Donald Trump left the New York courthouse after his historic appearance in an alleged embezzlement case related to paying money to a porn actress in 2016.
The former US president left the building after spending two hours in a Manhattan courtroom, where he pleaded “not guilty” in the first criminal indictment against a former US president that could have consequences for his bid to return to the White House.
The judge of Colombian origin Juan Merchán accused him of 34 counts related to falsifying business records in payment of $130,000 to the porn star Stormy Daniels in the final stretch of the 2016 electoral campaign to silence an alleged extramarital relationship that occurred ten years earlier and that he has always denied.
The 76-year-old tycoon will have to stand trialwhich he will try to avoid by all means, with unforeseeable consequences for his run for the presidency in the 2024 elections.
Trump pleads not guilty after becoming the first former US president to be criminally charged
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His then lawyer Michael Cohen He was in charge of making the payment and the tycoon reimbursed him for the fractional sum, allegedly passing it off as professional fees.
Sitting among his lawyers, Trump looked grim and concerned, according to a photo taken inside the courtroom, after undergoing the usual protocol: taking fingerprints and photos for the police file.
Both the former president and his lawyers have insisted on “the nonsense of the cause.” Trump does not stop shouting that he is a “Witch hunt”.
Trump himself said Tuesday afternoon that “The hearing was shocking to many because there were no surprises and therefore no cases.”
“Virtually all the legal experts said there is no case here, nothing was done illegally.”he added, in a message on his Truth Social network.
Daniels also reacted: “Keep calling me ‘cum dumpster’ as if it were a bad thing; It’s definitely more fun to be under my sexy man than under arrest,” he wrote on Twitter.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Republican Kevin McCarthy accused the prosecutor of “interfering” in next year’s presidential election.
“Bragg is attempting to interfere with our democratic process by invoking federal law and bringing politicized charges against President Trump, of course using federal funds, while at the same time arguing that representatives of the people in Congress lack jurisdiction to investigate this farce.” McCarthy said on Twitter.
“This is not a priority for Biden”
The former president’s historic court appearance “is not a priority” for his successor Joe Biden, the White House spokeswoman said Tuesday.
“Obviously he will follow some of the news when he has a moment to catch up on the news, but this is not a priority for him.”spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said.
The 45th president in the history of the United States, who arrived in New York from Florida, was escorted from the Trump Tower -the skyscraper he owned located on Fifth Avenue in the Big Apple- to the courthouse by the Secret Service.
As he got out of the vehicle that took him from his residence, Trump raised his fist with a serious face in greeting to his supporters, before disappearing into the court.
New York police are bracing for protests from Trump supporters who share the former president’s belief that his prosecution and three additional pending investigations are aimed at thwarting his return to the White House in 2014.
trump, what He has already launched his presidential candidacyclaims he raised $8 million for his campaign in less than a week since his prosecution, which he calls a “witch hunt.”
The former president has attacked the Manhattan district attorney in charge of the case, the Democrat Alvin Bragg, inciting his supporters to protest and affirming that the judge in the case, Juan Merchán, “hates” him, something that his own lawyer later said that It was not true.
Trump still falsely claims there was fraud in the 2020 election he lost to President Joe Biden.
The New York Justice has been investigating since 2018 a payment of $130,000 to the porn actress Stormy Daniels just before the elections
The judge decided Monday night that he would only briefly allow the press to take photos of Trump in the courtroom before the start of the hearing, after his defense asked that he be prohibited from being photographed or filmed while he was being detained and booked, the agency reported. from AFP news.
The hearing can also be used to set the conditions for your release and set the next court date.
The former president plans to return immediately to Florida, where he lives, and deliver a speech at his luxury club in Mar-a-Lago at 20:15.
The New York Justice has been investigating a payment of $130,000 to the porn actress Stormy Daniels since 2018 just before the 2016 presidential election to hide an alleged extramarital affair of Donald Trump.
The sum was not included in the Republican candidate’s campaign accounts – which would violate state election laws – but was recorded as “legal fees” in those of his New York-based company.
In a series of posts on Social Truth, his own social network, Trump accused the prosecutor of having “illegally leaked the 33 points of the indictment”which he described as “pathetic”.
The ex-president charged again against Bragg, whom he has proposed to accuse himself “if he really wants to clean up his reputation.” “Bragg should resign now,” he wrote.
A conviction at the end of his trial would not necessarily prevent him from Trump will run or win the presidency in 2024. In the United States, a criminally accused or convicted person can run for any office and be elected. The Constitution establishes an exception: having participated in an “insurrection” or a “rebellion” against the United States.
This scenario is not ruled out entirely given that Trump is the subject of a federal investigation into his role in the storming of the Capitol by his supporters on January 6, 2021, to frustrate the certification of the electoral victory of the Democrat Biden.
Besides, a prosecutor investigates his handling and custody of classified documents after leaving the White House.
In the state of Georgia, he is under investigation for lobbying officials to overturn Biden’s 2020 victory there.
At the center of the investigation is a recorded phone call asking the secretary of state to “find” enough votes to reverse the result.
Promos in bars to celebrate Trump’s appearance
For some people in Washington, an anti-Trump Democratic stronghold, this Tuesday is a big day. And to celebrate the appearance of the former Republican president before a New York judge, the bars in the capital have planned special promotions.
The Midlands Beer Garden offers beers and spirits for $5, a modest sum in this high-priced city.
To announce it, the establishment published on Instagram a retouched image in which Trump is seen in a court, dressed in the orange attire of the prisoners.
In the Capitol District, the Union Pub offers a “witch hunt special jar”one of Trump’s favorite expressions, who describes his indictment as “political persecution.”
Alluding to Stormy Daniels and Joe Tacopina, one of the former president’s lawyers, the same bar sells “Stormy Manhattan” to “13 (0,000) dollars” and offers a promotion on the tacos: “Tacopina Tuesday”with two tacos for $7 and five for $15.
In several American cities on Tuesdays you can eat tacos at a reduced price. It is known as Taco Tuesday.
The Fight Club promises “best happy hour you’ve ever seen”next to a drawing of Trump crying behind bars.
For $10, customers can have a “Dark N’Stormy Daniels,” a “Sad Boys Tea” or an “IndictMINT Julep” (a pun on the words “indictment” and “mint ” in English).
Hushhh… these are Speakeasy-Style Shhpecials… please don’t Retweet. ????
Inspired by @BarredinDC + @washingtonian @jsidman #ThisIsTheWorstPartOfDC #BecauseDC #OnlyInDC #ThisTown pic.twitter.com/WSSO7hW5Rd
— Union Pub (@UnionPub) April 3, 2023
Washington, the political heart of the United States where bars often broadcast debates between candidates for elections live, is used to reacting to the news.
A few years ago, a bar in the capital changed the name of its “Moscow Mule” cocktails to “Moscow Mueller”in honor of the special counsel investigating possible Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign, which was won by Republican Donald Trump.
Supporters and opponents met in front of the New York court
The New York Police made efforts to separate supporters and critics of Donald Trump gathered near the court where the former US president appeared.
The Police placed two fences in a square near the court building to confine behind each of them a hundred supporters of the ex-president and a smaller group of detractors.
Television channels and other media showed images and published photos of Trump supporters and critics yelling at each other’s faces with threatening gestures in Collect Pond Park, located across from the Manhattan District Attorney’s office.
Trump’s opponents accused him of lying and called for him to be arrested, while his supporters waved flags with his name or the phrase: “Trump or death”reported the Sputnik news agency.
“Make America Great Again” (MAGA) read the caps and T-shirts of some. “Trump lies all the time,” proclaimed others.
Paulina Farr he came from nearby Long Island, a Republican stronghold, to “show support for our President Trump.” The retired nurse He said that he had also been in Washington on January 6, 2021 when thousands of supporters stormed the Capitol.but this protest “is very different,” the AFP news agency reported.
Also present was the Republican member of the House of Representatives of Congress Marjorie Taylor Greenea far-right businesswoman and conspiracy theorist who is fervently a Trump supporter.
Surrounded by a large crowd, the Georgia Republican, largely sidelined by her party establishment, thanked “patriotic Trump supporters” and called Republicans “the party of peace” and called Democrats “the party of the violence”.
President Trump has been arrested. This is a stain on our Republic.
May God be with President Trump.
— Marjorie Taylor Greene ???????? (@mtgreenee) April 4, 2023
Also a Republican congressman George Santos joined the growing crowd outside the Manhattan courthouse, where a judge will read the charges against Trump in his indictment last week.
“I want to support the president, just because I think this is unprecedented and a bad day for democracy”Santos said.
“What’s to stop the next prosecutor in two years from doing the same thing to Joe Biden and moving on every four years?”