Former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty Tuesday to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records as part of a scheme to conceal damaging information during his 2016 campaign that included paying off a porn star, a Playboy model and a Trump Tower doorman.
The one-term commander-in-chief entered the plea during an unprecedented and extraordinary hour-long court proceeding stemming from the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s long-running probe into his business dealings.
A scowling Trump, wearing his trademark blue suit, white shirt and red tie, remained uncharacteristically quiet before entering his plea.
“Not guilty,” said the native New Yorker, facing charges that carry up to four years in prison.
He departed the state Supreme Court hearing without speaking to the media after an afternoon unseen in the annals of the United States, the indictment of its 45th president just two years after his tumultuous single term in the White House.
The charges stemmed from Bragg’s investigation of hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels in the days leading up tp the 2016 election.
“The defendant, Donald J. Trump, falsified New York business records in order to conceal an illegal conspiracy to undermine the integrity of the 2016 presidential election and other violations of Election Laws,” Assistant District Attorney Chris Conroy told the court.
Conroy said that starting in August 2015, Trump masterminded a criminal scheme with others to identify potentially negative news coverage that could undermine his presidential bid.
Bragg laid out his case against Trump citing three illicit payments and the way they were disguised.
In the indictment, Trump is charged in connection to the now-notorious $130,000 to Daniels to buy her silence over an alleged sexual encounter they had a decade earlier, which his ex-fixer Michael Cohen made and went to federal prison for.
In a broader statement of facts laying out the underlying scheme the Daniels payment was a part of, prosecutors laid out evidence of a $150,000 hush money payment to Playboy model Karen McDougal, who claims she had an affair with Trump in 2006 and 2007. That payoff came from David Pecker, the ex-CEO of American Media Inc., who also helped broker the Daniels deal.
Prosecutors also detailed a $30,000 payment to a doorman at Trump’s namesake skyscraper on Fifth Ave., who allegedly knew about Trump fathering a child out of wedlock.
To charge Trump with a felony in connection to falsification of business records, prosecutors were required to find an underlying crime.
At a press conference following the arraignment, DA Alvin Bragg cited New York state and federal election laws, which he said make it a crime to conspire to promote the candidacy through unlawful means. Prior to the case being brought, Trump and his lawyers have taken issue with that law being applied to a federal election.
“The charge requires, as I specified, criminal conduct that was concealed, one of the concealed crimes that we alleged is New York State election law,” Bragg said.
Bragg said the case was about more than the payoff to porn star Daniels, as was widely believed, describing how Trump illegally disguised the payback to Cohen as reimbursement for legal fees.
“It’s not just about one payment,” the DA said, noting the investigation unearthed new evidence and Trump’s repeated lies. “It is 34 business records — 34 false statements in business records concealing criminal conduct. It is not just that one $130,0000 wire payment.”
The way Trump classified the payback to Cohen — logging it internally and to the tax man as “legal expenses” — violated New York law, Bragg said.
“That is why Mr. Trump made false statements about his payments to Mr. Cohen. He did not simply say that the payments were reimbursements for Mr. Cohen’s payment to Stormy Daniels. To do so, to make that statement, would have been to admit a crime, so instead, Mr. Trump said he was paying Mr. Cohen for fictitious legal services in 2017 to cover up actual crime committed the prior year,” Bragg said.
“And in order to get Michael Cohen his money back, they planned one last false statement. In order to complete the scheme, they planned to characterize the repayments as income to the New York State tax authorities.”
A frequent target of Trump’s venom during the last few months of the lengthy probe, Bragg sat in the courtroom’s front bench for the proceeding. The ex-president described the prosecutor as an “animal” in one of his uglier social media postings, in comments widely-derided as racist.
Those comments were referenced at the hearing when prosecutors asked Judge Juan Merchan to issue a protective order, prohibiting Trump from using charged rhetoric in his public comments about the case.
“His public statements have, among other things, threatened potential death and destruction, and that is a quote, and World War III, another quote, if these charges were brought and he was indicted,” ADA Conroy said.
Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche countered that Trump’s free speech rights allowed him to say whatever he wants, saying Trump was “absolutely frustrated, upset and believes there is a great injustice happening with him being in this courtroom today.”
“I don’t share your view that certain language and certain rhetoric is just by frustration,” Merchan said. “Defense counsel, speak to your client and anybody else you need to, and remind them to please refrain — please refrain — from making statements that are likely to incite violence or civil unrest.”
Trump’s unwanted homecoming arrived nearly seven years after he marched down the golden staircase inside his Midtown building to declare his unlikely run for the White House. He left Trump Tower on Tuesday afternoon to take the four-mile ride downtown for his hearing.
A grand jury investigating Trump indicted him March 30, making him the first former president in United States history to face criminal charges. The case against Trump had remained under seal until 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, when prosecutors shared them with Trump’s lawyers ahead of the hearing.
“Today is a very sad day for this country,” Blanche told reporters after the proceeding. “I think that what you saw in that indictment … is exactly what has been talked about for the last seven years. And the district attorney has turned what is a completely political issue into a political prosecution.”
As he took his seat in court, several hundred protesters both for and against Trump could be heard from the 15th floor courtroom. Prior to his arrival, the area was swamped with boisterous but largely peaceful demonstrations, including a pro-Trump rally organized by right-wing U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.
The historic charges against Trump are the result of an extensive investigation by the Manhattan DA spanning more than four years.
The hush money deals have long been public knowledge. Cohen went to federal prison for paying off Daniels in the lead-up to the 2016 election, detailing in his plea how he made the payment at Trump’s direction “for the principal purpose” of influencing the election.
The feds first investigated the hush money payments — bringing the case against Cohen under Trump’s Justice Department — and initially asked the Manhattan DA to hold off on probing the president.
Federal prosecutors directly implicated Trump in their case, in which he was notoriously referred to as “Individual 1,” but ultimately declined to bring charges against him once he’d left the White House, reportedly fearing the case would devolve into a political firestorm.
Prosecutors told the court they wanted to take Trump to trial next January, on the eve of primary season, which Trump’s lawyers pushed back on as “aggressive,” saying they were hoping for the trial to happen in late spring.
Merchan ordered the parties to appear back in court on December 4. The judge informed Trump of his right to not attend his court hearings, but impressed upon him the importance of being there as his case plays out. He denied a request from Blanche for Trump to skip his next hearing.
Merchan asked Trump if he understood that were he to become disruptive, the judge would have the right to remove him from proceedings.
“Yes,” Trump replied.