After Tuesday’s hearing in the New York Criminal Court, the case against Donald Trump could be made public. The former US president pleaded “not guilty” to the 23 crimes he was charged with, fraud in New York company registrations.
The indictment charges Trump with “repeatedly and fraudulently falsifying business records in New York to conceal criminal conduct that would harm his public image and the 2016 presidential election.”
“From August 2015 to December 2016, the Defendant orchestrated with others a plan to influence the 2016 election, identifying and acquiring negative information about him in order to suppress its publication and benefit the Defendant’s electoral prospects,” is read. .
“In order to carry out this plan,” the indictment continues, “the participants in this process violated election laws and made false commercial registrations in various New York entities.
These falsified payments explicitly include the case in which AMI Media, owner of the National Inquirer tabloid, signed an agreement to pay $30,000 to a Trump Tower doorman (referred to only as “The Doorman” in the agreement) to to tell the newspaper that Donald Trump would have had a child out of wedlock.
The mother is believed to be former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who later revealed she had an affair with Trump.
According to the indictment, Trump’s companies paid “Woman 1” $150,000 so that this story would never be revealed, “and also so that two articles signed by her in two magazines would not be published”, on the eve of the election and falsified the commercial administration so that money appeared on the balance sheet as another destination.
This is another case similar to that of former pornographic actress Stormy Daniels, which is giving rise to this lawsuit. According to Daniels, Trump had an extramarital affair with her and then paid her not to tell the story. Reportedly, the accounting of this money in the campaign accounts was also entered fraudulently.
“No One Is Above The Law”
Manhattan attorney in charge of the prosecution, Alvin Bragg, called Stormy Daniels to testify at the next hearing, which was scheduled for December 4.
“We cannot normalize criminal behavior,” Bragg said at a news conference Tuesday evening, justifying the accusations against the former US president.
“Real and accurate business data is of course important everywhere, but it is even more important in Manhattan, the financial center of the world,” he underlined.
For the prosecutor, what Trump and his entourage were doing was fraud “with the intent to conceal other criminal actions”,
“Today we continue our highest responsibility to ensure that no one is above the law,” the prosecutor said.
READ THE FULL ACTION HERE
(News in update)
Source: DN
