United States: Donald Trump pleads not guilty before a judge in New York

Donald Trump pleaded not guilty on Tuesday after being formally charged with falsifying accounting records, at a historic criminal hearing before a judge in New York. The former president, the first to suffer such a legal fate, could therefore have to face a trial, even if he will try everything to avoid this ordeal. The Republican, who is seeking a new mandate, is targeted by 34 charges, in particular for embezzlement related to money paid in 2016 to a porn star.

“The law is the same for all”, insists the New York prosecutor

The New York prosecutor who oversaw the investigation that led to Donald Trump’s historic indictment insisted on Tuesday that no one was above the law, saying “gross criminal conduct” was not admissible, regardless of whoever their author is. “The law is the same for everyone,” Alvin Bragg told reporters. And “whoever you are,” “we cannot normalize and we will not trivialize serious criminal conduct,” he said.

Trump lawyer vows to fight ex-president’s ‘sad’ indictment

A lawyer for Donald Trump promised on Tuesday to fight the “sad” indictment of the former American president who had just appeared before a judge in New York, an unprecedented event. “The indictment itself is a standard text (…). It’s really disappointing,” Todd Blanche told reporters. According to him, Donald Trump is “frustrated”, “upset” but “determined”.

Trump’s New York trial could start in January 2024

A criminal trial of former United States President Donald Trump in an accounting malfeasance case could begin in January 2024, a judge at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York, where Donald Trump appeared, said on Tuesday.

The former tenant of the White House, who wants to return there in November 2024, pleaded very distinctly. Judge Juan Merchan said a trial could possibly begin next January, with Donald Trump’s lawyers present at the historic hearing preferring spring 2024.

Trump’s indictment relates to payments to cover up three troublesome cases ahead of 2016 election

Donald Trump has been indicted by a New York court for “orchestrating” a series of payments to cover up three embarrassing cases before the 2016 presidential election, Manhattan prosecutor Alvin Bragg said on Tuesday. A Trump Tower doorman who claimed to have information about a hidden child was awarded $30,000 to remain silent; a woman who presented herself as a former mistress received 150,000 dollars to be discreet and a pornographic actress received 130,000 dollars to conceal an alleged extramarital relationship, detailed the prosecutor in a press release.

Donald Trump released by Manhattan Criminal Court without judicial review

Donald Trump left Manhattan Criminal Court in New York on Tuesday without any conditions and judicial review, after his historic appearance in a case of alleged accounting malfeasance linked to money paid in 2016 to a porn star.

The former president of the United States showed his face closed, the look stern, in the courtroom of the court. The septuagenarian has previously called his fate, which is dividing and shaking America, “surreal”. Surrounded by bodyguards, the ex-tenant of the White House who aims to return there in 2024, had arrived at the Manhattan courthouse in a convoy under very high security flown over by American media helicopters.

Pro and anti-Trump protests

Upon his arrival, hundreds of supporters and opponents of Donald Trump faced each other in court, under tension and under the invectives, even kept at a distance. His detractors had unfurled a huge banner “Trump lies all the time”. The billionaire claims his innocence and claims to be the victim of a “witch hunt” orchestrated by the Democrats of President Joe Biden, who would have “robbed” him of his victory in the 2020 presidential election. judicial system”, he again denounced Tuesday, all in capital letters, on his Truth Social platform, castigating a “bogus court” and a “very biased” judge.

New Yorker by birth, he spent the night in his luxurious “Trump Tower” and will submit, in court, to the ritual imposed on any defendant: state his name, age and profession, take a fingerprint and can -being photographed — the famous “mugshot”, the source of so much public humiliation for stars in the United States. But his status as a high American dignitary protected by the Secret Service, the personal protection police, could require some adjustments.

No handcuffs

According to his lawyer Joe Tacopina, he will not be handcuffed. He should then be released, possibly subject to conditions, pending the organization of his trial at a later date. The New York businessman, who made his fortune in real estate and television, met his followers and his tens of millions of voters for a press conference from his residence Mar-a- Lago, Fla., at 8:15 p.m. (12:15 a.m. local time Wednesday).

The charges, about thirty according to CNN, have not yet been made public and should be made public by the Manhattan prosecutor who is prosecuting him, Alvin Bragg, an elected Democrat. They would be linked to accounting fraud during the legal payment in October 2016 and the subsequent reimbursement of 130,000 dollars to the actress of pornographic films Stormy Daniels.

Targeted by several other investigations

From her real name Stephanie Clifford, this woman, who has been working with the justice system for five years, was supposed to silence a supposed and very brief extramarital relationship in 2006 with Donald Trump. The $130,000 she received from a former lawyer and handyman for the former president, Michael Cohen — who served time in prison and turned against his boss in 2018 — had no reported in 2016 presidential candidate Trump’s campaign accounts. A possible violation of New York State election laws. This sum had been recorded, potentially illegally, as “legal fees” in the accounts of his company Trump Organization, already condemned in December and January to a civil fine of 1.6 million dollars for fraud.

Beyond this affair, Donald Trump – who has upset the political system and society in the United States in less than ten years – is the subject of several other investigations, in particular on his role in the attack on the Capitol, the January 6, 2021, his management of the presidential archives or the pressure exerted on electoral officials in Georgia to contest his defeat in the presidential election of 2020.