Troy Smith
The indictment from a Manhattan Grand Jury against former President Trump has been publicly released following his appearance in criminal court today.
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The indictment includes 34 different charges including falsifying business records and conspiracy. It also reveals that two different payments to women prior to the 2016 Election were the subject of this indictment.
Former President Donald Trump is charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection with a scheme that directed hush money payments to two women before the 2016 presidential election.
The 16-page indictment against Trump was unsealed Tuesday as he became the first former U.S. president ever to be arraigned on criminal charges.
“Not guilty,” Trump said from his seat to Judge Juan Merchan during the hearing in Manhattan Supreme Court.
The indictment says those payments were part of a broader scheme to suppress claims by the women, porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal, that they had sex with Trump, in a bid to keep their stories from affecting Trump’s chances against Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.
Prosecutors also said a Trump-friendly publishing company, American Media Inc., paid $30,000 to a former Trump Tower doorman who claimed to have a story about Trump fathering a child out of wedlock.
All three payments were part of an alleged “catch and kill” effort by Trump and others, among them then-AMI chief David Pecker, from August 2015 to December 2017 “to identify, purchase, and bury negative information about him and boost his electoral prospects,” prosecutors said.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg at a press conference said each of the false statements in business records, which related to the payment to Daniels, were done to cover up other crimes related to the 2016 election.
Those crimes included violations of New York state election law, and false statements to tax authorities, he said. Falsifying business records normally is a misdemeanor but can become a felony if done to cover up another crime.
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/04/-donald-trump-unsealed-indictment-ny-arraingment.html
Is there any politician in the world who does not do what this Judge is describing? This case seems to get more ridiculous by the hour.
If this is truly why they indicted the former President, there must be consequences for those who so blatantly abused their power in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
