Trump Pleads ‘Not Guilty’ to 34 Charges
It has begun.
Reuters (“Trump pleads not guilty to 34 criminal charges in New York“):
Donald Trump, the former U.S. president and front-runner for the 2024 Republican nomination, pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records after an investigation into hush money paid to a porn star.
Wearing a dark blue suit and red tie, Trump, 76, exhibited little emotion on his face when he waved to a crowd assembled outside the courthouse after he was driven in a motorcade from his New York residence at Trump Tower.
Trump sat with his hands folded as he entered his plea flanked by his lawyers.
“Not guilty,” Trump said when asked how he pleaded.
He is the first sitting or former U.S. president to face criminal charges.
Taken together, the charges carry a maximum sentence of 136 years in prison under New York law but an actual prison sentence if he is convicted at a trial would almost certainly be far less than that.
While falsifying business records in New York on its own is a misdemeanor punishable by no more than one year in prison, it is elevated to a felony punishable by up to four years in prison when done to advance or conceal another crime.
Trump, who has called the charges politically motivated, held his fist in the air in a gesture to reporters as he departed Trump Tower.
YahooNews chief investigative correspondent Michael Iskikoff had an “exclusive” (“Exclusive: Trump to be charged Tuesday with 34 felony counts, but spared handcuffs and mug shot“) last evening about the negotiations ahead of the event:
Donald Trump will be placed under arrest on Tuesday and informed that he has been charged with 34 felony counts for falsification of business records, according to a source who has been briefed on the procedures for the arraignment of the former president.
A New York City police arrest report summarizing the charges against Trump will then be prepared and entered into the court system before he is led into a courtroom to be formally arraigned on the charges, none of which are misdemeanors.
But, the source said, Trump will not be put in handcuffs, placed in a jail cell or subjected to a mug shot — typical procedures even for white-collar defendants until a judge has weighed in on pretrial conditions. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office, which has been consulting with the Secret Service and New York City court officials, concluded there was no reason to subject the former president to handcuffs or a mug shot.
The stated reason for handcuffing defendants is that they might be a flight risk or a threat to the district attorney or court personnel, neither of which was judged to be relevant to the handling of a former president protected at all times by a phalanx of Secret Service agents.
As much as one might have preferred to see Trump frogmarched in handcuffs, it’s frankly absurd and prejudicial theater in a normal white collar prosecution and would make no sense whatsoever under the circumstances. Trump is literally surrounded by Federal law enforcement officers 24/7/365. He’s not going anywhere.
If you know you’re guilty and plead not guilty, is it a lie?
I know it’s not perjury.
@Kathy: The only legal significance is that it makes it harder for him to get a lighter sentence if he’s found guilty.
https://www.manhattanda.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Donald-J.-Trump-Indictment.pdf?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
.PDF of the charges
So 34 counts of falsifying business records, mostly each separate check or each separate ledger entry, arranged chronologically Feb 14, 2017 through December 5, 2017.
Considering all the stuff Trump has been linked to, this does come off somewhat like getting Al Capone due to tax evasion….
That stinks of classism. The distinction between a white collar criminal and a regular criminal is vile. The white collar criminals do a lot more damage.
Per Mr. Guthrie:
And the only way to remove the prejudice is to make it routine. Handcuff everyone heading into arraignment, former presidents included.
@Gustopher: To be clear, I think the performative bullshit is inappropriate across the board unless there’s a legitimate concern for the safety of arresting officers or bystanders. The accused are entitled to the presumption of innocence, which is undermined by seeing them cuffed and stuffed.
@grumpy realist:
Yup, but hey…a mob boss was indeed brought down by tax evasion, whatever works, works. Any port in a storm and all that. If this is the first of hopefully many ports the Feds have to pull into to methodically start to diminish the Trump empire I can live with that.
I am surprised that Trump did not pump his fist in the air and chant Attica, Attica. I also feel that Trump is in bigger trouble than most people realize and these charges are just the start of his troubles.
He didn’t neglect to apply his make-up, but his coiffure seems a bit mussed.
@grumpy realist:
Well, Trump wasn’t running liquor and controlling the rackets in Chicago. He’s just a real estate developer and a lousy one at that. Considering that this is the 2nd criminal case against filed the Trump org relating to extensive fraud, it’s a sign that much of what he put onto paper was fraudulent. People who are pretending this isn’t a big deal are basically saying that it’s okay for white collar people to go on white collar crime sprees.
Putin’s pal Viktor Orban tells Trump to “keep fighting.”
@grumpy realist:
So long as they get him, preferably behind bars, I don’t care if it is for littering.
@charon:
Correct. You might recall that I commented a few days ago that each falsified transaction is a separate offense and the punitive terms apply individually. Normally these are combined for trial and sentencing, but Bragg had the option to choose not to combine. He swung for the fences here. It dramatically increases the odds that Trump will be convicted for at least a few of them IMLO.
And under NY State law, the penalty is one to five years for each offense.
I’m not sure how you defend yourself against 34 checks, especially when your co-conspirators have already pled guilty and/or admitted to the illegal acts.
In any case this is going to take forever…Trump may not even live long enough to see the end of the trial. 76 years old and tremendously unhealthy…the stress of a couple more indictments, surely coming his way, may just do him in.
@grumpy realist: They were able to nail Capone on taxes because he couldn’t report his income, which came from criminal activities. So a bit indirect, but still flowing from his crimes.
Here’s a clip of the Cheeto entering the courtroom.
IMO, it ranks up there with the helicopter walk of shame.
@Modulo Myself: No. In this case, we’re saying that we don’t care whether the money that a candidate used to pay a hook up to hush up should be listed as a campaign expense. @grumpy realist: Which is why I’m still on the page with this being less like Capone and more like Clinton.
@James Joyner:
I think we all know how such a determination would be made. Best to not make a determination, and handcuff them all so there’s no judgement involved. Maybe don’t parade them in front of cameras.
(I would also accept Silence of the Lambs straitjacket, mask and board, on the grounds that no one can even recognize the accused at that point.)
more light reading:
https://www.manhattanda.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Donald-J.-Trump-SOF.pdf
Statement of facts – a narrative.
A report on the protests surrounding Benito’s overdue arrest.
The wingnut winner today might be the Representative from Q. She can claim to have been cancelled. Alas, there was no sighting of any Gazpacho Police.
Large fine and one year of ankle-bracelet house arrest. Stuck in the house, he will be allowed to see his golf course but not play on it. And within a month every staffer at Mar A Lago will either be fired or wish they would be.
Remember, you heard it here first…
https://www.thebulwark.com/the-case-against-trump-the-charges-and-the-facts-behind-them/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
some interpretaion, timing discussion etc:
also
@dazedandconfused:
Trump’s trial starts in January 2024. If he’s sentenced to house arrest he won’t be able to do much campaigning, will he?
@CSK:
Don’t the wingnuts insist Biden campaigned without ever leaving his basement?
Of course, who knows how many more indictments will have dropped by then.
@CSK:
Alas and alack. He could open the gates to Mar A Lago and host massive rallies though, and preach to them from the balcony. Surely the members won’t mind.
@Kathy: @dazedandconfused:
Guess who didn’t show up for Trumps’ speech/rally at MAGA-Lardo tonight? His lovely and loving wife, that’s who.
IMO, Benito has a golden chance to show how a “great” businessman he is. He could push for an earlier trial date, and negotiate with some network to air his new reality show: The Defendant.
Later he could host a new one: The Convict.
Sadly, it’s not all bad news for Trump today.
@Kathy:
And after that The Prisoner and after that The Fugitive.
@Just nutha ignint cracker: Curse this blasted Parkinson’s!!! :-X I meant only to paste from the portion of the article that began “After Avenatti…” Sorry. 🙁
@CSK:
I wouldn’t have guessed she was smart enough not to pay attention to the toddler while he throws a tantrum, but instead let him carry on until he’s more tired than cranky.
@CSK:
The only way I’d watch that one, is if the protagonist dies in a shootout.
@Kathy: Unless one agrees with the assertion of legal guilt, even if one knows one did X events, it would hardly be a lie to plead not guilty.
@dazedandconfused: These are New York charges. His ankle bracelet will be in New York.
He’ll be stuck at the top of his “tower” watching people live their lives from afar.