Trump Indicted By Grand Jury In What Critics Call A Political Witch Hunt Against The Former President
Keneci Channel
[Update] Trump Slams Corrupt Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, Following Arraignment In Court
Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday, pleaded not guilty in New York City on Tuesday to 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. The charges, which critics say is part of a witch hunt against him, carry a maximum sentence of 136 years in prison, though the actual sentence will likely be far less than that if he is convicted on any or all counts.
Legal experts point out there's no actual crime in the charges brought by far-left George Soros-backed Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Falsifying business records is typically a misdemeanor charge in New York but rises to the level of a felony with a maximum four-year sentence when a defendant's "intent to defraud includes an intent to commit another crime or to aid or conceal the commission thereof."
Asked by reporters at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon why the second concealed crime was not specified in the indictment, Bragg said: "Let me say as an initial matter that the indictment doesn't specify it because the law does not so require. In my remarks, I mentioned a couple of laws which I will highlight again now. The first is New York state election law, which makes it a crime to conspire to promote a candidacy by unlawful means. I further indicated a number of unlawful means, including additional false statements, including statements that were planned to be made to tax authorities. I also noted the federal election law cap on contribution limits."
Bragg accused Trump and his associates of employing a "catch and kill" scheme to bury potentially damaging information ahead of the 2016 election.
Both federal prosecutors and Bragg's predecessor have previously looked at and didn't pursue such cases against Trump.
Aside from Bragg's investigation, Trump is also being investigated by a prosecutor in Fulton County, Georgia, for his alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election result in that state; and federal investigations led by a special counsel are probing Trump's handling of classified documents and his alleged attempts to overturn his 2020 election defeat nationwide.
Trump addressed the nation later in the evening, after returning to his home at Mar-a-Lago, Florida. The former president took to the stage, surrounded by a cheering crowd of supporters.
In the speech, he called called for New York district attorney Alvin Bragg, who he called a "criminal," to face charges over leaked details of his indictment.
Trump suggested the case was brought to interfere with the 2024 presidential election, and said it had been "hell" on his family.
The former president also slammed his successor Joe Biden: “If you took the 5 worst presidents in the history of the United States, and added them up, they would not have done nearly as much damage to our country as Joe Biden and The Biden Administration.”
WATCH Trump's remarks about his indictment in a speech at Mar-a-Lago.
==================
Far-left Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has been investigating former president Donald Trump for so-called hush money payments made leading up to the 2016 presidential election. A grand jury indicted him Thursday, as part of the DA Office's years-long investigation, which critics have slammed as a political witch hunt.
The alleged payments include the $130,000 made to discredited porn star Stormy Daniels, and the $150,000 made to former Playboy model Karen McDougal.
Trump has repeatedly denied wrongdoing, and said the payments were "not a campaign violation," but rather a "simple private transaction." The former president's ex-lawyer Michael Cohen who made the payments and Daniels herself had earlier denied the arrangement.
In a letter dated Jan. 10, 2018, released by Trump team, Daniels denied the allegations. "I recently became aware that certain news outlets are alleging that I had a sexual and/or romantic affair with Donald Trump many, many, many years ago," she wrote. "I am stating with complete clarity that this is absolutely false. My involvement with Donald Trump was limited to a few public appearances and nothing more."
Daniels wrote in the letter that when she met Trump, he was "gracious, professional and a complete gentleman to me and EVERYONE in my presence."
"Rumors that I have received hush money from Donald Trump are completely false," the letter read. "If indeed I did have a relationship with Donald Trump, trust me, you wouldn’t be reading about it in the news, you would be reading about it in my book. But the fact of the matter is, these stories are not true."
Daniels apparently changed her story in March 2018, during an interview with CBS News’ "60 Minutes." She claimed to have had a one-time, unprotected sexual encounter with Trump.
The Federal Election Commission and Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York had dropped the case against Trump, even after Cohen falsely implicated the former president, as part of his own plea deal. The discredited lawyer was sentenced in 2018, to three years in prison after pleading guilty to federal charges, including tax evasion, lying to Congress, and campaign finance violations.
Bragg who campaigned on persecuting Trump, took over as district attorney in January 2022, and initially stopped pursuing charges against the former president. He suspended the investigation "indefinitely," to the consternation of far-left Democrat party activists and politicians including President Joe Biden, who wanted Trump prosecuted at all cost.
Hyper-partisan prosecutors Mark Pomerantz and Carey Dunne, who had been leading the investigation under former DA Cyrus Vance, submitted their resignations after Bragg began raising doubts about pursuing a case against Trump.
Reacting to the indictment, Trump wrote on social media: "These Thugs and Radical Left Monsters have just INDICATED the 45th President of the United States of America, and the leading Republican Candidate, by far, for the 2024 Nomination for President. THIS IS AN ATTACK ON OUR COUNTRY THE LIKES OF WHICH HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE. IT IS LIKEWISE A CONTINUING ATTACK ON OUR ONCE FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS. THE USA IS NOW A THIRD WORLD NATION, A NATION IN SERIOUS DECLINE. SO SAD!"
Trump had revealed in a social media post last week, citing reports based on what he called "illegal leaks," that suggested he could be arrested on Tuesday, March 21.
Republican lawmakers and allies of Trump blasted the investigation as a political prosecution and a "weaponization" of the office of the district attorney.
Bragg, last week, claimed that Trump "created a false expectation" that his arrest was imminent, and slammed the committee for making an "unprecedented inquiry into a pending local prosecution."
"The Letter only came after Donald Trump created a false expectation that he would be arrested the next day and his lawyers reportedly urged you to intervene," Bragg wrote in a letter to the committee. "Neither fact is a legitimate basis for congressional inquiry."
Apparently Bragg had dissensions in his ranks over the witch hunt against a former president, a very divisive and unprecedent move, which critics warn could trigger a catastrophic political consequences in an already divided America.
Democrat officials have embarked on an aggressive political and legal witch hunt against Trump since he started running for president in 2015.
This hush money investigation was opened in 2019 by then-DA Vance. The case initially involved financial dealings of Trump’s Manhattan properties, including his flagship Fifth Avenue building, Trump Tower, and the valuation of his 213-acre estate Seven Springs in Westchester.
Far-left New York Attorney General Letitia James continues her years-long civil investigation into the Trump Organization over loans and tax benefits.
Last August, Biden's FBI, in an unprecedented move, raided Trump’s private residence at Mar-a-Lago in connection with an investigation into classified records the former president allegedly took with him from the White House.
Attorney General Merrick Garland later appointed Jack Smith as special counsel to take over that investigation, and the Justice Department’s investigation into the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021 — specifically whether Trump or other officials and entities interfered with the peaceful transfer of power following the 2020 presidential election.
Critics have slammed Biden and Democrats for brazen weaponization of government against political oppoenents. And many conservatives have called out elected Republicans for not fighting back enough against the political and legal onslaught.