New York/Washington, April 5: Donald Trump, the first former US President to be criminally charged, has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records at his arraignment in a Manhattan court on charges relating to hush money payments made to a porn star before the 2016 presidential election.
The 76-year-old former Republican president, who ruled the country for four years till January 2021, was arrested when he arrived to surrender at the Manhattan criminal court on Tuesday.
Trump, who became the first former US president to be indicted, arrested and arraigned on criminal charges, pleaded not guilty to 34 criminal charges of falsifying business records in person before State Supreme Court Justice Juan M Merchan.
Wearing a dark blue suit and red tie, a stone-faced Trump walked into the courtroom with his steps heavy and slow and said “not guilty” in a firm voice while facing the judge.
He sat silently throughout almost the entire proceedings and only spoke when he was required to, either by pleading not guilty or by answering to the judge when addressed directly.
Speaking outside the court after the arraignment, Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche said that his client is “frustrated” and “upset”.
He accused the prosecutor of turning a “completely political issue” into a “political prosecution”.
On the charges against Trump, Blanche said: “We’re going to fight it, fight it hard.”
The historic indictment against Trump, was unsealed on Tuesday, providing the public and Trump’s legal team with details about the charges against him for the first time.
It includes charges of falsifying business records in connection with a hush payment that Trump’s former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen made to porn star Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 election.
Prosecutors alleged Trump was part of an unlawful plan to suppress negative information, including an illegal payment of USD 130,000 that was ordered by the defendant to suppress the negative information that would hurt his presidential campaign.
The reason he committed the crime of falsifying business records was in part to “promote his candidacy,” the indictment alleges.
Trump hid reimbursement payments to Cohen by marking monthly cheques for “legal services”, according to the statement of facts, in a deal the two worked out in the Oval Office.
The payments stopped after December 2017, according to the document.
Trump left the Manhattan courtroom after his arraignment on Tuesday without making any statement. He left the building and got into his motorcade parked outside.
The next in-person hearing date for Trump’s case is set for December 4 in New York, CNN reported, adding that the former president has departed New York en route to Florida.
Trump flew back to his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida, where he addressed a crowd in a roughly 25-minute speech.
He repeated many of his campaign talking points and argued that he has been the victim of a Democratic conspiracy to tank his re-election bid.
Trump said he “never thought anything like this could happen in America” on Tuesday night after he was arraigned in New York City.
“The only crime that I have committed is to fearlessly defend our nation from those who seek to destroy it,” Trump said in Florida. (Agencies)
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