Left free, the former president pleaded not guilty to the 34 charges against him in a New York court. His trial could begin in January 2024.
By NJ with AFP
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VS’is a historical image. On Tuesday April 4, Donald Trump arrived at the Manhattan courthouse to receive a formal indictment from a judge. It concerns payments to cover up three embarrassing cases before the 2016 election. The former President of the United States is the first to experience such a legal event. He called the America-dividing appearance “surreal.”
What is Donald Trump charged with?
Alvin Bragg, the prosecutor, announced in a press release that Donald Trump was charged by the New York justice because he ” orchestra » a series of payments to cover up three embarrassing cases ahead of the 2016 presidential election. A Trump Tower doorman who claimed to have information about a hidden child was paid $30,000 to remain silent; a woman who posed as a former mistress was paid $150,000 to keep a low profile; while a pornographic actress, most likely Stormy Daniels, collected $130,000 to conceal an alleged extramarital affair.
READ ALSOStormy Daniels, the bomb that can implode Donald TrumpThe latter, who has been collaborating with the justice system for five years, was supposed to conceal a supposed and very brief extramarital relationship in 2006 with Donald Trump. Which he strongly denies. The $130,000 she received from a former lawyer and former president’s handyman, Michael Cohen, who turned against his boss in 2018, had not been declared in the campaign accounts of the 2016 presidential candidate Trump. This expense had been recorded, potentially illegally, as “legal expenses”, in the accounts of his company Trump Organization. A possible violation of New York State election laws.
Trump pleads not guilty
It was a closed Donald Trump, looking downcast, who showed up at the courthouse. He arrived surrounded by bodyguards in a convoy under very high security, overflown by the helicopters of the American media. Convinced of his innocence, he pleaded not guilty to the 34 charges against him, including the falsification of accounting documents and conspiracy which, in American law, amounts to conspiracy.
At the end of this appearance, one of his lawyers denounced a “sad” indictment and promises to fight it. Also according to the latter, the former tenant of the White House is “frustrated”, “upset” but “determined”.
A possible trial in 2024
There was no preferential treatment for the Republican. The New York prosecutor denounced the “serious criminal conduct” of Donald Trump and hammered that “the law is the same for all”. He has not “stopped lying”, he continues.
For these charges, the former tenant of the White House could therefore have to face a trial, which could begin in January 2024 according to the judge, and thwart his plans to run for a second term, during the presidential election of 2024. Donald Trump, who did not say a word, emerged free from the courthouse without any conditions and measures of judicial control. He should return, in the evening, to Mar-a-Lago in order to make a speech, around 2:15 a.m. French time.
The first former American president to face justice, Donald Trump claims to be the victim of a “witch hunt” orchestrated by the Democrats and Joe Biden, who would have “robbed” him of his presidential victory in 2020. For the latter, this indictment is “not a priority”, according to Karine Jean-Pierre, the spokeswoman for the White House. The current president has not spoken on this matter.
In front of the courthouse, the situation was tense, between pro and anti-Trump demonstrators. From the first invectives, the authorities intervened. His detractors have, among other things, unfurled a huge banner “Trump lies all the time”.