Trump charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, pleads not guilty

Former President Donald J. Trump pleaded not guilty Tuesday to 34 felonies in a historic arraignment to charges that prosecutors said involve paying hush money to silence affairs, including one with a porn star a month before the 2016 presidential election.

It was the first time an American president, former or sitting, was charged with a crime.

“Wow,” Trump wrote on his social media platform before the arraignment. “Can’t believe this is happening in America. MAGA!”

Trump, wearing a dark blue suit and bright red tie, entered the 15th floor, wood-paneled courtroom in Manhattan Criminal Court at 2:28 p.m., accompanied by his attorneys.

After a brief hearing on news media access issues, the court clerk put the arraignment proceeding officially on the record, citing indictment 71543-23, and the official name of the case: “People of the State of New York v. Donald J. Trump.”

The attorneys then put their appearances on the record, and acting Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan said: “Let’s arraign Mr. Trump, please.”

“How do you plead to this indictment,” the clerk asked Trump, after revealing the ex-president was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury on 34 counts of first-degree falsifying business records, which are all felonies.

After the arraignment, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg argued that it was critical for his office to make sure business records in the world’s commercial capital aren’t lies and that voters know the truth about candidates.

“No amount of money and no amount of power” sways the principle of equal treatment under the law, Bragg said.

His office called Trump's behavior a “covert and illegal” attempt to hide the truth from voters in 2016, the year Trump won the presidency. Bragg called it a “catch-and-kill” scheme.

One of the “catch-and-kill” payments was $130,000 dating back to August 2015 to the porn star known as Stormy Daniels, for an affair with Trump, according to Bragg.

Another payment was $150,000 to American Media Inc., publishers of the National Enquirer, to bury a story from another woman who claimed to have had an affair with Trump.

But “AMI ultimately declined to accept reimbursement after consulting their counsel,” Bragg stated, noting that AMI "Iater admitted its conduct was unlawful in an agreement with federal prosecutors.”

In a third case, AMI “paid $30,000 to a former Trump Tower door attendant, who claimed to have a story about a child Trump had out of wedlock,” Bragg stated.

Trump, the current front-runner for Republicans in the 2024 presidential race, said little during the unprecedented court session that lasted nearly an hour. When it came time to make his plea, he made the statement himself: “Not guilty.”

A stern Trump ignored questions from reporters entering and leaving the courtroom. He was captured by video and still photographers with brief, intent stares.

Hours later at Mar-a-Lago, his private club and residence in Palm Beach, Florida, Trump spoke to a packed room of supporters. He walked through a cheering crowd, many snapping pictures on their cellphones, climbed a stage and leveled attacks at Bragg, Merchan, the judge's family, including his wife and his daughter, and those in charge of ongoing investigations into Trump's efforts to reverse the 2020 election and the storage of government documents at Mar-a-Lago.

"Even people that aren't big fans have said this is not the right thing to do and its an insult to our country and the world is laughing at us," Trump said of the indictment.

“This fake case was brought only to interfere with the upcoming 2024 election and it should be dropped immediately," he said.

Trump described the United States as "a mess" and called New York Attorney General Letitia James a "racist in reverse" for suing him and his company on business fraud allegations involving some of their most prized assets, including properties in Manhattan, Chicago and Washington.

"She proclaimed while campaigning that 'I look forward to going into office every day and suing [Trump] and then going home,'" the former president said of James. "I didn't even know the young lady."

"This is why along with unrelenting crime," Trump said, "so many people and companies are leaving New York."

In the courtroom at his arraignment, Trump’s newly hired lawyer, Todd Blanche, said the former president was “absolutely frustrated” and “upset” and believed the indictment is a “great injustice.”

Blanche took issue with the Assistant District Attorney Christopher Conroy’s statement of alleged facts in the case, opening his remarks with a sarcastic comment.     

“I didn’t realize we were going to give opening statements today,” said Blanche. He called the prosecution’s requested trial date in January “a little bit aggressive.”

Blanche also criticized the district attorney’s office for the conduct of key witness Michael Cohen, the former Trump fixer and attorney, who has served prison time in connection with the alleged hush-money payments, citing his frequent media interviews about the case.

Cohen pleaded guilty to violating federal campaign laws for facilitating the alleged payoff and served a prison sentence. He is now a witness for the prosecution.

Blanche also cited a former prosecutor who left the Manhattan district attorney's office and wrote a book, including information about a Trump investigation.

And Blanche said there were “leaks galore” coming from the district attorney’s office regarding the Trump indictment, calling it an “illegal leaking of charges.” Blanche called the leaks “patently unfair.”

The assistant district attorneys, meanwhile, urged the judge to warn Trump against making “irresponsible social media posts” after Trump warned of “potential death and destruction” and “World War III” in social media. The judge told his lawyers to remind Trump and witnesses in the case “to please refrain from making statements that would incite violence or civil unrest.”

Bragg has been threatened in social media posts by apparent supporters of Trump, including one that depicted Trump with a baseball bat apparently intended for Bragg. In his Tuesday night speech, Trump referred to Merchan as a "Trump-hating judge."

A divided nation earlier watched as the indictment against Trump was unsealed and the faint roar of demonstrators outside could be heard at times inside the courtroom.

Millions watched in Manhattan and through broadcasts and livestream as the former leader of the free world was subjected to some of the same booking procedures as suspects of street crimes.

Wearing a red-and-white “Keep America Great 2020” cap, Pam Levy, who grew up in Port Washington, called the charges “bogus.”

“Nobody else went after this because they knew the charges were so flimsy,” Levy said. She referred to federal prosecutors who had declined to bring a previous case on the same alleged hush money payoff to keep an affair with Daniels out of public view.

Fervent loyalists such as Susan Cerbo of Middletown, New Jersey, said, “This is so unfair. This not the way our country should be going. This should not be politicized, whether you are a Democrat or a Republican.”

But opponents were just as prevalent.

"He tried to overthrow our democracy and he's finally seeing the inside of a courtroom for the most minor of his offenses and there is more to come, and the man will finally be held accountable,” said Julie DeLaurier of Brooklyn.

Sandy Radoff of Manhattan held a sign that said: "A bunch of regular New Yorkers indicted him. We stand with them."

“Our democracy is working,” Radoff said.

Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green of Georgia, an ardent Trump supporter, used a bullhorn to try to lead a rally in support of Trump but was drowned out by protesters.

“Go back to Georgia, [expletive]!” two men shouted. “This is New York!”

Also on the scene for Trump was Rep. George Santos, who is under an ethics investigation after winning election in November as an ardent Trump supporter. 

"I'm here in support of the president,” said Santos, who represents part of Nassau County and Queens.

Trump is due back in court on Dec. 4, when the judge will issue a decision on any motions in the case.

Blanche floated the possibility of the court not mandating Trump’s presence for the next court date, calling it “extraordinarily burdensome” because of the expense and security issues associated with an ex-president’s travel.

Conroy said that while the district attorney's office prefers defendants appear for their court dates, they also recognize the “immense burden” and said he would defer to the judge.

“There’s no question this was an immense burden,” said Merchan, but added that “in the interest of transparency,” he would deny the defense request.

The prosecution asked the judge to issue a protective order for all of the evidence handed over to the defense as part of the discovery process, adding that “should the defendant fail to abide,” he “could be held in contempt of court.”

Under the prosecution’s request, Trump would be barred from using any of the discovery material “for any purpose other than his defense.” Trump would have to review any material in his attorney’s office and would be unable to make copies or take way any notes and would be barred from sharing the contents of the discovery to the new media, or from posting its contents on social media.

Trump stood up when the judge left the bench at 3:24 p.m. A court reporter who provides transcripts of court proceedings, for a fee, personally handed Trump his business card. The ex-president took the card and tucked it into his suit pocket and left the courtroom shortly thereafter.

After his arraignment, Trump boarded his private jet to his Mar-a-Lago club. Trump planned a political event to continue his campaign to regain the Republican nomination for the 2024 presidential race.

Criminal charges don’t prohibit anyone from running for office.

Rep. Elise Stefanik, an upstate congresswoman and the third-highest-ranking Republican in the House, tweeted that Trump’s arrest was “shameful” and a “dangerous and illegal overreach by a radical D.A.”

Outside the courthouse, supporters, demonstrators against Trump, and paid line sitters holding spots for reporters and onlookers began lining up for seat in the courtroom or vantages to view Trump nearly 24 hours before the arraignment was scheduled to begin.

It was an uncommon scene in a city that routinely shrugs off visits by heads of state, major crime figures in perp walks, and Hollywood productions.

New York Police Department officers patrolled along zip-tied barricades for blocks around the courthouse and along closed-off streets. Police kept the metal fences far enough apart to separate supporters and detractors. A small group of Trump supporters had also lined up at Trump Tower early Tuesday. The NYPD and FBI beefed up security; Trump, as a former president, also had his own Secret Service detail.

Trump faces additional state and federal investigations. Principal among them are the accusations that he sought to pressure a Georgia official to find enough votes for him in his failed 2020 reelection bid to win the state in the Electoral College. Another federal probe is investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol by his supporters that left five people dead. Violence erupted as Trump followers seized the Capitol to disrupt the certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s win after Trump told thousands of loyalists at a rally to “fight like hell” to save their country.

Since before his 2016 campaign, Trump has blamed news organizations, liberals and Democratic officials of a “witch hunt” against him. Trump has faced an unprecedented two impeachments. Senate Republicans, however, refused to convict him on the impeachment charges that alleged he abused his office. At the time, Trump was the leader of the party and had the power to elevate or vanquish GOP candidates based on perceived loyalty to him.

Trump lost the presidency in 2020 to Biden in a decisive victory in the popular as well as Electoral College votes. But Trump has said that the election was stolen from him and has since made baseless claims of corruption, despite reviews by state election officials, including Republicans, and lost court cases, including those presided over by Trump appointees.

With Michael O'Keeffe. Anthony M. DeStefano, Matthew Chayes and TNS

Trump court transcript by Newsday on Scribd