Former US President Donald Trump Denies All 34 Charges Against Him in Historic Court Hearing

The former American president denies criminal guilt for all 34 charges against him.

On Tuesday, Donald Trump met in a historic court hearing in Manhattan, New York. For the first time, a former US president has been charged and arrested in a criminal case.

Neither the alleged relationship nor the so-called “hush money” of the former porn actor Stormy Daniels are in themselves illegal.

The crux of the matter is how the payments were recorded.

• The payment regarding Daniels took place via Donald Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen, which the former president himself has admitted.
• Cohen has acknowledged that he paid Daniels – and he claims Trump later repaid the amount.
• The repayments must have been made in bills marked as “legal expenses”, which the prosecution believes is demonstrably wrong and illegal.

This, and other payments related to “hush money”, is largely what the 34 counts of business fraud and falsification of accounts are about.

In addition, prosecutors believe that Trump led a pressure campaign against Cohen to prevent him from cooperating with the justice system.

First and foremost, this court case is about the 2016 election.

The fact that Trump is charged with 34 counts means does not that he is charged with 34 different offences.

Each count represents separate instances of alleged offenses, but not necessarily different crimes.

In other words: Trump is accused of breaking the law 34 times.

– As far as I can judge, Trump is in serious legal trouble, but it is far from certain that he will be convicted in this case.

This is what US expert and Civita advisor Eirik Løkke tells VG.

– The central point is the purpose of these money transfers, which was to prevent the story with Stormy Daniels and other women from being published during the 2016 election, he explains.

Løkke believes the big question is whether the prosecution manages to prove that this was precisely the purpose.

This is what we know so far

Prosecutors accuse Trump of repeatedly defrauding and falsifying business records in New York to cover up criminal conduct that withheld damaging information from voters in the 2016 presidential election.

– From August 2015 to December 2017, the defendant initiated a scheme with others to influence the presidential election in 2016, the court documents state.

They write that the purpose was to identify and buy up negative information about Trump to prevent it from becoming public knowledge.

This, according to the indictment, was to increase Trump’s chances of being elected president.

They also accuse the former president of repaying the $130,000 Stormy Daniels received from Michael Cohen through a series of monthly payments.

First from some kind of fund that held all the assets of the Trump Organization, which was created after he was elected president, and then from his own bank account.

The indictment contradicts Trump’s claims that his payments to Cohen were for legal assistance.

Prosecutors write that the payments were disguised as payments for legal assistance – which they believe were falsifications of business documents to hide his and others’ “criminal conduct”.

During a press conference after the court hearing, Attorney General Bragg says that the money that has changed hands was misrepresented to the tax authorities.

– True and accurate business documents are important everywhere, but especially in Manhattan as the world’s financial center, says the attorney general, according to The New York Times.

Trump lawyer: – Not a good day

One of Donald Trump’s lawyers, Todd Blanche, commented on the case when the court session was over. CNN quotes him as follows:

– This is not a good day. You don’t expect this to happen to someone who has been president of the United States, he said outside the courtroom in Manhattan.

Blanche said his client is “frustrated” and “upset.”

– We will fight hard against the charges, he said.

Republican Mitt Romney writes in a statement that he believes President Trump’s character and behavior make him unfit to be president.

– Nevertheless, I believe that New York’s prosecution has reached out for these charges to fit a political agenda, says Romney.

«Catch and Kill»

Prosecutors believe President Trump and others agreed to identify and suppress negative stories about him.

– The “catch and kill” method to drown out negative information, they call it.

That is, the plan was to identify harmful information and then prevent it from becoming public.

– Two people who were parties to this agreement have admitted to committing criminal acts in connection with this agreement, the documents state.

It also says that a media mogul has admitted to making a payment to a source to ensure that damaging stories did not come out before the presidential election.

The story was from a doorman at Trump Tower, who claimed to know of a child Trump allegedly had out of wedlock.

That story paid the media mogul $30,000 for exclusive rights to it, according to court documents.

When the media mogul later concluded that the story was not true, he wanted to cancel the agreement with the doorman.

The documents state that Trump’s lawyer advised the mogul to wait until after the presidential election.

Should have agreed at the Oval Office

Furthermore, in the court documents, they refer to episodes where it is discussed who and how money should be paid and repaid to cover up information that could damage Trump’s election campaign.

In the end, they arrived at the tidy sum of 420,000 dollars that Trump owed in “hush money”.

This was to be repaid in 12 monthly installments in bills sent to Trump through employees of the Trump Organization. The bills were released to be for legal aid, but prosecutors believe that was demonstrably false.

This agreement was finalized in President Trump’s Oval Office, the documents state.

The public prosecutor believes these payments are illegal.

Read more about Stormy Daniels on VG+: This is the woman who can bring down Trump

– Everyone is equal before the law

Attorney General Alvin Bragg is leading the investigation against the former president.

In a statement shortly after the court hearing, he says the following:

– We cannot allow companies in New York to manipulate their documents to cover up crime. All are equal before the law.

During a press conference at 10.30pm on Tuesday, Bragg comments on the matter further.

– As this office has done time and time again, today we maintain our responsibility to ensure that everyone is equal under the law. No amount of money or power changes this, emphasizes Bragg.

The charges against Trump carry a maximum penalty of four years. Nevertheless, it is unlikely that Trump will be imprisoned, writes Washington Post.

The charge does not entail mandatory prison time, regardless of whether Trump is convicted on all counts, writes the newspaper.

The next hearing date is set for New York on December 4.