Former United States President Donald Trump has pleaded not guilty to a list of 34 felony charges unsealed in New York’s Manhattan Criminal Court on Tuesday.
The charges stem from a grand jury investigation into a hush money payment the ex-president allegedly made to adult film star Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 election.
Trump is accused of falsifying company records related to that payment and several others, including former Playboy model Karen McDougal. Both she and Daniels claim to have had an affair with the ex-president.
“Defendant Donald Trump repeatedly and fraudulently falsified New York corporate records during the 2016 election to conceal criminal conduct that concealed harmful information from the voting public,” the prosecutors wrote in the indictment.
They explained that the payments were part of a “catch and kill” plan to suppress negative information during his 2016 presidential campaign.
In his trademark dark suit and red tie, Trump arrived at court in an eight-car motorcade, escorted by Secret Service agents, waving to the crowd gathered outside the building.
Once inside, he was fingerprinted and processed, though he avoided being handcuffed or having a police photo taken. It was a remarkable reckoning for the ex-president after years of investigation into his personal, business and political dealings and an extraordinary moment in US history, making him the first ever US president to face criminal charges.
Trump was defiant in court and online, where he posted on his Truth Social platform that the proceedings were “SURREAL,” in all caps.
“I can’t believe this is happening in America,” he wrote, signing his abbreviation for his slogan “Make America Great Again.”