April 5, 2023 The latest on Trump’s historic indictment

Tuesday’s arraignment of former President Donald Trump was a whirlwind of historic firsts.

Now the wait begins for the long slog of the judicial system to play out, with the next scheduled actions in court months away.

Away from the courthouse, however, Trump quickly went back to attacking Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and New York Judge Juan Merchan, along with their families – raising questions about whether his rhetoric could land him in hot water legally.

Here’s what’s next in Trump’s New York criminal case: During Tuesday’s arraignment, prosecutors said they were negotiating the logistics of a “protective order” with Trump’s defense team, which would limit how Trump and his attorneys can use the documents they will be given from the grand jury proceedings during the discovery process.

Prosecutors specifically said they want to prohibit Trump from posting any discovery materials to social media or sharing them with third parties, such as journalists. They also said they plan to allow Trump to review certain sensitive materials only with his lawyers.

Trump’s attorneys will have to agree to the specifics of the agreement, but the exchanges showed the concern in the district attorney’s office about what Trump might say or post about the evidence they hand over.

“The entirety of the prosecution’s case file will soon have to be turned over to the defense,” Agnifilo said. “Prosecutors don’t want it made public because they’re focused on the proceedings and know Trump will try this in the court of public opinion way before any trial in a court. That’s where the integrity of the proceedings can get really dicey — and that’s what they’re trying to accomplish with a protective order.”

When could a trial actually start? If the case goes to trial, it’s not going to be until next year — when Trump could be in the thick of the 2024 Republican presidential primary.

Merchan set an August 8 deadline for Trump’s lawyers to file motions in the case — such as an attempt to get the charges dismissed or reduced to misdemeanors. Prosecutors will have until September 19 to respond, and then Merchan expects to rule on the motions at the December hearing.

The next hearing date for the case is December 4.

Prosecutors asked Merchan to plan on a trial beginning in January 2024, but Trump’s attorneys suggested that the spring might be more realistic, given they had not yet received any documents in the case.

Merchan seemed to side with Trump’s lawyers.

“I understand what you are saying,” Merchan said. “I think that is reasonable. You have not received discovery. It is difficult to anticipate if you will be ready for trial in January of 2024. The message I would like to deliver is we would like to move ahead as expeditiously as possible, without undue delay.”

Read more.

The former Trump World Tower doorman referenced in case documents accompanying former President Donald Trump’s unsealed indictment told CNN Wednesday he was in “complete shock” to learn of his involvement in the charges brought against Trump. 

The comments made to CNN mark Sajudin’s first statement to the media since the unsealing of Trump’s indictment Tuesday.

According to the statement of facts that accompanied the indictment, AMI – the publisher of National Inquirer – sought to silence a former Trump World Tower doorman who claimed to have knowledge about an alleged affair between Trump and an ex-housekeeper.

“AMI negotiated and signed an agreement to pay the Doorman $30,000 to acquire exclusive rights to the story,” the statement of facts read. 

AMI purchased the information from the doorman “without fully investigating his claims,” and at a later date “concluded that the story was not true,” it said. 

While “the Doorman” is not named in the documents, Sajudin told CNN in April 2018: “I can confirm that while working at Trump World Tower I was instructed not to criticize President Trump’s former housekeeper due to a prior relationship she had with President Trump which produced a child.”

His suggestion that Trump had fathered a child out of wedlock with an ex-housekeeper was not verified by CNN. 

CNN reported later in 2018 that Sajudin had been released from his contract with AMI. A copy of the signed “source agreement” obtained at the time appeared to have been signed in November 2015, and stated that AMI had exclusive rights to Sajudin’s story “regarding Donald Trump’s illegitimate child.”

Former President Donald Trump thanked the court staff and police officers involved in his arraignment in Manhattan Tuesday.

“Court attendants, Police Officers, and others were all very professional, and represented New York City sooo well. Thank you to all,” Trump said in a statement the day after his arraignment.

Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony criminal charges of falsifying business records in a historic and unprecedented court appearance Tuesday.

Prosecutors allege Trump sought to undermine the integrity of the 2016 election through a hush money scheme with payments made to women who claimed they had extramarital affairs with Trump.

Several Republican lawmakers, both allies and critics of former President Donald Trump, issued statements following the former president’s arraignment on Tuesday.

Trump pleaded not guilty in a Manhattan court to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree after hearing charges against him stemming from a hush money payment to an adult film actress in 2016.

Here’s how lawmakers are reacting:

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy accused Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg of seeking to interfere in the elections and said Congress will hold him accountable.

“Alvin Bragg is attempting to interfere in our democratic process by invoking federal law to bring politicized charges against President Trump, admittedly using federal funds, while at the same time arguing that the peoples’ representatives in Congress lack jurisdiction to investigate this farce. Not so. Bragg’s weaponization of the federal justice process will be held accountable by Congress,” McCarthy tweeted.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has not spoken out.

GOP Sen. Mitt Romney, a sharp Trump critic, criticized what he called Bragg’s overreach, saying it sets a “dangerous precedent.”

“I believe President Trump’s character and conduct make him unfit for office,” Romney said in a statement. “Even so, I believe the New York prosecutor has stretched to reach felony criminal charges in order to fit a political agenda. No one is above the law, not even former presidents, but everyone is entitled to equal treatment under the law. The prosecutor’s overreach sets a dangerous precedent for criminalizing political opponents and damages the public’s faith in our justice system.”

House GOP Chair Elise Stefanik, a key Trump ally, called Trump’s arrest “shameful,” adding that it would help him in his bid for the White House.

“President Trump continues to skyrocket in the polls, and just like with the Russia hoax and both sham impeachments, President Trump will defeat the latest witch-hunt, defeat Joe Biden, and will be sworn in as President of the United States in January 2025,” she said in a statement.

House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan tweeted Tuesday, “equal justice under the law, unless you’re a Republican running for president,” after Trump was arraigned. 

When asked on Fox News on Wednesday if he will subpoena Bragg, Jordan said that some lawmakers do want to talk to the district attorney. “He’s asked what questions we have,” Jordan said, referring to the correspondence he has had with Bragg’s office so far. “So I think he’s almost conceding the point that we should be able to talk to him. Everything is on the table. We are going to figure out how we proceed next. But we do want some answers to some key questions.”

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise retweeted Jordan’s post.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said that he will have a call with McCarthy and Jordan “this week” to discuss how to move forward with their investigation Bragg.

“And we are going to try to figure out a path moving forward. This is very serious,” Comer told Fox and Friends on Wednesday, “We are not going to stop on this. Nothing changed. We believe he has overstepped.”

Trump ally Sen. Marsha Blackburn accused Bragg of being politically motivated in his investigation in a number of tweets. In one post, Blackburn called Bragg a “radical left-wing activist abusing his power in an attempt to help Biden remain in office.”

GOP Sen. JD Vance tweeted that “Bragg’s entire career is about normalizing violent crime. Just crazy that he’s bringing this weak case in the middle of a presidential election.” The Ohio senator, who was once a Trump critic, has embraced Trump and already endorsed him in the 2024 presidential race. 

GOP Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, who is weighing a 2024 presidential run, slammed Bragg ahead of the indictment, saying that he “doesn’t prosecute criminals, yet weaponizes the law against his political enemies.”

GOP Rep. Nancy Mace, whose primary opponent former President Trump endorsed last cycle, tweeted that his indictment is “bs” and “clearly political prosecution.”

Senate Minority Whip John Thune aligned himself with other GOP lawmakers who call Bragg’s case politically motivated. “This indictment looks like a political agenda run amok, and it’s becoming increasingly clear why previous district attorneys opted against prosecution,” Thune said in a statement.

Former President Donald Trump is involved in four different criminal investigations by three different levels of government – the Manhattan district attorney, the Fulton County, Georgia, district attorney, and the Department of Justice.

Despite being indicted in the New York case, he can still absolutely run for president.

“Nothing stops Trump from running while indicted, or even convicted,” the University of California, Los Angeles law professor Richard Hasen told CNN in an email.

The Constitution requires only three things of candidates. They must be:

As a political matter, it’s maybe more difficult for an indicted candidate, who could become a convicted criminal, to win votes. Trials don’t let candidates put their best foot forward. But it is not forbidden for them to run or be elected.

There are a few asterisks both in the Constitution and the 14th and 22nd Amendments, none of which currently apply to Trump.

Term limits: The 22nd Amendment forbids anyone who has twice been president (meaning twice been elected or served half of someone else’s term and then won his or her own) from running again. That doesn’t apply to Trump since he lost the 2020 election.

Impeachment: If a person is impeached by the House and convicted by the Senate of high crimes and misdemeanors, he or she is removed from office and disqualified from serving again. Trump, although twice impeached by the House during his presidency, was also twice acquitted by the Senate.

Disqualification: The 14th Amendment includes a “disqualification clause,” written specifically with an eye toward former Confederate soldiers.

It reads:

No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.

The indictment in New York City with regard to the hush-money payment to an adult-film star has nothing to do with rebellion or insurrection. Nor do potential federal charges with regard to classified documents.

Potential charges in Fulton County, Georgia, with regard to 2020 election meddling or at the federal level with regard to the January 6, 2021, insurrection could perhaps be construed by some as a form of insurrection. But that is an open question that would have to work its way through the courts. The 2024 election is fast approaching.

Notably, if he was convicted of a felony in New York, Trump would be barred from voting in his adoptive home state of Florida, at least until he had served out a potential sentence.

Several top House and Senate Democrats are staying away from commenting on the merits of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case against Donald Trump, underscoring the belief among party leaders that it makes more political sense to steer clear from the high-profile proceeding.

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the top House Democrat, has not issued a statement after the indictment. And when asked by a local reporter in New York yesterday, Jeffries had a muted response, saying that they should “follow the facts” and see “what the legal process yields.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer issued a statement yesterday afternoon before the indictment was unsealed, saying that he believes Trump will have a “fair trial” and that there should be no “outside influence or intimidation” of the legal process. He hasn’t commented since the charges were unveiled.

Some Democrats believe it doesn’t benefit them to align themselves with the case, given the questions many legal experts have raised about its merits, aides say, plus adding their voice in defending Bragg could only give Republicans ammunition to contend the case is political. 

While many Democrats have been silent, some rank-and-file Democrats have issued statements praising Bragg and criticizing Trump.

Rep. Jerry Nadler, the top Democrat on House Judiciary, praised the indictment as “well-reasoned” and criticized Republicans for trying to “obstruct” the probe by seeking Bragg’s testimony.

While he was warned by Judge Juan Merchan during Tuesday’s arraignment not to make comments that could “jeopardize the rule of law” or create civil unrest, former President Donald Trump railed later that evening against Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and the judge himself.

The indictment returned last week by a grand jury against Trump was unsealed Tuesday and provided the public – and Trump’s legal team – with the first details about the specific charges he will face.

While there had been some discussion about Trump speaking to the media while in the courthouse Tuesday, he did not do so. Instead, Trump responded at his event at Mar-a-Lago that night, making his first on-camera remarks while surrounded by supporters.

Trump has consistently denied all wrongdoing and condemned the indictment as political persecution.

Some of Trump’s comments came to the fore during the arraignment when prosecutors handed the judge a packet of Trump’s social media postings and informed the court that Trump was making threats with “irresponsible” social media posts, specifically citing Trump’s sharing of an article that showed a photo of Trump with a baseball bat.

Trump’s attorneys responded that Trump has First Amendment rights and said that he was expressing his frustration with alleged illegal leaks about the indictment from the district attorney’s office. Trump’s lawyers also claimed that Trump’s social media posts were not threatening.

Judge Merchan acknowledged Trump’s right to free speech, but warned both sides about making comments with the potential to “incite violence, create civil unrest or jeopardize the safety or well-being of any individuals.”

Neither side made a request for a gag order.

Despite the judge’s comments, Trump in his speech Tuesday evening claimed he had a “Trump-hating judge” in the New York case. Trump also attacked Bragg and the indictment – as well as the other prosecutors investigating him, President Joe Biden and additional political opponents.

“This fake case was brought only to interfere with the upcoming 2024 election. And it should be dropped immediately,” Trump said.

Bragg’s indictment marks the first criminal charges against Trump, but it’s not the only potential legal trouble in front of the former president: Special counsel Jack Smith is still moving forward with an investigation into Trump’s role in the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and the handling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. And a Fulton County special grand jury has completed its investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia.

Alvin Bragg, a former New York state and federal prosecutor, drew national attention when he made history as the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office first Black district attorney. Now, he is back in the spotlight after a grand jury voted to indict Donald Trump after a yearslong investigation into the former president’s alleged role in a hush money scheme.

In Bragg’s first comments following Trump’s Tuesday arraignment, he called the charges the “bread and butter” of his office’s work.

“At its core, this case today is one with allegations like so many of our white collar cases,” he said.

Here’s what you need to know about the official:

The Harvard-educated attorney previously served as an assistant US attorney in the Southern District of New York, worked as a civil rights lawyer and as a professor and co-director of the New York Law School Racial Justice Project, where he represented family members of Eric Garner, who died in 2014 after being placed in an unauthorized chokehold by a then-police officer, in a lawsuit against the City of New York seeking information.

Bragg has aggressively pursued Trump and other progressive priorities so far in his tenure, including not prosecuting some low-level crimes and finding alternatives to incarceration.

Before Bragg’s swearing-in last year, he had already worked on cases related to Trump and other notable names in his role as a New York state chief deputy attorney general.

He said he had helped sue the Trump administration more than 100 times, as well as led a team that sued the Donald J. Trump Foundation, which resulted in the former president paying $2 million to a number of charities and the foundation’s dissolution.

Bragg also led the suit against disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein and his company, which alleged a hostile work environment.

Bragg emerged the winner in a crowded Democratic primary in the summer of 2021 to lead the coveted Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, for which Vance had announced earlier that year he would not seek reelection. While campaigning, he often spoke about his experience growing up in Harlem, saying he was once a 15-year-old stopped “numerous times at gunpoint by police.”

“In addition to being the first Black district attorney, I think I’ll probably be the first district attorney who’s had police point a gun at him,” he said during a victory speech, following his historic election to the office. “I think I’ll be the first district attorney who’s had a homicide victim on his doorstop. I think I’ll be the first district attorney in Manhattan who’s had a semi-automatic weapon pointed at him. I think I’ll be the first district attorney in Manhattan who’s had a loved one reenter from incarceration and stay with him. And I’m going to govern from that perspective.”

Bragg ran as a reformer, releasing a memo just days after taking office detailing new charging, bail, plea and sentencing policies – a plan that drew criticism from police union leaders. He said his office would not prosecute marijuana misdemeanors, fare evading and prostitution, among other crimes.

In the historic criminal indictment against former President Donald Trump, Manhattan prosecutors are accusing Trump of falsifying business records with the intent to conceal illegal conduct connected to his 2016 presidential campaign. Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges on Tuesday. Here’s a breakdown of the charges and evidence:

Prosecutors point to Trump’s “unlawful” election influence scheme as backing for felony charges

District Attorney Alvin Bragg during a news conference after Trump’s arraignment said the business records were falsified in 2017 with the intent of concealing criminal conduct connected to the 2016 campaign. He referenced a New York state law that makes it a crime to conspire to promote a candidacy by unlawful means.

Bragg is not charging Trump with a violation of election law or a conspiracy related to that alleged campaign-related conduct. The indictment says for all 34 counts that Trump had the “intent to defraud and intent to commit another crime and aid and conceal the commission thereof.”

Trump and Cohen worked out repayment deal in the Oval Office, prosecutors say

In describing the alleged election influence scheme, the charging documents go into detail about how the plan to silence women accusing Trump of extramarital affairs allegedly came about.

According to the charging documents, Cohen negotiated a hush-money payment with Daniels to “secure” her “silence and prevent disclosure of the damaging information in the final weeks before the presidential election.” Trump allegedly hid the reimbursement payments to Cohen by marking monthly checks for “legal services,” according to the statement of facts, in a deal the two worked out in the Oval Office.

Some payments central to Trump’s charges came directly from his bank account

Prosecutors say checks were cut monthly – including some coming directly from Trump’s bank account – to Cohen. They allege these were disguised as attorney payments when they were not.

The way that the payments were falsely memorialized in the company’s records, according to prosecutors, is the backbone of the crime that Trump is actually being charged with.

Participants in the alleged scheme knew payoffs were unlawful, prosecutors say

According to the legal theory Bragg is pushing, what makes the falsified business records a felony is an underlying federal campaign finance crime that Trump is accused of trying to conceal. The district attorney also claims that state election law was violated with the scheme.

The statement of facts points to court filings in the federal investigation into the hush-money payments to assert that the participants in the alleged illegal scheme, including Cohen, have admitted the payoffs to the two women were unlawful.

Read the full story here.

Former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony criminal charges of falsifying business records in Manhattan criminal court Tuesday afternoon.

Trump surrendered and was placed under arrest Tuesday before he was arraigned in a historic and unprecedented court appearance, in which the former president heard the charges against him for the first time. While the arraignment was routine, the case is now poised to linger over Trump’s 2024 candidacy as he fights the charges both in court and in public.

What prosecutors are alleging: Prosecutors alleged that Trump sought to undermine the integrity of the 2016 election through a hush money scheme with payments made to women who claimed they had extramarital affairs with Trump. He has denied the affairs.

Trump was part of an unlawful plan to suppress negative information, including an illegal payment of $130,000 that was ordered by the defendant to suppress the negative information that would hurt his campaign, prosecutors alleged.

Trump “repeatedly and fraudulently falsified New York business records to conceal criminal conduct that hid damaging information from the voting public during the 2016 presidential election,” according to the charging documents.

Trump’s Tuesday night speech: After the arraignment, Trump immediately flew back to Florida. He held an event with his supporters Tuesday evening at his Mar-a-Lago resort, where Trump made his public case against the indictment and previewed how he intends to fight against the charges politically as he runs again for the White House in 2024.

While he was warned by Judge Juan Merchan during Tuesday’s arraignment not to make comments that could “jeopardize the rule of law” or create civil unrest, Trump railed later that evening against Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and the judge himself.

“I never thought anything like this could happen in America, never thought it could happen. The only crime that I have committed is to fearlessly defend our nation from those who seek to destroy it,” Trump said.

“It’s an insult to our country,” he added.

The next dates to watch for: Trump’s team has until August 8 to file any motions and the prosecution will respond by September 19. Judge Juan Merchan said he will rule on the motions at the next in-person hearing, scheduled for December 4.

The Kremlin dodged a question on Wednesday regarding former President Donald Trump’s indictment, saying Moscow considers it inappropriate to interfere in the internal matters of Washington.

“We do not consider ourselves entitled to interfere in the internal affairs of the United States and we believe that the United States has no right to interfere in our affairs. So we would not like to comment on this,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call when asked about Trump’s case.

Apart from Donald Trump’s indictment by a Manhattan grand jury over his alleged role in a scheme to silence an adult film star, here is a list of notable ongoing investigations, lawsuits and controversies hanging over the former president.

Mar-a-Lago documents: Did Trump mishandle classified material?

Special counsel Jack Smith is overseeing the Justice Department’s criminal investigations into the retention of national defense information at Trump’s resort and into parts of the January 6, 2021, insurrection. The DOJ investigation continues into whether documents from the Trump White House were illegally mishandled when they were taken to Mar-a-Lago in Florida after he left office.

2020 election and January 6: US Justice Department

Smith’s purview also includes the period after Trump’s 2020 election loss to Joe Biden and leading up to the insurrection at the US Capitol.

Aspects of the Justice Department’s probe include the use of so-called fake electors from states that Trump falsely claimed he had won, such as Georgia and Arizona. Trump has been fighting to keep former advisers from testifying about certain conversations, citing executive and attorney-client privileges to keep information confidential or slow down criminal investigators.

2020 election: Efforts to overturn Georgia results

Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis oversaw a special grand jury investigating what Trump or his allies may have done in their efforts to overturn Biden’s victory in Georgia. She is considering bringing conspiracy and racketeering charges, CNN’s Don Lemon reported.

2020 election and January 6: House select committee

Before concluding at the end of 2022, the House select committee referred Trump to the Justice Department on at least four criminal charges. It investigated the US Capitol attack and uncovered dramatic evidence of Trump’s actions before and on January 6, especially efforts to use the levers of government to overturn the election. It also issued an 845-page report.

Trump Organization: Convicted of criminal tax fraud

The Trump Organization was convicted in December by a New York jury of tax fraud, grand larceny and falsifying business records in what prosecutors allege was a 15-year scheme to defraud tax authorities by failing to report and pay taxes on compensation provided to employees. Former Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg pleaded guilty to his role in the tax scheme and was sentenced to five months at Rikers Island. He will be released this summer.

Trump Organization: NY attorney general investigation

New York Attorney General Letitia James, after a lengthy investigation, sued Trump, three of his adult children and the Trump Organization in September, alleging they were involved in an expansive fraud lasting over a decade that the former president used to enrich himself. James is seeking $250 million in allegedly ill-gotten funds. Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and has called the investigation politically motivated based on the electoral ambitions of James, a Democrat. A trial is set for October 2023.

E. Jean Carroll: Defamation suit over Trump’s denial of rape claims

Former magazine writer E. Jean Carroll alleged Trump raped her in a New York department store dressing room in the mid-1990s and defamed her when he denied the rape, said she was not his “type” and alleged she had made the claim to boost sales of her book. Trump denies all claims brought against him by Carroll.

January 6: Lawsuits by police officers

Several members of the US Capitol Police and Washington, DC, Metropolitan Police are suing Trump, saying his words and actions incited the 2021 riot. The various cases accuse Trump of directing assault and battery; aiding and abetting assault and battery; and violating Washington laws that prohibit incitement of riots and disorderly conduct.

Personal retaliation: Peter Strzok lawsuit

Former top FBI counterintelligence official Peter Strzok, who was fired by the FBI in 2018 after the revelation of anti-Trump texts he had exchanged with a top lawyer at the bureau, Lisa Page, has sued the Justice Department alleging he was terminated improperly.

Strzok and Page were constant targets of verbal attacks by Trump and his allies as part of the larger ire Trump expressed toward the FBI during the Trump-Russia investigation. Trump repeatedly and publicly called for Strzok’s ouster until he was fired in August 2018. A federal judge ruled last month that Trump and FBI Director Christopher Wray can be deposed for two hours each as part of the lawsuit.

Trump-filed lawsuits: Bob Woodward

Trump sued journalist Bob Woodward in January 2023 for alleged copyright violations, claiming Woodward had released audio from their interviews without Trump’s consent. Woodward and publisher Simon & Schuster said Trump’s case is without merit.

Trump-filed lawsuits: The New York Times, Mary Trump and CNN

The former president in 2021 sued his niece and The New York Times in New York state court over the disclosure of his tax information.

Trump’s lawsuit – which is seeking “damages in an amount to be determined at trial, but believed to be no less than One Hundred Million Dollars” – alleges that Mary Trump’s disclosure of the tax information to the Times amounted to an illegal breach of contract, among other claims, because the disclosure allegedly violated the 2001 settlement agreement among the Trump family. The Times is fighting the lawsuit.

Donald Trump also sued CNN in a southern Florida federal court last fall, accusing the network of a “campaign of dissuasion in the form of libel and slander” that “escalated in recent months.” CNN has asked the judge for the case to be “dismissed with prejudice.”

Former President Donald Trump condemned the criminal charges he faced in New York Tuesday night, saying to a crowd of supporters that “the only crime that I have committed is to fearlessly defend our nation from those who seek to destroy it.” 

Trump flew back to his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida following his arraignment in Manhattan.

Trump went on to group the indictment — stemming from a hush money payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign — with various other legal and political threats he’s faced, dismissing them all. 

He repeated his claim that the prosecution is meant to derail his candidacy.

“This fake case was brought only to interfere with the upcoming 2024 election. And it should be dropped immediately,” he said.

Throughout his remarks, Trump was dismissive of the case presented by prosecutors.

“As it turns out, virtually everybody that has looked at this case including RINOs and even hardcore Democrats say there is no crime, and that it should never have been brought. Never have been brought. Never brought it,” he said. 

Trump also went to attack the other legal threats still percolating, including an investigation in Georgia into election interference, a DOJ investigation into his handling of classified documents post-presidency and an investigation by the New York attorney general into the Trump Organization. 

Trump said, of the case being led by Atlanta District Attorney Fani Willis, that she is “doing everything in her power to indict me over an absolutely perfect phone call, even more perfect than the one I made with the president of Ukraine.”

On the Justice Department investigation, overseen by Special Counsel Jack Smith, Trump said: “This lunatic special prosecutor named Jack Smith – I wonder what it was prior to a change – who others of his ilk say, he’s even worse than they are, is only looking at Trump.”

Trump also criticized a lack of focus on President Joe Biden’s classified documents.

Finally, Trump went on to condemn New York Attorney General Letitia James’ investigation into the Trump Organization saying she, “campaigned on ‘I will get Trump.’ I will get him. This was her campaign. Never ran for office. I will get him. Her name is Letitia James,” he said. 

Toward the end of his remarks, Trump returned to criticizing Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and the charges leveled against him Tuesday in New York.

“He knew there was no case. That’s why last week he delayed for a month and then immediately took that back and threw this ridiculous indictment together,” the former president said.

He also directed sharp attacks at Judge Juan Merchan, who is overseeing the hush money case, saying, “I have a Trump-hating judge.” 

Donald Trump had a substantial victory in another court, Tuesday, 3,000 miles away from his New York legal drama. 

The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Trump in his effort to recoup additional legal fees from adult film star Stormy Daniels, who had filed and lost a defamation suit against the former president. 

Daniels was ordered to pay Trump’s attorneys just over $120,000 in legal fees. That’s on top of the over $500,000 in court-ordered payments to Trump attorneys she’s already been ordered to pay. 

The civil litigation is officially unrelated to Trump’s arrest and charges filed against him in New York — but both involved Daniels, who was paid $130,000 in hush money during the 2016 presidential campaign to keep quiet about an affair. Trump denies the affair.

Daniels sued Trump in 2018 after Trump called an allegation by Daniels that an unknown man threatened her in a parking lot to keep quiet about her alleged affair with Trump a “total con job” in a tweet. 

Dismissing the lawsuit in October 2018, federal Judge S. James Otero said Trump’s statement was protected by the First Amendment. 

“The Court agrees with Mr. Trump’s argument because the tweet in question constitutes ‘rhetorical hyperbole’ normally associated with politics and public discourse in the United States. The First Amendment protects this type of rhetorical statement,” Otero wrote at the time. 

Otero later ordered Daniels to pay roughly $293,000 in legal fees. Daniels was also ordered to pay another $245,000 in fees after losing another appeal. 

Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, had asked the appeals court to knock down another award. The court declined her request. 

“Clifford’s argument that the fee request is unreasonable and excessive is not well-founded,” the 9th Circuit filing states. 

“Trump’s attorneys reasonably spent the requested 183.35 hours preparing a motion to dismiss, a reply to the opposition to the motion, two extension motions, the answering brief, and the fee application,” it added. 

Trump’s attorney Harmeet Dhillon celebrated the ruling in a tweet Tuesday.

“Congratulations to President Trump on this final attorney fee victory in his favor this morning. Collectively, our firm obtained over $600,000 in attorney fee awards in his favor in the meritless litigation initiated by Stormy Daniels,” Dhillon wrote.

The historic indictment against former President Donald Trump was unsealed Tuesday and is now public. 

Prosecutors alleged Trump was part of an unlawful plan to suppress negative information, including an illegal payment of $130,000 that was ordered by the defendant to suppress the negative information that would hurt his campaign. 

The criminal charges stem from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s investigation into hush-money payments, made during the 2016 presidential campaign, to women who claimed they had extramarital affairs with Trump, which he denies. 

Trump denies all wrongdoing and his lawyers have said they’ll fight to get the charges dropped.  

Read the full indictment here:

Former President Donald Trump made a speech at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Tuesday night after he was arraigned in Manhattan on felony charges of falsifying business records — and delivered a barrage of false claims that have been previously debunked. 

Trump pleaded not guilty to all the charges Tuesday.

The former president was repeatedly inaccurate when he pivoted to the subject of the federal investigation into his handling of official governments. He also repeated some of his favorite falsehoods on a variety of other subjects. 

Here is a fact check of some of Trump’s claims:

George Soros and the district attorney: As he has on social media in the last month, Trump invoked liberal billionaire donor George Soros while criticizing District Attorney Alvin Bragg in his speech on Tuesday night — claiming that Bragg is a “radical left, George Soros-backed prosecutor.” 

Facts First: This needs context. Soros did not make any donations to Bragg’s 2021 election campaign, and a Soros spokesperson, Michael Vachon, told CNN that the two men have never once communicated in any way; there is no evidence that Soros had any role in Bragg’s decision to prosecute Trump. However, Soros, a longtime supporter of Democratic district attorney candidates who favor criminal justice reform, did support Bragg’s election campaign indirectly: he was a major donor to a liberal political action committee, Color of Change PAC, that says it spent just over $500,000 on an independent expenditure effort in support of Bragg’s candidacy.  

Vachon told CNN: “Between 2016 and 2022, George Soros personally and Democracy PAC (a PAC to which Mr. Soros has contributed funds) have together contributed roughly $4 million to Color of Change’s PAC, including $1 million in May 2021. None of those funds were earmarked for Alvin Bragg’s campaign. George Soros and Alvin Bragg have never meet in person or spoken by telephone, email, Zoom etc. There has been no contact between the two.” 

Former presidents’ handling of documents after leaving the White House: Defending his handling of government documents, which is the subject of an ongoing federal investigation, Trump repeated his false claim that that several other former presidents took documents with them upon leaving the White House. 

Trump claimed in his Tuesday speech that “openly taking boxes of documents and mostly clothing and other things to my home” is something “which President Obama has done.” He continued, “The Bushes have done. Jimmy Carter’s done. Ronald Reagan is done. Everybody’s done.”

Facts First: This is false, as the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) itself pointed out in a statement last year; there is no evidence that previous presidents did anything like what Trump did after the Presidential Records Act took effect in 1981 (beginning with the Reagan administration). In reality, NARA was granted custody of the presidential records of former Presidents Ronald Reagan, Barack Obama and both George Bushes as soon as these presidents left office, as required by the Presidential Records Act, and it was NARA, not those presidents, that moved those documents to temporary archival facilities — facilities managed by NARA. 

NARA said in an October statement that it gained physical and legal custody of Obama, Reagan, H.W. Bush and W. Bush’s records, as well of those of President Bill Clinton, “when those presidents left office.” It said of the temporary facilities to which the documents were moved: “All such temporary facilities met strict archival and security standards, and have been managed and staffed exclusively by NARA employees. Reports that indicate or imply that those Presidential records were in the possession of the former Presidents or their representatives, after they left office, or that the records were housed in substandard conditions, are false and misleading.” 

Inflation: Trump claimed that the United States has “an economy that has been crippled by the biggest inflation we have seen in more than 60 years.” 

Facts First: Trump’s “60 years” claim is an exaggeration, though the inflation rate does remain high by historical standards.  

Last June, the year-over-year inflation rate hit its highest level since late 1981, 9.1%. But about 41 years does not round to “60 years,” much less “more than 60 years”. The actual highest year-over-year inflation rate for the last 60 years is 14.8% (in early 1980), far higher than mid-2022 levels. More importantly, year-over-year inflation has now declined for eight straight months, hitting 6% in February 2023 — not even close to the 60-year high. 

This Trump claim is an example of how the former president tends to increase his exaggerated figures over time. At a campaign rally in Texas in late March, he claimed — also incorrectly — that the country had the highest inflation in “50 years.” 

Read more here.

Following former President Donald Trump’s arraignment, prosecutors said they expect to produce the bulk of the discovery in the next 65 days. Trump’s team has until August 8 to file any motions and the prosecution will respond by September 19. Judge Juan Merchan said he will rule on the motions at the next in-person hearing, scheduled for December 4.

Trump attorney Jim Trusty said Tuesday he expects “robust” motions to challenge the case and hopes they can succeed in stopping the case. 

If not, Trusty said he expects Trump’s attorneys will “figure out if there’s a way to try to push this earlier” than the December 4 hearing.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office has been investigating former president Donald Trump in connection with his alleged role in a hush money payment scheme and cover-up involving adult film star Stormy Daniels that dates to the 2016 presidential election.

The indictment by a New York grand jury was unsealed Tuesday, providing the public and Trump’s legal team with details about the charges against him for the first time. Trump on Tuesday pleaded not guilty to 34 felony criminal charges.

Here’s what we know about Trump’s indictment so far:

What’s in the indictment? The investigation by the Manhattan district attorney’s office began when Trump was still in the White House and relates to a $130,000 payment made by Trump’s then-personal attorney Michael Cohen to Daniels in late October 2016, days before the presidential election, to silence her from going public about an alleged affair with Trump a decade earlier. Trump has denied the affair.

Prosecutors on Tuesday alleged Trump was a part of an illegal conspiracy to undermine the integrity of the 2016 election. They allege he was part of an unlawful plan to suppress negative information, including the $130,000 payment.

The reason he committed the crime of falsifying business records was in part to “promote his candidacy,” prosecutors alleged. Trump is not charged with criminal conspiracy.

Each criminal charge Trump is facing relates to a specific entry among the business records of the Trump Organization, according to the indictment. Prosecutors accuse Trump of repeatedly causing false entries in the business records.

Trump’s response: Trump was caught off guard by the grand jury’s decision to indict him, according to a person who spoke directly with him. While the former president was bracing for an indictment, he began to believe news reports that a potential indictment was weeks – or more – away. The former president has repeatedly denied wrongdoing in the matter and continued his attacks on Bragg and other Democrats following news of the indictment.

Next appearance: The next in-person hearing date for Trump’s case in New York is set for December 4 as of now.

Read more here.