According to CNN, former president Donald Trump has a court hearing set for Tuesday to answer to more than 30 counts of corporate fraud.
After investigating hush money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels, a Manhattan grand jury indicted Trump, making him the first former American president to be charged with a crime even as he makes another presidential bid.
The accusations emerged as Trump is vying for the GOP nomination to run for office again in 2024 and were the result of an investigation led by Democratic Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. In a statement on Thursday, he declared his intention to continue the contest.
In the statement, Trump claimed to be “totally innocent.”
He said without proof that “this is political persecution and election interference at the highest level in history.”
Trump made a request for funds for a legal defense shortly after. According to his campaign, he has raised over $2 million since wrongly predicting on March 18 that he would be arrested four days later.
A judge still needs to release the indictment; the charges are unknown. At that point, Trump must travel to Manhattan for fingerprints and other formalities.
Bragg’s office claimed it had spoken with Trump’s legal counsel to arrange a surrender. According to someone who knows the situation, it will likely happen early next week.
Trump’s attorneys, Susan Necheles and Joe Tacopina, vowed to “vigorously contest” the allegations.
One of the many legal issues that Trump faces is the Manhattan investigation. The accusations might make it harder for him to run for president again because his mug shot from his arraignment and other images from his court hearings could be used as campaign fodder by competitors.
In a recent Reuters/Ipsos survey, 44% of Republicans said he should withdraw from the race if indicted.
Republicans and Trump’s friends denounced the charge as politically motivated, while Democrats asserted that he is not above the law.
The White House chose not to respond.
Several demonstrators held Trump-critical signs outside the courthouse while remaining silent. As a result of Trump’s call for nationwide protests on March 18, which was in response to his inflammatory statements before the attack on the United States on January 6, 2021, authorities increased security surrounding the courthouse. Capitol.
SHUT UP MONEY
Stephanie Clifford is Daniels’ true name, claiming she was paid to remain silent about a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006.
Michael Cohen, the personal attorney for the former president, claimed that he arranged the payments to Daniels and another woman, former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who also claimed she had a sexual encounter with him with Trump. Trump has refuted a relationship with either lady.
Clark Brewster, Daniels’ lawyer, wrote on Twitter that “no one is above the law.”
In 2018, Cohen admitted to violating campaign financing laws and was sentenced to more than a year in jail. According to federal prosecutors, he followed Trump’s orders.
Cohen declared that he stood by his statement and the proof he gave the police. He stated in a statement that accountability is important.
No U.S. president, past or present, has ever been charged with a crime.
The real estate firm owned by the businessman-turned-politician was criminally found guilty of tax evasion last year thanks to Bragg’s office.
A special counsel from the United States chose to look into two criminal cases involving Trump, both by Georgia’s county prosecutor and one by Attorney General Merrick Garland.
Trump has repeatedly avoided legal trouble. He withstood two attempts by Congress to remove him from office, including one for the attack on the United States on January 6. Capitol by his supporters and a protracted investigation of his 2016 campaign’s interactions with Russia.
Two prosecutors who worked on the investigation resigned after They decided not to pursue Trump personally in the tax fraud case from last year, despite targeting Trump’s business.
Trump first denied in 2018 that he was aware of the payment to Daniels. He then admitted paying Cohen back for the deal, which he described as a “basic private transaction.”
The former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker and Cohen testified before the Manhattan grand jury. The “capture and kill” strategy, intended to conceal negative material about a third party, saw the tabloid publisher pay $150,000 for the rights to McDougal’s narrative about her alleged relationship with Trump.
According to a March Reuters/Ipsos poll, Trump has the support of 44% of Republicans, which is higher than the 30% support for his closest rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who has not yet declared his campaign. Re-election is likely for President Joe Biden.
