Information reaching Kossyderrickent has it that Americans react to the striking resemblance of Donald Trump’s lawyer to that of Marcia Clark at courtroom. (Read More Here).
He is being arraigned at the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse on criminal charges said to be related to hush money payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels in 2016.
He left his home at Trump Tower shortly after 13.00 local time (18.00BST). He waved to waiting cameras, making a fist, before getting into his car.
The legal troubles, media spectacle and porn-star-hush-money salaciousness at the heart of the case are a new chapter for the New York tycoon-turned-TV-star-turned-politician, whose career has careened from scandal to success for four decades. This time, unlike his bankrupted casinos or failed marriages, many of Trump’s supporters and detractors argue that the fate of American democracy is hanging in the balance as the former president increasingly conflates any legal woes as an effort to illegitimately deny him a return to power.
With the failures of Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot still fresh in officials’ minds, security was high in the courthouse and nearby areas as the police department, court officers and Secret Service braced for protests amid the unprecedented arraignment of a former president.
In a historic, highly choreographed appearance that required strict security protocols, Trump pleaded not guilty to the charges at a hearing in a lower Manhattan courtroom, becoming the first former president to face criminal prosecution. He has denied all wrongdoing and said District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, is motivated by politics in bringing the case.
In a 16-page indictment and accompanying statement of facts, prosecutors said Trump “orchestrated a scheme with others to influence the 2016 presidential election by identifying and purchasing negative information about him to suppress its publication and benefit the Defendant’s electoral prospects.”
They said the scheme involved three payments made by Trump allies to conceal damaging stories: $30,000 to a former Trump Tower doorman who said Trump had fathered a child out of wedlock; $150,000 to a former Playboy model who said she had an affair with Trump; and $130,000 to adult film star Stormy Daniels, who also alleged an affair. Trump has denied having affairs with both women, and the company that paid the former doorman determined his story was false.
Michael Cohen, Trump’s former attorney and “fixer,” made the payment to Daniels in the days before the 2016 election. Prosecutors said Trump illegally disguised his reimbursement to Cohen by classifying them as legal fees.
The reason Trump committed the crime of falsifying business records was in part to “promote his candidacy,” prosecutors said.
The indictment returned last week by a grand jury against Trump was unsealed Tuesday and provided the public — and Trump’s legal team — with the first details about the specific charges he will face. The investigation stemmed from a hush money payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign.
The former president’s voice was measured in the courtroom. He walked in slowly scanning the reporters in the courtroom and looked at the judge when he was speaking.
Trump had arrived at the Manhattan district attorney’s office earlier Tuesday afternoon, where he was placed under arrest and in police custody before the arraignment.
The arraignment in the Manhattan courtroom Tuesday represented a surreal and historic moment in US history. The next in-person hearing date for Trump’s case in New York is currently set for December 4.
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