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Former PresidentDonald Trumphas surrendered to Manhattan authorities following ahistoric indictmenton a reported34 felony countsfor falsifying business records.
Trump, 76, entered the Manhattan Criminal Court just after 1:20 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon, which was cleared out ahead of his arrival, and was put under arrest.
Trump’s attorney had earlier indicated that the former president wouldtravel from Florida to face the charges, telling theTodayshow last week: “He’s not gonna hole up in Mar-a-Lago.”
AsThe Washington Postnotes, however, Trump’s first court appearancewon’t be broadcastacross the nation, since New York prohibits the use of cameras in most courtrooms.
The specific charges against the former president are expected to formally be made public Tuesday, so long as Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg asks the court to unseal the indictment.
Trump, who isactively campaigning for another termin the White House, is the first sitting or former president in U.S. history to face criminal charges.
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Sources have indicated that Trump’s charges stem at least in part from an alleged $130,000 hush money payment made to adult film starStormy Daniels, which was supposedly documented as “legal expenses” in the financial records of the Trump Organization.
The payment was allegedly made in the final days of the 2016 presidential election to quiet Daniels about asexual encountershe’d had with the real estate mogul years earlier.
While Trump and his longtime lawyerMichael Coheninitially denied the claims of an affair, Cohen later admitted that there was a payment made to the porn star. Calling it “a private transaction,“Cohen toldThe New York Timesthat he paid Daniels out of his own pocket and Trump had not reimbursed him.
Trump has since admitted he authorized the $130,000 payment, but has continued to deny the underlying claims that the two had an affair or that the payment was in any way connected to his campaign.
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The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office began presenting evidence to a grand jury in the case in January, with formerNational Enquirerpublisher David Pecker among the witnesses who were seen entering the grand jury building over the course of the investigation.
The company that publishes theEnquireradmitted in late 2018that it helped broker “catch and kill” deals with Daniels and other women, in which it paid the women hush money for their stories, effectively silencing them ahead of the 2016 election.
In a 2018 statement, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New York said the publisher “admitted that it made the $150,000 payment in concert with a candidate’s presidential campaign, and in order to ensure that the woman did not publicize damaging allegations about the candidate” and that “its principal purpose in making the payment was to suppress the woman’s story so as to prevent it from influencing the election.”
Daniels and Cohen alsoboth met with prosecutorsrecently, the AP reported. And on March 20, Cohen’s former legal adviser Robert Costello met with the grand jury, perCNN.
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source: people.com
