes his way inside the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse in New York on April 4, 2023. (Ed Jones / AFP via Getty Images)

According to New York state law, a charge of falsifying business records in the first degree alleges that the defendant committed a crime of falsifying business records with the intent to defraud. The intent to defraud would be an intent to commit another crime.

Trump pleaded not guilty. The judge did not impose a gag order.

The prosecution wants a trial in January 2024 – the height of the GOP presidential primary season. Trump’s defense wants to delay that as long as possible.

Bragg alleged that former Trump attorney, Michael Cohen, above, orchestrated the hush-money payments on Trump’s behalf. (AP Photo / Mary Altaffer / File)

According to the indictment, Bragg alleged that Trump, from August 2015 to December 2017, “orchestrated a ‘catch and kill’ scheme through a series of payments that he then concealed through months of false business entries.”

Bragg alleges that American Media Inc., the parent company of the National Enquirer, paid $30,000 to a former Trump Tower doorman who claimed to have a story about a child Trump had out of wedlock.

Stormy Daniels reacted to former President Donald Trump’s arraignment with an X-rated tweet. (Phillip Faraone / Getty Images / File | Seth Wenig-Pool / Getty Images)

Bragg also alleges American Media Inc. paid $150,000 to a woman who alleged a sexual relationship with Trump. It appears Bragg is referring to former Playboy model Karen McDougal.

DONALD TRUMP AND STORMY DANIELS: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Donald Trump and former Playboy model Karen McDougal

Trump “explicitly directed a lawyer,” an apparent reference to his former attorney, Michael Cohen, to “reimburse” American Media Inc. in cash, Bragg charged.

Cohen pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three years in prison for violating campaign finance laws related to the payments, among other federal charges. Cohen pleaded guilty to arranging the payments but maintains that Trump directed them.

Former President Donald Trump arrives at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City, April 4, 2023. (Thomas P. Costello / USA Today Network)

Bragg alleged that after the election, Trump reimbursed Cohen through a series of monthly checks “first from the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust – created in New York to hold the Trump Organization’s assets during TRUMP’s presidency – and later from TRUMP’s bank account. In total, 11 checks were issued for a phony purpose.”

“Nine of those checks were signed by TRUMP,” Bragg charged. “Each check was processed by the Trump Organization and illegally disguised as a payment for legal services rendered pursuant to a non-existent retainer agreement.”

“In total, 34 false entries were made in New York business records to conceal the initial covert $130,000 payment. … Further, participants in the scheme took steps that mischaracterized, for tax purposes, the true nature of the reimbursements.”

Opponents of former President Donald Trump protest outside the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in New York on April 4, 2023. (Angela Weiss / AFP via Getty Images)

The former president of the United States, who is also the leading Republican presidential candidate for 2024, was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury last Thursday after a years-long investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, which began in 2019.

Trump was not handcuffed, as some are during an arraignment, after making arrangements with the DA’s office. Detectives within the office handled the arrest of the former president.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg speaks about Donald Trump’s arraignment on April 4, 2023. (Fox News)

TRUMP SAYS DA BRAGG’S ‘OBSESSION’ WITH TRYING TO ‘GET TRUMP’ WILL ‘BACKFIRE’ AFTER GRAND JURY INDICTMENT

The charges against the former president come after federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York opted out of charging Trump related to the Daniels payment in 2019.

Also, the Federal Election Commission in 2021 dropped its case on the same issue – examining whether Trump violated election law with the $130,000 payment made to Stormy Daniels – after it “failed by a vote of 2-2 to…find reason to believe that Donald J. Trump knowingly and willfully violated” federal election law.

TRUMP TARGETED: A LOOK AT THE INVESTIGATIONS INVOLVING THE FORMER PRESIDENT, FROM RUSSIA TO MAR-A-LAGO

“The People of the State of New York allege that Donald J. Trump repeatedly and fraudulently falsified New York business records to conceal crimes that hid damaging information from the voting public during the 2016 presidential election,” Bragg said in a statement after the arraignment.

“As the Statement of Facts describes, the trail of money and lies exposes a pattern that, the People allege, violates one of New York’s basic and fundamental business laws,” Bragg said. “As this office has done time and time again, we today uphold our solemn responsibility to ensure that everyone stands equal before the law.”

Trump has slammed the DA’s investigation and the indictment as “Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history.”

 

By Brooke Singman , Jake Gibson | Fox News

 

 

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Donald Trump indictment ignores this core legal principle

Trump’s indictment is a defining moment for many who have rationalized abuse of the criminal justice system

Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley says one of Trump’s lawyers was forced to leave his law firm for representing the former president on ‘America Reports.’

Oscar Wilde once said “The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself.”

With the release of the indictment of former President Donald Trump, Manhattan District Alvin Bragg has revealed himself as a follower of the Wilde school of legal thought. Bragg knew that he had no criminal case against Trump. However, after running on bagging Trump for some crime (any crime), Bragg knew that many would not care if he had a basis for a criminal charge. He would be lionized to be the first person to ever indict a former president in the blind rage against Trump.

After charging Trump with 34 counts, Bragg insisted that he will convict Trump of the “crime to promote a [political] candidacy through unlawful means.” He insists that he will prove “attempts to violate state and federal election laws.”

For months, many have raised objections to the effort of Manhattan District Attorney to use a flawed legal theory to essentially litigate a federal election violation that the Justice Department opted not to charge. This bootstrap theory has been widely criticized, but many in the media sought to cut off that debate by suggesting that Bragg might be basing his prosecution on some unknown crime. Last week, Michael Cohen’s attorney Lanny Davis went as far to “warn all the pundits and everyone speculating…that there are lots of facts, lots of documents, lots of evidence of multiple crimes.”

We now have the indictment, and it is basically what many of us anticipated. It is a series of stacked counts of falsifying business records for the purpose of influencing the election. The indictment seems to address the lack of legal precedent with a lack of specificity on the underlying “secondary” felony. Bragg has done nothing more than replicated the same flawed theory dozens of times. This is where math and legal meet. If you multiply any number by zero, it is still zero.

If the New York bench retains any integrity, this case will be thrown out as legally improper with an admonition to Bragg and his office for politicizing the criminal justice process. That, however, may be asking a lot of state judges who are elected on both the trial and appellate levels. They too may prove lawyers on the Wilde side.

The cost, however, to the legal system will be immense. In a single indictment, Alvin Bragg bulldozed any high ground that the Democrats had after January 6th. He has fulfilled the narrative of the Trump by supplying a raw and undeniable example of the politicization of the legal system. What is most shocking is that this attack on the rule of law was met with the rapturous applause of many, including lawyers and legal pundits. They not only will ignore the affront to the integrity of our legal system, but celebrate its demise.

Bragg himself threw a flag on effort to indict Trump being pushed by a lawyer brought in as a special assistant district attorney for that purpose. Mark F. Pomerantz and his colleague Carey R. Dunne resigned — and their resignation letter was then leaked to an eager media. Pomerantz then took a step that floored many of us: he wrote a tell-all book based on the still ongoing investigation.

However, Pomerantz admits that career prosecutors balked at his radical proposals to find a crime — any crime — to nail Trump. That included an entirely bonkers money laundering charge against Trump where he would be the victim of an extortion effort. In his book, Pomerantz admits that “many of the lawyers were relentlessly negative.” Some prosecutors were clearly so upset by his efforts that they “defected” from the team. He also admitted that Bragg told him “that the consensus among the group of prosecutors with whom he had been speaking was not to go forward.”

Despite objections from his colleagues who said he was undermining their efforts, Pomerantz published a book making the case against an individual who was not charged, let alone convicted. It was a grossly unprofessional and improper act. It also worked. Bragg caved to the overwhelming pressure that followed. If figures like Pomerantz was going to yield to temptation, why shouldn’t he?  After all, no one wants to be the last ethical lawyer when even one else is cashing in.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg speaks on Donald Trump arraignment April 4, 2023. (Fox News)

I remain hopeful that there remains a modicum of judicial integrity in New York to stand against this effort. However, this is a defining moment for many who have rationalized this abuse of the criminal justice system. For those attorneys, they have reached the point described by Robert Oppenheimer after the development of the atomic bomb. He stated “In some sort of crude sense which no vulgarity, no humour, no overstatement can quite extinguish, the physicists have known sin; and this is a knowledge which they cannot lose.”

The same is true for many in our profession. While some of us have warned that Mar-a-Lago could present a serious threat to Trump, we have warned that the Bragg prosecution is the denial of the core legal principle of blind justice. This expensive, drawn out effort would not have occurred for anyone other than Donald Trump. It is not just selective prosecution, it is exclusive prosecution for Trump and Trump alone.

For those lawyers applauding this ignoble moment, this is our sin as a profession, and it is “knowledge which they cannot lose” in the years to come.

By Jonathan Turley | Fox News

Trump back in Florida after historic court date in NY

(WJW) — Former President Donald Trump’s Tuesday court arraignment was an unprecedented moment in American history.

On Tuesday afternoon, former President Donald Trump appeared in a New York federal courtroom to face 34 felony charges stemming from alleged hush money payments made on his behalf to an adult film star during the 2016 election.

It’s the first time a U.S. president has been charged in a criminal matter.

Trump’s attorney has said the former president’s legal team is expected to file a motion to dismiss the case.

6:45 p.m. Former President Trump’s plane touched down at Palm Beach International Airport. He is expected to deliver remarks from his Mar-a-Lago estate at 8:15 p.m.

5:30 p.m. After Trump appeared in court earlier Tuesday afternoon, the former president’s legal team spoke to reporters about the “insufficiency” of the case against him.

“Today’s unsealing of this indictment shows that the rule of law died in this country,” said attorney Joe Tacopina. “While not everyone is above the law, no one is below it, either. If this man’s name was not Donald J. Trump, there’s no scenario we’d all be here today … based on these charges.”

Tacopina summarized the case as “a state prosecutor prosecuting a federal election law violation that doesn’t exist, according to federal election officials.”

Watch video of the press gaggle on the steps of the courthouse:

5 p.m. GOP lawmakers came to the defense of former President Trump following his arraignment Tuesday.

“[Manhattan DA Alvin] Bragg’s entire career is about normalizing violent crime,” tweeted U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance. “Just crazy that he’s bringing this weak case in the middle of a presidential election.”

U.S. Rep. Max Miller, who represents part of Cuyahoga and Holmes counties as well as all of Medina and Wayne, said, “Equal justice under the law died today.”

“This is political persecution, period,” he tweeted.

Fourth District U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan said Americans are afforded equal justice under the law “unless you’re a Republican running for president.”

“When you drain the Swamp, the Swamp fights back,” he later tweeted.

4:30 p.m. “While we are living through the darkest hours of American history, I can say that at least for this moment right now, I am in great spirits,” reads a fundraising email from Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, sent shortly after New York prosecutors laid out the felony charges against the former president.

“Because my team showed me all of the support, the love, the prayers, and the donations YOU gave our movement while I was getting arrested and arraigned,” it reads.

Trump’s campaign claims to have raised $10 million since the first reports of his indictment.

Following his arraignment, Trump flew back to Florida from New York’s LaGuardia Airport. He is expected to touch down at Palm Beach International Airport at about 6 p.m.

The former president is expected to deliver remarks from his Mar-a-Lago estate at about 8:15 p.m.

4:15 p.m. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg addressed the charges against former President Trump at a Tuesday afternoon media briefing.

Prosecutors allege Trump and others schemed to purchase damaging information about the former president while he was running for the White House, beginning with an August 2015 meeting at Trump Tower. The falsified business records were made to conceal violations of election law in New York, said Bragg.

Two weeks before the 2016 election, Trump is accused of having his attorney Michael Cohen wire $130,000 to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. That payment was allegedly written off as a legal expense in 2017, and Trump “personally signed” the checks to Cohen made over nine months in 2016, Bragg said.

A grand jury in the New York court found 34 documents containing that “critical false statement,” leading to the 34 charges.

Bragg said the conduct is like many other white-collar criminal offenses which the office has prosecuted “time and time again.”

3:45 p.m. Former President Trump is due back in court in December, according to reports. Prosecutors are pushing for a January 2024 trial, but Trump’s legal team wants the trial pushed back.

Judge Juan Merchan did not issue a gag order against the former president, prohibiting him from speaking out about the case. But the judge did warn Trump against making inflammatory remarks that may incite violence or civil unrest, The Associated Press reported.

3:30 p.m. The motorcade carrying former President Trump has left the Manhattan courthouse following his criminal arraignment on 34 felony counts, and is headed to LaGuardia Airport.

Trump did not speak after leaving the courthouse, but is expected to deliver remarks later Tuesday, according to Fox News.

3:04 p.m. Former President Donald Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, according to The Associated Press. He has pleaded not guilty.

Under New York Penal Law, a defendant is guilty of the charge if they made or caused a false entry in the business records of an enterprise, or if they altered, erased or destroyed a true entry; omitted a true entry in violation of lawful duty; or prevented a true entry from being made or causing an omission.

Trump is alleged to have had sexual encounters with adult film star Stormy Daniels and model Karen McDougal, Nexstar reported. Michael Cohen, the Trump Organization’s former attorney, claimed he made hush money payments to the women at Trump’s direction — something Trump has denied.

2:47 p.m. Former President Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him, according to reports.

2:30 p.m. Following his formal booking, former President Trump walked into the courtroom to face charges stemming from alleged hush money payments made to an adult film star during the 2016 election.

Former President Donald Trump sits at the defense table with his defense team in a Manhattan court, Tuesday, April 4, 2023, in New York. Trump is set to appear in a New York City courtroom on charges related to falsifying business records in a hush money investigation, the first president ever to be charged with a crime. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)Read More »

2:10 p.m. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg entered the courtroom where former President Donald Trump is expected to be arraigned, according to The Associated Press.

Trump himself has not yet been seen near the courtroom, AP reported.

2 p.m. Trump’s indictment in a Manhattan federal court is not his only legal entanglement.

He also faces a state and federal probes into his alleged interference in the 2020 election; two defamation lawsuits from a woman who alleges Trump sexually assaulted her in the 1990s; and a civil lawsuit against that also includes his business entities and his three adult children.

1:57 p.m. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre during a Tuesday briefing said President Joe Biden has been briefed on former President Trump’s arraignment, but that it’s not something he’s focused on Tuesday.

The White House said last week the president was not briefed in advance of the indictment.

1:42 p.m. People both for and against former President Donald Trump’s indictment gathered outside the Manhattan federal courthouse as he was scheduled to face criminal charges.

1:25 p.m. The motorcade carrying former President Donald Trump has arrived at the Manhattan federal courthouse. His attorneys arranged for his surrender, according to The Associated Press.

Read More

Moments prior, the former president posted to his social media platform Truth Social:

Heading to Lower Manhattan, the Courthouse. Seems so SURREAL — WOW, they are going to ARREST ME. Can’t believe this is happening in America. MAGA!

STATEMENT FROM FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP

Trump is expected to plead not guilty to criminal charges stemming from hush money payments to an adult film star during the 2016 election. The precise charges have yet to be revealed, as the indictment will remain under seal until the arraignment, but dozens of charges are expected, including at least one felony, according to reports.

1:10 p.m. Former President Trump has departed Trump Tower for the Manhattan federal courthouse where he is expected to surrender. He posed briefly for cameras, pumping his fist.

The historic arraignment of a former U.S. president on criminal charges drew hundreds of onlookers, protesters, journalists and politicians, The Associated Press reported.

1 p.m. A former Florida state lawmaker who droved to New York for Trump’s Tuesday arraignment pledged his continued support for the former president, The Associated Press reported.

“It’s a bad day for America, one of the worst days in American history,” said Anthony Sabatini, chair of Florida’s Lake County Republican Party.

12:30 p.m. Former President Trump is expected to leave Trump Tower at 1 p.m. to surrender at the Southern District federal courthouse ahead of his 2:15 p.m. arraignment.

He is not expected to make a public address following his court appearance, a member of Trump’s legal team told NewsNation.

11:30 a.m. U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) showed her support for the former president at a rally in a park near the New York City courthouse where Trump is expected to be arraigned.

Greene thanked “patriotic Trump supporters,” calling Republicans “the party of peace,” while calling Democrats “the party of violence,” according to The Associated Press.

She was later escorted away by city police moments after arriving, according to WPIX.

Supporters gathered Tuesday morning, AP reported. Anti-Trump protesters later joined, carrying a large banner that read, “Trump Lies All the Time.”

10 a.m. Gov. Mike DeWine, speaking Tuesday on former President Trump’s criminal charges, said: “No one can be happy to see an ex-president of the United States indicted.”

DeWine on Tuesday visited schools in Warrensville Heights and Akron to observe classroom activities, according to his office.

“The system will work, this country will survive and we will move on,” said DeWine.

9:00 a.m. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg arrived at court Tuesday morning in New York ahead of former President Donald Trump’s arraignment, according to the Associated Press.

5:00 a.m. We won’t be able to see exactly what happens during the arraignment because a judge decided late last night to not allow cameras in the courtroom because of the media frenzy that it would cause.

Overnight: The former president spent the night in Trump Tower before he will head to a Manhattan courtroom to face more than 30 charges, including at least one felony.

Below is a timeline of when the former president is expected to appear in court:

After the arraignment Trump will head back to Mar-a-Lago where he is expected to address his indictment around 8:15 Tuesday night. Although it is possible the judge could issue a gag order in the case.

Trump’s legal troubles stem from a $130,000 “hush money” payment to silence porn actress Stormy Daniels about an alleged affair.

Prosecutors claim the payments were illegal because they were connected to his 2016 campaign for president. Trump has repeatedly claimed the indictment is part of a “witch-hunt.”

Monday, April 3, 2023

Trump gave a brief wave as he entered Trump Tower in Manhattan on Monday afternoon.

Trump arrived at New York’s LaGuardia airport on his private 757 jet, walked off, and jumped into his motorcade, which took him through the city.

A huge group of Trump supporters, as well as opponents of the former president, gathered.

by: Danielle Langenfeld, Jessica Dill, Justin Dennis