NY- Manhattan prosecutors on Tuesday charged Donald Trump with covering up a possible sex scandal during the 2016 presidential campaign, revealing 34 felony counts, opening a dangerous chapter in the long public life of the real estate mogul who came to the Presidency and now faces the shameful prospect of a criminal trial.
Trump was indicted last week on charges related to a secret money payment to a porn star, becoming the first former US president to face criminal charges.
He turned himself in at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office Tuesday afternoon and then appeared before a judge for his arraignment, where he pleaded not guilty, a surreal scene for a man who once occupied the Oval Office and is preparing a third race heading to the White House.
In a remarkable spectacle unfolding before a divided nation, Trump’s 11-vehicle motorcade arrived just before 1:30 p.m. (11:30 p.m. in El Paso) at the District Attorney’s Office, part of the towering El Paso Building. Manhattan Criminal Courts.
While in custody, he was fingerprinted like any felony defendant, but special accommodations were made for the former president: He spent little time in custody, was not handcuffed or had his mugshot taken.
Trump was visibly angry as he walked down the hall to the courtroom. He was accompanied by his legal counsel, Boris Epshteyn, and the attorneys handling this case, Todd W. Blanche, Susan R. Necheles, and Joseph Tacopina. Trump refused to speak before or after the hearing and immediately left to fly back to his Florida home.
Blanche, speaking outside the courthouse after the arraignment, said the former president was upset by the charges but determined to prevail. “He is frustrated. He is upset. But I’ll tell you what, he’s motivated. This is not going to slow him down,” she said.
Amid fears of Trump-inspired protests and threats, the events at the courthouse were highly choreographed by the Secret Service, the New York City Police Department, courthouse security and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, who has been investigating Trump for nearly five years. As the helicopters circled overhead, the streets outside the courthouse were packed with journalists and hundreds of protesters, with supporters and critics of the former president gathering in a nearby park, where they shouted at each other from metal barricades put up to keep the peace. .
The case, brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, charges the former president with 34 counts of filing false business records in the first degree, a misdemeanor that carries a maximum of four years in prison for each count, although if convicted, a judge could sentence him to probation.
While the charges center on paying porn star Stormy Daniels, Bragg’s prosecutors also accused the former president of orchestrating a larger scheme to influence the 2016 presidential election by buying damaging stories about him to keep them secret.
Not just Stormy Daniels
Along with the indictment, which centers on bribing Daniels, prosecutors filed a so-called statement of fact. That document, which is common in complex white-collar cases, provides a kind of roadmap for what prosecutors might reveal at trial. And based on evidence presented to the grand jury, it details two other hush money deals involving the National Enquirer, which has long-standing ties to Trump.
The first deal involved the tabloid paying $30,000 to a former Trump Tower porter who claimed to know that Trump had a child out of wedlock. The publication later determined that the claim was not true.
The National Enquirer then made another payment to Karen McDougal, Playboy’s Playmate of the Year in 1998, who wanted to sell her story of an affair with Trump during the 2016 campaign. She reached a $150,000 settlement with the National Enquirer, which bought the rights to his story to suppress it, a practice known as “catch and kill.”
The final payment, which is the focus of the indictment, involved a $130,000 deal between Trump’s mediator Michael D. Cohen and Daniels in the final days of the campaign. The payment, which Cohen said he made on Trump’s orders, ensured that Daniels would not go public with her story of a sexual relationship with Trump.
While serving as commander in chief, Trump repaid Cohen, and that’s where the fraud began, prosecutors say. In internal records, Trump’s company falsely classified the reimbursement to Cohen as legal expenses, citing a retainer agreement. However, there were no such expenses, prosecutors say, and the retainer agreement was also fictitious.
Just the beginning?
The case could mark just the beginning of Trump’s journey through the criminal justice system. He faces three other criminal investigations related to allegations of undermining an election and mishandling of confidential government records, issues central to American democracy and security.
But perhaps not surprising at all, given the boorish, circus-like political era that ushered in Trump’s election, one marked by the elevation of D-list celebrities, rude social media posts, and a casual relationship with the truth, that his first accusation stems from lies about dating a porn star.
“Everyone is equal before the law,” Bragg said at a news conference after the arraignment. “No amount of money and no amount of power” changes that, he added.
For Bragg, a Democrat, a conviction is not a sure thing. The charges of falsifying business records appear to hinge on a new application of the law.
And Trump has denied wrongdoing, as well as any sexual encounters with Daniels, and has lashed out at Bragg with threatening and sometimes racist language, calling the district attorney, who is black, an “animal” and summoning his followers to “PROTEST” his arrest. His rhetoric has been reminiscent of posts by him in the lead up to the attack on the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Some of Trump’s supporters in recent days predicted that the judge presiding over the case, Juan M. Merchan, would issue a gag order and criticized him out of hand. But Merchan was quick to make clear that he had no intention of doing so, saying, “Certainly the court would not impose a gag order,” even if prosecutors had requested it, which they did not.
Blanche complained about the publicity of the case and blamed it on leaks, claiming they had frustrated the former president.
“I do not share your view that certain language and certain rhetoric are justified out of frustration,” the judge said, referring to Trump’s posts.
In context…
• Trump’s rendition was the culmination of a month-long drama that first centered on the question of whether he would be impeached, and soon expanded to include predictions about how he would respond. Alternatively, he has fretted and bragged at the prospect of an arrest, while his aides have seized on the impeachment to boost fundraising and push major rivals into an awkward dance between criticizing prosecutors and endorsing Trump.
• Bragg is the first prosecutor to indict Trump and has already stepped into the political spotlight, an uncomfortable position for a district attorney who has never previously held elected office.
• The indictment, the product of a nearly five-year investigation, begins a new and volatile phase in the post-presidential life of Trump, who is running for the White House for the third time. And he will take the race for the Republican nomination, which he leads in most polls, into uncharted territory.
• Some of Trump’s advisers believed he would be charged with both misdemeanors and felonies, and were surprised by reports that he would instead face dozens of felony charges.
• Trump has spent nearly half a century defending himself against criminal charges. He was first investigated in New York in the late 1970s, an episode that set the tone for how he dealt with prosecutors for decades.
• Federal prosecutors are separately examining Trump for his actions surrounding his election loss and his handling of confidential documents. And a Georgia prosecutor is in the final stages of an investigation into Trump’s attempts to reverse election results in that state.
• Cohen, who split from Trump in 2018 after the secret money deal came to light, is the prosecution’s star witness. He pleaded guilty to federal hush money crimes and served more than a year in prison, which Trump’s lawyers will likely use to attack his credibility.
• Trump’s allies have been very focused on the idea that he could face a gag order, something his advisers also know is a possibility after his volleys against Bragg, who pushed for his impeachment, and Judge Juan Merchan , who presides over the case. So far there is no indication that the judge plans to do so.
• Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the far-right Republican from Georgia who is closely aligned with Trump, held a rally in the park across from the courthouse. Speaking through a megaphone, she denounced the Democratic Party, though her words were often drowned out by protesters, and counter-protesters, who blew whistles and chanted. After talking for about five minutes, the Police took her out of the park.
