By Jacob Fischer, Ashley Murray, and Jennifer Shutt
The Georgia Recorder
www.georgiarecorder.com
Former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty Tuesday to 34 New York state felony offenses related to what prosecutors say were hush money payments to an adult film star.
In a brief but historic appearance in a Manhattan trial court, Trump, the first former president to face criminal prosecution, learned he was charged with falsifying business records 34 times from February to December 2017.
Trump’s former attorney, Michael Cohen, paid Stormy Daniels, a porn actor who said she had a sexual relationship with Trump, $130,000 in exchange for her silence about the supposed relationship during the 2016 presidential race, according to a 16-page indictment and attached statement of facts that were unsealed Tuesday.
Trump then repaid Cohen in 34 payments over the course of 2017, but described them in Trump Organization records as payments for legal services, meant to cover up the payment to Daniels, prosecutors said.
Trump, a Republican candidate for president in 2024, denies having an affair with Daniels.
“These are crimes in New York no matter who you are,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said following the arraignment.
“Everyone stands equal before the law,” he added. “No amount of money and no amount of power changes that enduring American principle.”
Responding to a question asking why Bragg brought charges after his predecessor and federal prosecutors declined to do so, Bragg said his office had new evidence that wasn’t available to the prior district attorney and that New York state, as the “business capital of the world,” had a particular interest in prosecuting business fraud cases.
Trump has accused Bragg of being motivated by politics.
Just before arriving at the arraignment, Trump posted to his social media site, Truth Social.
“Heading to Lower Manhattan, the Courthouse” he wrote. “Seems so SURREAL — WOW, they are going to ARREST ME. Can’t believe this is happening in America. MAGA!”
Trump responds
In a primetime speech from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, Trump barely addressed the New York charges, but offered a general defense that he’d done nothing wrong and was instead the victim of a litany of investigatory incursions from his political opponents.
“The only crime I’ve committed is to fearlessly defend our nation from those who seek to destroy it,” he said near the start of his remarks.
Bragg and Judge Juan Merchan both held grudges against him and would not be fair, he said, attacking the indictment without specifically rejecting its accusations.
“Everybody said, ‘This is not really an indictment. There’s nothing here,’” he said.
At one point Trump seemed to concede he’d lost the 2020 election, implying he needed a mere .1% change in the election results to win. The admission was a change for Trump, whose weeks-long false insistence that he’d won the election led to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.
But at another point in Tuesday’s speech, he again claimed Democrats could not defeat him in a fair election, saying the New York charges were a method to stop him.
“They can’t beat us at the ballot box so they try to beat us through the law,” he said. “These radical-left lunatics want to interfere with our elections by using law enforcement. We can’t let that happen.”
Payments covered up campaign crime, DA says
Cohen’s payments to Daniels in 2016 exceeded campaign contribution limits — and because they were meant to boost Trump’s White House bid, should be considered campaign funds, Bragg said. The records of Trump’s payments to Cohen therefore were meant to conceal a crime, making the false business records criminal.
“He could not simply say that the payments were a reimbursement for Mr. Cohen’s payments to Stormy Daniels,” Bragg said. “To do so, to make that true statement, would have been to admit a crime. So instead, Mr. Trump’s said he paid Mr. Cohen for fictitious legal services in 2017 to cover up actual crime committed the prior year.”
The indictment said the false business record was done “with intent to defraud and intent to commit another crime and aid and conceal the commission thereof.”
The payment to Daniels was part of a pattern Trump’s 2016 campaign employed to suppress stories about alleged Trump affairs, according to prosecutors’ statement of facts.
A longtime confidante of Trump, Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to campaign finance and fraud charges. He also pleaded guilty to lying to Congress. He has said his crimes were in service of Trump’s 2016 campaign and has cooperated with authorities.
House Republicans attack DA
Bragg and U.S. House Republicans have publicly quarreled over the case, with the Republican chairs of the House Judiciary, Oversight & Accountability and Administration committees accusing Bragg of conducting a politically motivated prosecution.
Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan of Ohio and Oversight & Accountability Chair James Comer of Kentucky said in a Tuesday statement that Judge Juan Merchan should not impose an order on Trump not to speak about the case.
“To put any restrictions on the ability of President Trump to discuss his mistreatment at the hands of this politically motivated prosecutor would only further demonstrate the weaponization of the New York justice system,” they said.
“To even contemplate stifling the speech of the former commander in chief and current candidate for President is at odds with everything America stands for.”
Merchan did not issue a gag order Tuesday.
Jordan, Comer and House Administration Chair Bryan Steil of Wisconsin wrote to Bragg last month calling his prosecution politically motivated and demanding documents.
Greene headlines muted protest
U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia traveled to New York City for a Tuesday morning rally in support of Trump across the street from the Manhattan Courthouse. According to videos and photos posted to Twitter, the Georgia Republican spoke for roughly 10 minutes through a bullhorn as supporters and journalists surrounded her, but counter-protesters largely muffled her comments with drums and whistles.
New York Republican Rep. George Santos, who is under several legal and ethical investigations, made a brief appearance in the crowd prior to Greene’s comments, according to news media reports.
Greene wrote on Twitter hours before the rally that protesters were “coming to commit assault that can cause audible damage to everyone’s ears including NYPD.”
She wrote that protesters’ behavior should be considered “disorderly conduct” and that the “@NYCMayor better direct NYPD to lock these people up.” New York City Mayor Eric Adams said in a Monday press conference that Greene should be on her “best behavior” during her visit. In a “60 Minutes” interview that aired over the weekend, Greene defended her support for Trump and said other Republicans — including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and former House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin — “failed.”
Greene, a well-known 2020 election denier, sits on the House Committee on Oversight & Accountability and the Committee on Homeland Security.
Greene’s rally was presented in conjunction with the New York Young Republicans Club, which released a statement on March 30 that read in part: “President Trump embodies the American people — our psyche from id to super-ego — as does no other figure; his soul is totally bonded with our core values and emotions, and he is our total and indisputable champion. This tremendous connection threatens the established order.”
Apart from Greene’s appearance in New York, major pro-Trump protests appeared limited across the country Tuesday. The U.S. Capitol remained calm.
Democrats call for fair trial
Reaction from other political figures split along party lines, with several Republicans alleging political bias in the criminal process and Democrats saying the case should play out.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to comment on Trump’s indictment.
“I’m just not going to speak to this case. I’m not going to go beyond what the president shared with all of you,” she said during the daily press briefing.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York released a statement following Trump’s surrender. “I believe that Mr. Trump will have a fair trial that follows the facts and the law,” Schumer said in the statement. “There’s no place in our justice system for any outside influence or intimidation in the legal process. As the trial proceeds, protest is an American right but all protests must be peaceful.”
House Judiciary ranking member Jerrold Nadler of New York said the indictment appeared well-reasoned and urged Republicans not to interfere with the judicial process.
“This matter will play out in the New York criminal justice system, no matter how MAGA Republicans try to obstruct the process,” he said. “In a desperate attempt to protect Mr. Trump, the most extreme House Republicans are already trying to bully the law enforcement officers involved. I do not know how this case will be decided, but I do know that DA Bragg will not be deterred or intimidated by the political stunts Jim Jordan and (U.S. House Speaker) Kevin McCarthy throw at him.”