Trump pleads not guilty to 34 felony violations

Former US president Donald Trump pleaded not guilty Tuesday to 34 felony violations of falsifying records to hide hush money paid to suppress potentially damaging sexual allegations before his 2016 campaign for the White House.

In a Lower Manhattan courtroom, Trump became the first former president to face criminal prosecution.

In a 16-page indictment handed up by a Manhattan grand jury last week and unsealed on Tuesday and in an accompanying statement of facts, prosecutors said Trump "orchestrated a scheme with others to influence the 2016 presidential election by identifying and purchasing negative information about him to suppress its publication and benefit the defendant's electoral prospects".

The statement of facts said it involved three payments made by Trump allies to conceal damaging stories: $30,000 to a former Trump Tower doorman who said Trump had fathered a child out of wedlock; $150,000 to former Playboy model Karen McDougal who said she had an affair with Trump; and $130,000 to adult film star Stormy Daniels, who also alleged an affair.

Trump has denied having affairs with both women, and the company that paid the former doorman determined his story was false.

The case brought by the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charges Trump with 34 counts of filing false business records in the first degree, a low-level felony that carries a maximum of four years in prison for each count. If Trump goes to trial and is convicted, a judge could sentence him to probation.

Trump was released at the end of the hearing before Acting New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan, who oversaw the grand jury's investigation that ended last week with Trump's indictment. He also presides over felony criminal trials.

Trump boarded his private plane for a flight to Florida, where he gave a sweeping, campaign-style speech to supporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach on Tuesday evening.

"I never thought anything like this could happen in America," Trump said. "The only crime that I've committed has been to fearlessly defend our nation against those who seek to destroy it."

Trump attacked the prosecution, calling it "massive election interference at a scale never seen before in our country".

Trump, 76, who is running for president for a third time, also railed against "radical left Democrats" and the Biden administration.

Michael Cohen, Trump's former attorney, made the payment to Daniels days before the 2016 election. Prosecutors said Trump illegally disguised his reimbursement to Cohen by classifying them as legal fees.

Falsifying business records is typically a misdemeanor under New York law, but can be charged as a felony if done with an "intent to defraud [that] includes an intent to commit another crime or to aid or conceal the commission thereof". Prosecutors allege Trump's conduct was intended to violate election laws.

While the charges focus on the payoff to Daniels, Bragg's prosecutors also accused the former president of orchestrating a broader scheme to influence the 2016 presidential election by purchasing damaging stories about him to keep the issue concealed.

US Senator Mitt Romney, a Utah Republican who voted to convict Trump after an impeachment trial over the attack on the Capitol on Jan 6, 2021, questioned the merit of the case.

"I believe President Trump's character and conduct make him unfit for office," Romney said after the former president's arraignment. "Even so, I believe the New York prosecutor has stretched to reach felony criminal charges in order to fit a political agenda."

Democratic lawmakers' messaging centered on support for the "justice system" or Bragg.

"As Donald Trump challenges the legitimacy of our criminal justice system, let us give him the equal protection and due process he's deprived everyone he's accused of a crime. Justice benefits all of us," US Representative Eric Swalwell of California wrote on Twitter.

Trump's 11-vehicle motorcade left Trump Tower where he stayed Monday night. He arrived just before 1:30 pm at the Manhattan district attorney's office in the Manhattan Criminals Court Building. Media reports said Trump was in a car with just his Secret Service detail.

He was fingerprinted like any felony defendant, but special accommodations were made for the former president. He spent only a short time in custody, wasn't handcuffed and didn't have a mug shot taken.

Trump had a grim expression on his face as he entered a short hallway to the courtroom. His lawyers — Todd Blanche, Susan Necheles and Joseph Tacopina — entered the courtroom shortly before he did. Blanche, a top white-collar criminal defense lawyer and former federal prosecutor, was added to Trump's team on Monday as lead counsel.

Merchan ruled Monday night that video recording of the proceedings wouldn't be allowed. The judge ruled that five photographers would be allowed in the courtroom to take still photos "for several minutes" before the arraignment started. Electronic devices, including cell phones and laptops, also weren't permitted. Four sketch artists captured Trump's arraignment.

Trump didn't speak before or after the hearing and immediately left to fly back to Florida.

Trump's lawyers called the 34-count indictment "disappointing" for a lack of detail. Blanche said the indictment doesn't allege what statements were false.

Blanche said Trump was upset over the charges but determined to prevail. "He's frustrated. He's upset. But I will tell you what. He is motivated. It's not going to slow him down," he said.

"It's really disappointing. It's sad," Blanche said. "We're going to fight it, and we're going to fight it hard."

The lawyers said Merchan admonished everyone in the case, including witnesses, to consider their public comments.

"He did not admonish the president," Tacopina said.

After the arraignment, Bragg said Trump repeatedly engaged Cohen and a tabloid publisher to bury damaging information to protect his 2016 presidential campaign. He said Trump engaged in the alleged conduct to "cover up other crimes" to further his political campaign.

More than 100 members of the media were across from the courthouse on Centre Street. Many journalists had been there since last night, with a line of reporters and members of the public waiting for the chance to enter the courtroom.

Police helicopters hovered over the crowd; steel barricades were in place, and dozens of police officers blocked access to the building. Protesters on both sides yelled at one another from across the barricades, sometimes taking to name-calling.

Trump supporters were at a nearby park along with GOP Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and George Santos of New York, who is facing multiple investigations into apparent lies he told while running for office. He said he came to "support the president" and left after being mobbed by media.

Greene was also met by counter-protesters holding their own "emergency noise demo" to drown out her "hate speech". She left the rally.

"Greene is not going to stop me from exercising my First Amendment rights," Al Thompson, a Brooklyn resident who was outside the court building, told China Daily. "I'm here to ensure that I protest, that we have equal justice under the law. Nobody in America, under the Constitution, is above the law. And right now, Trump's time has run out of skirting the law and basically doing whatever he wants to do without being held accountable. And that's why I'm here."

David, who asked to be identified only by his first name, said he was taking a day off from work and drove from the Dallas area to New York.

"I was angry when I found out about it. I knew I had to come here," he told China Daily. "They're abusing the law even more, abusing the justice system by going after Trump for these charges that should not be considered felonies."

Gregory Williams was holding a life-size cardboard stand-up of Hillary Clinton. "For eight years, they would scream about Hillary, 'Lock her up, lock her up'. But today, in the middle of Manhattan I get to say, 'Lock him up.' I think the greatest thing of all this, we're proving to Americans that no man is above the law," said Williams, "even a former president.''

Agencies contributed to this story.