MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Trump arraigned, says there is “no case” against him

The former US President faces 34 felony charges for altering financial documents to cover up alleged hush payments

Former US President Donald Trump Tuesday plead not guilty to 34 felony counts in a Manhattan court and flew back to his Florida residence at the end of the day. The Republican leader became the first US president to be arraigned on criminal charges.

In the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg indictment, Trump is accused of falsifying business records in a conspiracy to conceal data that would have hurt his 2016 presidential bid.

“The People of the State of New York allege that Donald J. Trump repeatedly and fraudulently falsified New York business records to conceal crimes that hid damaging information from the voting public during the 2016 presidential election,” Bragg said in his message to the court.

“As the Statement of Facts describes, the trail of money and lies exposes a pattern that, the people allege, violates one of New York's basic and fundamental business laws,” he added.

State Judge Juan Merchan denied executive assistant district attorney Christopher Conroy's request to issue a gag order against Trump or his legal team regarding the details of the case.

The DA’s office has said it expects to produce most of its evidence in the next 65 days, while Trump’s defense has until early August to file any motions against the case. Judge Merchan has scheduled the next in-person hearing for Dec. 4.

When he arrived at the courthouse, Trump dodged questions from reporters who were kept behind a barricade at the end of the hall and were ignored once again when the former President left. Trump's surrender had been processed prior to the hearing, submitting fingerprints, but he was not handcuffed and a mugshot was not taken.

Falsifying business records is a misdemeanor offense that can be upped to a felony charge if done with the intent of covering up or committing another crime, Bragg explained. He said the 34 charges relate to 34 false statements made on New York state business records. He alleged the records were falsified to cover up crimes relating to the 2016 election. Among the false statements were payments of up to US$ 130,000 made to Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen as legal fees that were in fact to be delivered to porn actress Stormy Daniels to keep silent about an alleged 2006 affair which Trump has repeatedly denied.

According to the unsealed charges, along with Daniels, two others were allegedly given hush payments.

Trump remains the Republican Party's leading candidate to take on President Joseph Biden again in the 2024 election. Biden has not yet announced his intention to run for office again but is expected to do so soon.

In a speech from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida later Tuesday, Trump accused the Democrats of political persecution and “fraudulent investigations” insisting there is “no case” against him.

“I never thought anything like this could happen in America... The only crime that I have committed is to fearlessly defend our nation from those who seek to destroy it,” Trump said.

Trump argued that since his rivals “can’t beat us at the ballot box,” they have tried to “beat us through the law,” reiterating some of his previous allegations of widespread election fraud in the 2020 presidential race. He rejected the charges against him as “fake,” arguing that their purpose is to “interfere with the upcoming 2024 election,” and should be “dropped immediately.” Attorneys for Trump say they hope to get the case dismissed before it can go to trial.