Trump Pleads Not Guilty to 34 Charges
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Trump Pleads Not Guilty to 34 Charges
Former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty to all 34 counts of “falsifying business records.” The indictment is available here if you’d like to go back to bed. The case is scheduled for December 4, roughly one month before the likely January date of the Iowa caucuses.
The Post Millennial reported, “Bragg claimed that these 34 ‘false statements,’ which the indictment reveals are simply every time payments to Cohen were made over a period of months and invoices, payments, and receipts were recorded in bookkeeping ledgers, were made to ‘cover up other crimes, fees or felony crimes in New York State.’”
Additionally, The Post Millennial reported, “Bragg alleged that this payment was a campaign contribution, and that as such, it was illegally made. ‘The 130,000 on a wire payment exceeded the federal campaign contribution cap and the false statements in AMI's books violated New York law.’”
Later in the afternoon, Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg held a press conference. ZeroHedge reported:
During the presser, Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg was asked about the underlying crime, which isn't in the indictment. Bragg responded that several laws are at play, including election law 17-152. As the NYT's Jonah Bromwich notes, "One of the unusual things about this case is the application of a state election law to a federal election and Trump’s lawyers are sure to seize on that in their challenges to the prosecution."
"True and accurate business records are important everywhere," said Bragg, adding that they are more important in Manhattan, the financial center of the world.
Of note, the charges against Trump are all class-E felonies, the lowest category of felony offense in New York, which carry a maximum prison sentence of four years. The judge in the case says he will not impose a gag order at this time, but warned Trump not to make social media posts which could 'foment unrest.' the Associated Press reports.
And according to the NY Times, "Under New York law, falsifying business records is generally a misdemeanor. But prosecutors can escalate the charge when they believe a person falsified business records in order to commit another crime or hide the committing of a crime."
Trump immediately flew back to Mar-A-Lago and gave a speech that evening. He said to the crowd,“I never thought anything like this would happen in America.” He continued, “The only crime I have committed is to fearlessly defend our nation from those who seek to destroy it.”
He also said that everyone who has looked at this case, including “RINOs” and those who don’t like him very much, have said there’s nothing there.
Coincidentally, just hours after the court appearance Trump received this news:
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