Donald Trump pleads not guilty to criminal charges in New York

Former US president faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in hush-money case

Donald Trump, centre, with his defence lawyers during his arraignment hearing in Manhattan © Seth Wenig/AP

Joe Miller in New York and James Politi in Washington 4 HOURS AGO

Donald Trump pleaded not guilty to covering up “hush money” payments made to silence a porn actress ahead of the 2016 election, as the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican nomination became the first former US president to face criminal charges.

Trump entered the plea at 2.45pm shortly after arriving at a Manhattan courthouse, where he was charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records during a hearing that lasted just over an hour.

The former president, hands clasped for much of the proceeding, spoke just 12 words, entering his plea and answering “yes” and “I do” to questions posed by the judge.

Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney bringing the case, accused Trump of masterminding an expansive scheme to suppress damaging stories that would threaten his candidacy in 2016.

This included arranging a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels, an adult film actress, made 12 days before Trump took office, in order to bury a story about an alleged affair between the two, Bragg’s office said.

Payments totalling $180,000 were also made to another woman alleging an affair — believed to be Playboy model Karen McDougal — as well as a former doorman at Trump Tower, according to a statement of facts provided by Bragg’s office.

The 16-page indictment unsealed on Tuesday was far narrower in scope, outlining alleged crimes linked to the recording of payments made in 2017 to reimburse former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, who originally made the payment to Daniels using his own money.

In a press conference shortly after the hearing, Bragg said Trump made “false statements . . . month after month in 2017” while president and personally signed cheques to Cohen. The charges were brought, he added, because “no matter who you are, we cannot and will not normalise serious criminal conduct”.

During the hearing, the judge, Juan Merchan, asked the former president’s attorneys to remind him to “refrain from making statements likely to incite violence or civil unrest” on social media, after the government presented a dossier containing some of Trump’s recent incendiary posts. He also noted that Trump would be removed from the courtroom if he became “disruptive” at future court appearances.

The next hearing is scheduled for December 4. Merchan denied an application by Trump’s lawyers for the former president to be excused from appearing at that date in person.

Prosecutors suggested a January 2024 trial, but the defence team said they would likely need until next spring to prepare their case. No definitive date has been set.

“He’s frustrated, he’s upset, but I tell you what, he’s motivated and it’s not going to stop him, it’s not going to slow him down,” Todd Blanche, a lawyer for Trump, told reporters outside the court after the hearing. Blanche said earlier in court that the defence would file several motions seeking to dismiss the case.

Earlier, the former president had pumped his fist before departing in a motorcade from Trump Tower at just after 1pm to make the roughly six-mile journey to the courthouse, which he entered without making any remarks.

Trump posted on his Truth Social profile as the procession snaked down the Franklin D Roosevelt East River Drive. He wrote: “Heading to Lower Manhattan, the Courthouse. Seems so SURREAL — WOW, they are going to ARREST ME. Can’t believe this is happening in America. MAGA!”

Trump left the courthouse at just before 3.30pm en route to LaGuardia airport. He is expected to return to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and deliver a speech later on Tuesday.

Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgia Republican, addresses the crowd outside the courthouse in New York © Stephanie Keith/Bloomberg

Large swaths of the downtown area were cordoned off in anticipation of protests. Just after 9am, pro- and anti-Trump partisans scuffled in a small park across from the courthouse during a stand-off that was more performative than violent.

Other prominent Trump supporters, including Republican House member Marjorie Taylor Greene, travelled to the city to back him. Trump has repeatedly labelled the Manhattan district attorney’s investigation a “political witch hunt”.

Ahead of the hearing, Greene stood on a park bench just across from the courthouse and addressed a raucous crowd through a bullhorn, warning of a communist takeover of the US.

On the eve of his arraignment, Trump hired Blanche, a top defence lawyer specialising in white-collar criminal investigations to strengthen the legal team fighting the charges. Blanche previously defended Paul Manafort, a former Trump campaign chief, and in 2019 secured the dismissal of New York state charges against him. Manafort had been previously convicted on federal charges.

Additional reporting by Joshua Chaffin in New York


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