Former US President Trump to Face Criminal Charges for First Time
2023-04-05
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1Former U.S. President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to charges of reporting false business records.
2The charges came after an investigation into payments to an adult movie performer during his 2016 presidential campaign.
3The money was aimed at buying the silence of the performer.
4Trump sat with his hands folded as he entered the plea: "Not guilty."
5Trump is the first U.S. president to face criminal charges either in or out of office.
6He is also a leading candidate for the Republican nomination in the 2024 presidential campaign.
7The indictment accused Trump of "intent to defraud and intent to commit another crime" and then to try to hide it.
8The indictment listed 34 counts of falsifying business records under New York State law.
9 A count is a separate crime.
10The 16-page indictment contains new details about a plan to pay off two women who said they had sexual contact with Trump.
11It also contains information about payment to a Trump Tower doorman who claimed to have a story about a child he said the former president had outside of his marriage.
12In a statement, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said, "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."
13Todd Blanche is a lawyer for Trump.
14He told reporters after the hearing, "We're going to fight it. We're going to fight it hard,"
15Falsifying business records in New York on its own is a misdemeanor, or not a serious crime, punishable by no more than one year in prison.
16But the crime is increased to a felony, a serious crime, punishable by up to four years in prison when done to hide another crime.
17In this case, the Manhattan district attorney would have to prove that Trump falsified business records with the intent to hide the payments during the 2016 election.
18Some of the evidence against Trump is in an audio recording made in September 2016 as he and his lawyer discussed how to suppress stories about his affair, government lawyers said.
19Court documents said Trump can be heard saying, "So what do we got to pay for this?"
20Michael Cohen, Trump's former lawyer, was one of the witnesses before the grand jury that voted to indict Trump.
21Cohen said that he made the payment to adult film performer Stormy Daniels to keep her from telling in public about a sexual relationship she said she had with Trump years earlier.
22Cohen also said Trump's business, called the Trump Organization, repaid the money with Trump's knowledge, and claimed them as legal costs.
23The supporting document also alleges a "catch and kill" plan to suppress a story from another adult magazine model, Karen McDougal.
24Former National Enquirer newspaper publisher David Pecker was another witness before the grand jury.
25He had earlier said that payments were made to suppress stories that could hurt Trump's 2016 campaign.
26Trump, who has called the charges political, held his fist in the air as he left Trump Tower for the courthouse.
27Trump was to return to his Florida home, Mar-a-Lago, on Tuesday evening to give remarks.
28The indictment and even a conviction would not prevent Trump from running for or winning the presidency in 2024.
29I'm Bryan Lynn.