Trump surrendered and was taken into custody on Tuesday, before being led to a historic and unprecedented court appearance where the former president heard the charges once morest him for the first time. Prosecutors alleged that Trump tried to undermine the integrity of the 2016 election through a scheme of hush money to women who claimed to have had extramarital affairs with the former president. He has denied the charges.
According to the Manhattan district attorney’s office, Trump was part of an illegal scheme to suppress negative information, including an illegal payment of $130,000 to withhold information that would damage his campaign, prosecutors alleged.
Trump “repeatedly and fraudulently falsified New York business records to conceal criminal conduct, withholding damaging information from the voting public during the 2016 presidential election,” according to court documents.
After the trial, Trump immediately flew back to Florida. He held an event with supporters Tuesday night at his Mar-a-Lago resort, talking openly regarding the case, the indictment and how he plans to fight the charges politically as he runs for the White House once more in 2024 .
While warned by Judge Juan Mercan during the arraignment not to make comments that might “endanger the rule of law” or create civil unrest, Trump spoke out later that evening once morest Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and the judge himself.
“I never thought something like this might happen in America. The only crime I have committed is to fearlessly defend our nation from those who seek to destroy it,” Trump said.
“It is an insult to our country,” he added.
The indictment once morest Trump was unsealed Tuesday and provided the public — and Trump’s legal team — with the first details regarding the specific charges he will face.
The indictment was quickly criticized by Trump’s Republican allies, and even some legal experts raised questions regarding the case. CNN legal analyst Eli Honig said prosecutors will have to argue that Trump committed felonies, not misdemeanors, by showing that the falsified records were used to cover up another crime, which was not specified in the indictment.
“One of the more complicated legal questions here is that, to turn the misdemeanor into a felony, you have to show that those records were falsified to commit some other crime, some second crime,” Honig said. “You heard the defense attorneys, I think rightfully so, complain regarding that.”
Attorney General Bragg said at a news conference following Trump’s arraignment that the indictment did not specify which laws Trump broke because “the law does not require it.”
During the conference, however, Bragg pointed to one of the laws Trump allegedly violated: “The New York State Election Law — the one that makes it a crime to conspire to promote a candidacy by illegal means.” It also cited violations of federal election law, which places limits on contributions by candidates and their campaigns.
The evidence, Bragg said, “will be disclosed in a public courtroom in midtown Manhattan.”
Donald Trump: Next hearing in December
The next hearing date in the Trump case in New York is currently set for December 4.
In addition to the formal indictment, a 13-page “statement of facts” by the prosecution. describes in plain language how Trump allegedly committed crimes in order to be elected president in 2016.
“From August 2015 to December 2017, the Defendant orchestrated a scheme with others to influence the 2016 presidential election by locating and purchasing negative information regarding him to prevent its publication and benefit the Defendant’s electoral prospects. ,” the statement of facts says. Each criminal charge Trump faces relates to a specific entry in the Trump Organization’s financial records, according to the indictment.
Manhattan prosecutors accuse Trump of repeatedly making false entries in those records to hide where the money was going.
Trump has consistently denied any wrongdoing and denounced the indictment as political prosecution.
In his Tuesday night speech in Mar-a-Lago, Trump claimed he was dealing with a “judge who hates me.” Trump also attacked Attorney General Bragg and the indictment — as well as the other prosecutors investigating him, President Joe Biden and other political opponents.
“This bogus case is for the sole purpose of interfering with the upcoming 2024 election. And it should be dropped immediately,” Trump said.
Bragg’s indictment marks the first criminal charges once morest Trump, but it’s not the only potential legal problem the former president will face: Special counsel Jack Smith continues to investigate Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol , as well as the withholding of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. At the same time, a Fulton County special grand jury is reportedly wrapping up its investigation into efforts to subvert the 2020 election in Georgia.
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