All Article Properties:
{
"access_control": false,
"status": "publish",
"objectType": "Article",
"id": "1637084",
"signature": "Article:1637084",
"url": "https://staging.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-04-04-trump-pleads-not-guilty-to-34-counts-brought-by-manhattan-da/",
"shorturl": "https://staging.dailymaverick.co.za/article/1637084",
"slug": "trump-pleads-not-guilty-to-34-counts-brought-by-manhattan-da",
"contentType": {
"id": "1",
"name": "Article",
"slug": "article"
},
"views": 0,
"comments": 2,
"preview_limit": null,
"excludedFromGoogleSearchEngine": 0,
"title": "Trump pleads not guilty to 34 counts brought by Manhattan DA",
"firstPublished": "2023-04-04 23:12:46",
"lastUpdate": "2023-04-05 08:05:21",
"categories": [
{
"id": "38",
"name": "World",
"signature": "Category:38",
"slug": "world",
"typeId": {
"typeId": "1",
"name": "Daily Maverick",
"slug": "",
"includeInIssue": "0",
"shortened_domain": "",
"stylesheetClass": "",
"domain": "staging.dailymaverick.co.za",
"articleUrlPrefix": "",
"access_groups": "[]",
"locale": "",
"preview_limit": null
},
"parentId": null,
"parent": [],
"image": "",
"cover": "",
"logo": "",
"paid": "0",
"objectType": "Category",
"url": "https://staging.dailymaverick.co.za/category/world/",
"cssCode": "",
"template": "default",
"tagline": "",
"link_param": null,
"description": "",
"metaDescription": "",
"order": "0",
"pageId": null,
"articlesCount": null,
"allowComments": "1",
"accessType": "freecount",
"status": "1",
"children": [],
"cached": true
},
{
"id": "387188",
"name": "Maverick News",
"signature": "Category:387188",
"slug": "maverick-news",
"typeId": {
"typeId": "1",
"name": "Daily Maverick",
"slug": "",
"includeInIssue": "0",
"shortened_domain": "",
"stylesheetClass": "",
"domain": "staging.dailymaverick.co.za",
"articleUrlPrefix": "",
"access_groups": "[]",
"locale": "",
"preview_limit": null
},
"parentId": null,
"parent": [],
"image": "",
"cover": "",
"logo": "",
"paid": "0",
"objectType": "Category",
"url": "https://staging.dailymaverick.co.za/category/maverick-news/",
"cssCode": "",
"template": "default",
"tagline": "",
"link_param": null,
"description": "",
"metaDescription": "",
"order": "0",
"pageId": null,
"articlesCount": null,
"allowComments": "1",
"accessType": "freecount",
"status": "1",
"children": [],
"cached": true
}
],
"content_length": 9103,
"contents": "<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Donald Trump, the first former US president to be indicted, on Tuesday pleaded not guilty to 34 criminal counts in the Manhattan district attorney’s case against him, amid an intense national debate over the prosecution.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Trump, who is making a comeback bid for the White House, was arraigned on Tuesday afternoon following his 30 March indictment by a New York state grand jury. The city’s police department, the US Secret Service and other authorities remained on high alert given the political firestorm over the case.</span>\r\n\r\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1637049\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/11398694-1.jpg\" alt=\"trump plea court\" width=\"720\" height=\"480\" /> <em>Donald Trump walks towards the courtroom inside New York Criminal Court in New York City on 4 April 2023. (Photo: EPA-EFE / Justin Lane)</em></p>\r\n\r\n<iframe class=\"scribd_iframe_embed\" tabindex=\"0\" title=\"Donald J. Trump Indictment\" src=\"https://www.scribd.com/embeds/636104952/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll&access_key=key-kjRZM8uYhgwNFDcaEqMW\" width=\"100%\" height=\"600\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" data-auto-height=\"true\" data-aspect-ratio=\"1.2941176470588236\"></iframe>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Manhattan district attorney’s office explained the alleged criminal acts in a legal filing known as a statement of facts accompanying the indictment.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“In order to execute the unlawful scheme, the participants violated election laws and made and caused false entries in the business records of various entities in New York,” according to the filing. </span>\r\n<h4><b>From misdemeanour to felony</b></h4>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The 34 counts are ordinarily misdemeanours under New York law, but are charged as felonies in the case because they were allegedly committed in the service of another crime — in this case, promoting Trump’s candidacy by unlawful means. They are all Class E felonies that carry maximum penalties under state law of as many as four years in prison.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg told reporters at a press conference after the arraignment that the case had a place in one of the core missions of his office: to prosecute white-collar crime.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“True and accurate business records are important everywhere, to be sure,” Bragg said. “They are all the more important in Manhattan, the financial centre of the world.”</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The indictment stems from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s probe of hush money payments made just before the 2016 election to cover up an alleged decade-old affair. Trump’s then lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen, now a fierce critic, has testified that his boss covertly reimbursed him for the payments.</span>\r\n\r\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1637057\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/GettyImages-1479739286.jpg\" alt=\"trump plea protest\" width=\"720\" height=\"480\" /> <em>Demonstrators protest against Donald Trump at Collect Pond Park near the courthouse ahead of his arraignment hearing on 4 April 2023 in New York City. (Photo: Michael M Santiago / Getty Images)</em></p>\r\n\r\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1637056\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/GettyImages-1479739233.jpg\" alt=\"trump plea protests\" width=\"720\" height=\"480\" /> <em>Demonstrators protest against former Donald Trump at Collect Pond Park near the courthouse ahead of his arraignment hearing on 4 April 2023 in New York City. (Photo: Michael M Santiago / Getty Images)</em></p>\r\n\r\n<div>\r\n\r\n<script type=\"text/javascript\">!function(e,t,r){let n;if(e.getElementById(r))return;const a=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0];n=e.createElement(\"script\"),n.id=r,n.defer=!0,n.src=\"https://playback.oovvuu.media/player/v1.js\",a.parentNode.insertBefore(n,a)}(document,0,\"oovvuu-player-sdk\");</script>\r\n<div data-oovvuu-embed=\"9a579f6f-575b-4f20-94a0-c17965a64540\">\r\n\r\n \r\n<div></div>\r\n \r\n\r\n</div>\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1637055\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/GettyImages-1479738676.jpg\" alt=\"trump plea protests\" width=\"720\" height=\"469\" /> <em>A protester holds a sign while gathering outside the courthouse where Donald Trump was to arrive later in the day for his arraignment on 4 April 2023 in New York City. (Photo: Drew Angerer / Getty Images)</em></p>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Falsifying business records can be a misdemeanour under New York law. For prosecutors to prove Trump committed a felony, they would have to show it was part of an effort to commit or conceal a second crime.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Trump denies the affair and any illegal acts. His lawyer Joe Tacopina promised Sunday on CNN that his client would plead not guilty “very loudly and proudly”.</span>\r\n<h4><b>Trump’s perils</b></h4>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Trump (76) must now grapple with the criminal case even as he pursues the Republican nomination in the 2024 race. It comes as he faces a separate probe of his bid to overturn the 2020 election result in Georgia, as well as a federal special counsel’s inquiry into those efforts and his handling of government documents. Either or both of those investigations could result in criminal charges on top of Bragg’s.</span>\r\n\r\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1637059\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/GettyImages-1479794163.jpg\" alt=\"trump plea\" width=\"720\" height=\"360\" /> <em>Donald Trump waves as he arrives at the Manhattan Criminal Court on 4 April 2023 in New York. (Photo: Kena Betancur / Getty Images)</em></p>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Trump also faces civil lawsuits by New York’s attorney-general, who accused him of manipulating property valuations, and a writer who alleges he raped her, which he denies.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He says the indictment and the pending probes and suits are baseless and part of a partisan effort to take him down. Bragg, Georgia prosecutor Fani Willis and New York AG Letitia James are Democrats. Special Counsel Jack Smith is registered as a political independent.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The New York prosecution alone has sparked an intense national debate and a showdown between Republican and Democratic leaders, including one between Bragg and House Republicans seeking his testimony about the probe. </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As local authorities prepared for the arraignment, the New York Young Republican Club promoted what it called a peaceful rally for Trump across from the courthouse on Tuesday morning. It featured US Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a champion of Trump’s efforts to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.</span>\r\n\r\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1637052\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/11398813.jpg\" alt=\"trump plea court\" width=\"720\" height=\"360\" /> <em>Donald Trump sits in the courtroom for his arraignment in New York Criminal Court in New York City on 4 April 2023. (Photo: EPA-EFE / Curtis Means / Pool)</em></p>\r\n<h4><b>Familiar judge</b></h4>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The 45th president flew to New York from Florida on Monday and proceeded by motorcade to Trump Tower to prepare for his court appearance. Also on Monday, Trump’s lawyer Tacopina confirmed that his client had added former federal prosecutor Todd Blanche to his defence team. Bragg announced a press conference to follow the arraignment.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On Tuesday, Trump surrendered himself for booking and, at about 2.30pm, walked into the courtroom for his arraignment before New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan. Merchan presided over the state’s case against Allen Weisselberg, the former Trump Organization chief financial officer who pleaded guilty to tax fraud in August. Weisselberg went on to testify against two Trump Organization units convicted of tax fraud in December, also under Merchan.</span>\r\n\r\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1637050\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/11398745.jpg\" alt=\"trump plea\" width=\"720\" height=\"480\" /> <em>A Trump impersonator takes a ride past Trump Tower in New York City on 4 April 2023. (Photo: EPA-EFE / Peter Foley)</em></p>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Those cases, both brought by the Manhattan DA’s office, have some overlap with the current prosecution. If Weisselberg testified against his old boss, it would be a coup for Bragg.</span>\r\n<h4><b>Hush money’s history</b></h4>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bragg inherited the case from his predecessor, </span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cyrus Vance Jr.</span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Last year, when two senior prosecutors urged him to support an indictment of Trump, Bragg paused the investigation, not convinced it was ready. That decision caused the two prosecutors to leave the office, one of whom became a vocal critic.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At his press conference Tuesday, Bragg explained his decision to proceed with the prosecution. He said it was partly because his office had uncovered “additional evidence” in the past year, though he didn’t say what it was.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The hush money was previously investigated by Manhattan federal prosecutors who gave Weisselberg limited immunity. He testified before a federal grand jury probing the payments in 2018. That case resulted in a guilty plea and a three-year prison sentence for Cohen, who testified twice before Bragg’s grand jury and is expected to be a key prosecution witness in the current case.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Federal prosecutors decided against charging Trump over the payments, in part because the Justice Department has a decades-old policy that a sitting president cannot be indicted.</span>\r\n\r\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1637046\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/11398478.jpg\" alt=\"trump plea\" width=\"720\" height=\"504\" /> <em>A small photo of Donald Trump outside Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City on 4 April 2023. (Photo: EPA-EFE / Justin Lane)</em></p>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the closing days of the 2016 campaign, Trump spoke several times by phone with Cohen, who said Trump directed the payments to porn star Stormy Daniels and then reimbursed him for them. Documents later unsealed in the federal case show a flurry of calls and text messages that October involving Cohen, campaign press secretary Hope Hicks and top aide Kellyanne Conway, scrambling to prevent Daniels from going public with her claims.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hicks and Conway are among a gaggle of prominent potential witnesses, including Trump Organization Controller Jeffrey McConney, who have flowed in and out of Bragg’s offices since the grand jury was convened in January.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Former Playboy model Karen McDougal also figured in Bragg’s probe. Lanny Davis, a lawyer for Cohen, said on Sunday on CNN that his client and former </span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">National Enquirer</span></i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> publisher David Pecker both provided the Manhattan grand jury with evidence about hush money payments made to McDougal before the 2016 election. Pecker testified twice before the grand jury and was spotted leaving the courthouse last week. </span><b>DM</b>\r\n\r\n<i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reporting by Patricia Hurtado, Chris Dolmetsch, Greg Farrell and Erik Larson. With assistance from Hadriana Lowenkron, Zoe Tillman, David Voreacos, Laura Litvan and Emily Birnbaum.</span></i>\r\n\r\n<iframe title=\"Be Daily Maverick editor for the day\" width=\"100%\" height=\"588\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" data-tally-src=\"https://tally.so/embed/wL9OWJ?dynamicHeight=1\"></iframe><script>var d=document,w=\"https://tally.so/widgets/embed.js\",v=function(){\"undefined\"!=typeof Tally?Tally.loadEmbeds():d.querySelectorAll(\"iframe[data-tally-src]:not([src])\").forEach((function(e){e.src=e.dataset.tallySrc}))};if(\"undefined\"!=typeof Tally)v();else if(d.querySelector('script[src=\"'+w+'\"]')==null){var s=d.createElement(\"script\");s.src=w,s.onload=v,s.onerror=v,d.body.appendChild(s);}</script>",
"teaser": "Trump pleads not guilty to 34 counts brought by Manhattan DA",
"externalUrl": "",
"sponsor": null,
"authors": [
{
"id": "8356",
"name": "Bloomberg",
"image": "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/Bloomberg.jpg",
"url": "https://staging.dailymaverick.co.za/author/bloomberg/",
"editorialName": "bloomberg",
"department": "",
"name_latin": ""
}
],
"description": "",
"keywords": [
{
"type": "Keyword",
"data": {
"keywordId": "5972",
"name": "Donald Trump",
"url": "https://staging.dailymaverick.co.za/keyword/donald-trump/",
"slug": "donald-trump",
"description": "",
"articlesCount": 0,
"replacedWith": null,
"display_name": "Donald Trump",
"translations": null
}
},
{
"type": "Keyword",
"data": {
"keywordId": "6869",
"name": "Stormy Daniels",
"url": "https://staging.dailymaverick.co.za/keyword/stormy-daniels/",
"slug": "stormy-daniels",
"description": "",
"articlesCount": 0,
"replacedWith": null,
"display_name": "Stormy Daniels",
"translations": null
}
},
{
"type": "Keyword",
"data": {
"keywordId": "6870",
"name": "Michael Cohen",
"url": "https://staging.dailymaverick.co.za/keyword/michael-cohen/",
"slug": "michael-cohen",
"description": "",
"articlesCount": 0,
"replacedWith": null,
"display_name": "Michael Cohen",
"translations": null
}
},
{
"type": "Keyword",
"data": {
"keywordId": "389295",
"name": "Trump Organization",
"url": "https://staging.dailymaverick.co.za/keyword/trump-organization/",
"slug": "trump-organization",
"description": "",
"articlesCount": 0,
"replacedWith": null,
"display_name": "Trump Organization",
"translations": null
}
},
{
"type": "Keyword",
"data": {
"keywordId": "398312",
"name": "Alvin Bragg",
"url": "https://staging.dailymaverick.co.za/keyword/alvin-bragg/",
"slug": "alvin-bragg",
"description": "",
"articlesCount": 0,
"replacedWith": null,
"display_name": "Alvin Bragg",
"translations": null
}
},
{
"type": "Keyword",
"data": {
"keywordId": "399437",
"name": "hush money",
"url": "https://staging.dailymaverick.co.za/keyword/hush-money/",
"slug": "hush-money",
"description": "",
"articlesCount": 0,
"replacedWith": null,
"display_name": "hush money",
"translations": null
}
},
{
"type": "Keyword",
"data": {
"keywordId": "399438",
"name": "Marjorie Taylor Greene",
"url": "https://staging.dailymaverick.co.za/keyword/marjorie-taylor-greene/",
"slug": "marjorie-taylor-greene",
"description": "",
"articlesCount": 0,
"replacedWith": null,
"display_name": "Marjorie Taylor Greene",
"translations": null
}
}
],
"short_summary": null,
"source": null,
"related": [],
"options": [],
"attachments": [
{
"id": "67995",
"name": "A small picture of former president Donald J. Trump outside of Manhattan Criminal court in New York City on 4 April 2023. (Photo: EPA-EFE / Justin Lane) ",
"description": "<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Donald Trump, the first former US president to be indicted, on Tuesday pleaded not guilty to 34 criminal counts in the Manhattan district attorney’s case against him, amid an intense national debate over the prosecution.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Trump, who is making a comeback bid for the White House, was arraigned on Tuesday afternoon following his 30 March indictment by a New York state grand jury. The city’s police department, the US Secret Service and other authorities remained on high alert given the political firestorm over the case.</span>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1637049\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"720\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-1637049\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/11398694-1.jpg\" alt=\"trump plea court\" width=\"720\" height=\"480\" /> <em>Donald Trump walks towards the courtroom inside New York Criminal Court in New York City on 4 April 2023. (Photo: EPA-EFE / Justin Lane)</em>[/caption]\r\n\r\n<iframe class=\"scribd_iframe_embed\" tabindex=\"0\" title=\"Donald J. Trump Indictment\" src=\"https://www.scribd.com/embeds/636104952/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll&access_key=key-kjRZM8uYhgwNFDcaEqMW\" width=\"100%\" height=\"600\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" data-auto-height=\"true\" data-aspect-ratio=\"1.2941176470588236\"></iframe>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Manhattan district attorney’s office explained the alleged criminal acts in a legal filing known as a statement of facts accompanying the indictment.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“In order to execute the unlawful scheme, the participants violated election laws and made and caused false entries in the business records of various entities in New York,” according to the filing. </span>\r\n<h4><b>From misdemeanour to felony</b></h4>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The 34 counts are ordinarily misdemeanours under New York law, but are charged as felonies in the case because they were allegedly committed in the service of another crime — in this case, promoting Trump’s candidacy by unlawful means. They are all Class E felonies that carry maximum penalties under state law of as many as four years in prison.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg told reporters at a press conference after the arraignment that the case had a place in one of the core missions of his office: to prosecute white-collar crime.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“True and accurate business records are important everywhere, to be sure,” Bragg said. “They are all the more important in Manhattan, the financial centre of the world.”</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The indictment stems from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s probe of hush money payments made just before the 2016 election to cover up an alleged decade-old affair. Trump’s then lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen, now a fierce critic, has testified that his boss covertly reimbursed him for the payments.</span>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1637057\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"720\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-1637057\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/GettyImages-1479739286.jpg\" alt=\"trump plea protest\" width=\"720\" height=\"480\" /> <em>Demonstrators protest against Donald Trump at Collect Pond Park near the courthouse ahead of his arraignment hearing on 4 April 2023 in New York City. (Photo: Michael M Santiago / Getty Images)</em>[/caption]\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1637056\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"720\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-1637056\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/GettyImages-1479739233.jpg\" alt=\"trump plea protests\" width=\"720\" height=\"480\" /> <em>Demonstrators protest against former Donald Trump at Collect Pond Park near the courthouse ahead of his arraignment hearing on 4 April 2023 in New York City. (Photo: Michael M Santiago / Getty Images)</em>[/caption]\r\n\r\n<div>\r\n\r\n<script type=\"text/javascript\">!function(e,t,r){let n;if(e.getElementById(r))return;const a=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0];n=e.createElement(\"script\"),n.id=r,n.defer=!0,n.src=\"https://playback.oovvuu.media/player/v1.js\",a.parentNode.insertBefore(n,a)}(document,0,\"oovvuu-player-sdk\");</script>\r\n<div data-oovvuu-embed=\"9a579f6f-575b-4f20-94a0-c17965a64540\">\r\n\r\n \r\n<div></div>\r\n \r\n\r\n</div>\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1637055\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"720\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-1637055\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/GettyImages-1479738676.jpg\" alt=\"trump plea protests\" width=\"720\" height=\"469\" /> <em>A protester holds a sign while gathering outside the courthouse where Donald Trump was to arrive later in the day for his arraignment on 4 April 2023 in New York City. (Photo: Drew Angerer / Getty Images)</em>[/caption]\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Falsifying business records can be a misdemeanour under New York law. For prosecutors to prove Trump committed a felony, they would have to show it was part of an effort to commit or conceal a second crime.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Trump denies the affair and any illegal acts. His lawyer Joe Tacopina promised Sunday on CNN that his client would plead not guilty “very loudly and proudly”.</span>\r\n<h4><b>Trump’s perils</b></h4>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Trump (76) must now grapple with the criminal case even as he pursues the Republican nomination in the 2024 race. It comes as he faces a separate probe of his bid to overturn the 2020 election result in Georgia, as well as a federal special counsel’s inquiry into those efforts and his handling of government documents. Either or both of those investigations could result in criminal charges on top of Bragg’s.</span>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1637059\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"720\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-1637059\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/GettyImages-1479794163.jpg\" alt=\"trump plea\" width=\"720\" height=\"360\" /> <em>Donald Trump waves as he arrives at the Manhattan Criminal Court on 4 April 2023 in New York. (Photo: Kena Betancur / Getty Images)</em>[/caption]\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Trump also faces civil lawsuits by New York’s attorney-general, who accused him of manipulating property valuations, and a writer who alleges he raped her, which he denies.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He says the indictment and the pending probes and suits are baseless and part of a partisan effort to take him down. Bragg, Georgia prosecutor Fani Willis and New York AG Letitia James are Democrats. Special Counsel Jack Smith is registered as a political independent.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The New York prosecution alone has sparked an intense national debate and a showdown between Republican and Democratic leaders, including one between Bragg and House Republicans seeking his testimony about the probe. </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As local authorities prepared for the arraignment, the New York Young Republican Club promoted what it called a peaceful rally for Trump across from the courthouse on Tuesday morning. It featured US Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a champion of Trump’s efforts to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.</span>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1637052\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"720\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-1637052\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/11398813.jpg\" alt=\"trump plea court\" width=\"720\" height=\"360\" /> <em>Donald Trump sits in the courtroom for his arraignment in New York Criminal Court in New York City on 4 April 2023. (Photo: EPA-EFE / Curtis Means / Pool)</em>[/caption]\r\n<h4><b>Familiar judge</b></h4>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The 45th president flew to New York from Florida on Monday and proceeded by motorcade to Trump Tower to prepare for his court appearance. Also on Monday, Trump’s lawyer Tacopina confirmed that his client had added former federal prosecutor Todd Blanche to his defence team. Bragg announced a press conference to follow the arraignment.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On Tuesday, Trump surrendered himself for booking and, at about 2.30pm, walked into the courtroom for his arraignment before New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan. Merchan presided over the state’s case against Allen Weisselberg, the former Trump Organization chief financial officer who pleaded guilty to tax fraud in August. Weisselberg went on to testify against two Trump Organization units convicted of tax fraud in December, also under Merchan.</span>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1637050\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"720\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-1637050\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/11398745.jpg\" alt=\"trump plea\" width=\"720\" height=\"480\" /> <em>A Trump impersonator takes a ride past Trump Tower in New York City on 4 April 2023. (Photo: EPA-EFE / Peter Foley)</em>[/caption]\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Those cases, both brought by the Manhattan DA’s office, have some overlap with the current prosecution. If Weisselberg testified against his old boss, it would be a coup for Bragg.</span>\r\n<h4><b>Hush money’s history</b></h4>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bragg inherited the case from his predecessor, </span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cyrus Vance Jr.</span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Last year, when two senior prosecutors urged him to support an indictment of Trump, Bragg paused the investigation, not convinced it was ready. That decision caused the two prosecutors to leave the office, one of whom became a vocal critic.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At his press conference Tuesday, Bragg explained his decision to proceed with the prosecution. He said it was partly because his office had uncovered “additional evidence” in the past year, though he didn’t say what it was.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The hush money was previously investigated by Manhattan federal prosecutors who gave Weisselberg limited immunity. He testified before a federal grand jury probing the payments in 2018. That case resulted in a guilty plea and a three-year prison sentence for Cohen, who testified twice before Bragg’s grand jury and is expected to be a key prosecution witness in the current case.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Federal prosecutors decided against charging Trump over the payments, in part because the Justice Department has a decades-old policy that a sitting president cannot be indicted.</span>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1637046\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"720\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-1637046\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/11398478.jpg\" alt=\"trump plea\" width=\"720\" height=\"504\" /> <em>A small photo of Donald Trump outside Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City on 4 April 2023. (Photo: EPA-EFE / Justin Lane)</em>[/caption]\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the closing days of the 2016 campaign, Trump spoke several times by phone with Cohen, who said Trump directed the payments to porn star Stormy Daniels and then reimbursed him for them. Documents later unsealed in the federal case show a flurry of calls and text messages that October involving Cohen, campaign press secretary Hope Hicks and top aide Kellyanne Conway, scrambling to prevent Daniels from going public with her claims.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hicks and Conway are among a gaggle of prominent potential witnesses, including Trump Organization Controller Jeffrey McConney, who have flowed in and out of Bragg’s offices since the grand jury was convened in January.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Former Playboy model Karen McDougal also figured in Bragg’s probe. Lanny Davis, a lawyer for Cohen, said on Sunday on CNN that his client and former </span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">National Enquirer</span></i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> publisher David Pecker both provided the Manhattan grand jury with evidence about hush money payments made to McDougal before the 2016 election. Pecker testified twice before the grand jury and was spotted leaving the courthouse last week. </span><b>DM</b>\r\n\r\n<i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reporting by Patricia Hurtado, Chris Dolmetsch, Greg Farrell and Erik Larson. With assistance from Hadriana Lowenkron, Zoe Tillman, David Voreacos, Laura Litvan and Emily Birnbaum.</span></i>\r\n\r\n<iframe title=\"Be Daily Maverick editor for the day\" width=\"100%\" height=\"588\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" data-tally-src=\"https://tally.so/embed/wL9OWJ?dynamicHeight=1\"></iframe><script>var d=document,w=\"https://tally.so/widgets/embed.js\",v=function(){\"undefined\"!=typeof Tally?Tally.loadEmbeds():d.querySelectorAll(\"iframe[data-tally-src]:not([src])\").forEach((function(e){e.src=e.dataset.tallySrc}))};if(\"undefined\"!=typeof Tally)v();else if(d.querySelector('script[src=\"'+w+'\"]')==null){var s=d.createElement(\"script\");s.src=w,s.onload=v,s.onerror=v,d.body.appendChild(s);}</script>",
"focal": "50% 50%",
"width": 0,
"height": 0,
"url": "https://dmcdn.whitebeard.net/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/GettyImages-1479805952.jpg",
"transforms": [
{
"x": "200",
"y": "100",
"url": "https://dmcdn.whitebeard.net/i/kJvJZQtVhZtihY4JUNTN_Mxdmdo=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif()/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/GettyImages-1479805952.jpg"
},
{
"x": "450",
"y": "0",
"url": "https://dmcdn.whitebeard.net/i/OqiB9izRY0cptNN1Sv-rpYxfckg=/450x0/smart/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/GettyImages-1479805952.jpg"
},
{
"x": "800",
"y": "0",
"url": "https://dmcdn.whitebeard.net/i/GVaKKoek6zB9EWG44WNTWW-I05c=/800x0/smart/filters:strip_exif()/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/GettyImages-1479805952.jpg"
},
{
"x": "1200",
"y": "0",
"url": "https://dmcdn.whitebeard.net/i/K2WGixkYh--G7A3-lV4AOJd2QVo=/1200x0/smart/filters:strip_exif()/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/GettyImages-1479805952.jpg"
},
{
"x": "1600",
"y": "0",
"url": "https://dmcdn.whitebeard.net/i/6Dp88J7Et6BRO-7PNFwbXO2_-ao=/1600x0/smart/filters:strip_exif()/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/GettyImages-1479805952.jpg"
}
],
"url_thumbnail": "https://dmcdn.whitebeard.net/i/kJvJZQtVhZtihY4JUNTN_Mxdmdo=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif()/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/GettyImages-1479805952.jpg",
"url_medium": "https://dmcdn.whitebeard.net/i/OqiB9izRY0cptNN1Sv-rpYxfckg=/450x0/smart/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/GettyImages-1479805952.jpg",
"url_large": "https://dmcdn.whitebeard.net/i/GVaKKoek6zB9EWG44WNTWW-I05c=/800x0/smart/filters:strip_exif()/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/GettyImages-1479805952.jpg",
"url_xl": "https://dmcdn.whitebeard.net/i/K2WGixkYh--G7A3-lV4AOJd2QVo=/1200x0/smart/filters:strip_exif()/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/GettyImages-1479805952.jpg",
"url_xxl": "https://dmcdn.whitebeard.net/i/6Dp88J7Et6BRO-7PNFwbXO2_-ao=/1600x0/smart/filters:strip_exif()/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/GettyImages-1479805952.jpg",
"type": "image"
}
],
"summary": "Trump (76) must now grapple with the criminal case even as he pursues the Republican nomination in the 2024 race.",
"template_type": null,
"dm_custom_section_label": null,
"elements": [],
"seo": {
"search_title": "Trump pleads not guilty to 34 counts brought by Manhattan DA",
"search_description": "<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Donald Trump, the first former US president to be indicted, on Tuesday pleaded not guilty to 34 criminal counts in the Manhattan district attorney’s case against him, a",
"social_title": "Trump pleads not guilty to 34 counts brought by Manhattan DA",
"social_description": "<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Donald Trump, the first former US president to be indicted, on Tuesday pleaded not guilty to 34 criminal counts in the Manhattan district attorney’s case against him, a",
"social_image": ""
},
"cached": true,
"access_allowed": true
} 
Donald Trump walks towards the courtroom inside New York Criminal Court in New York City on 4 April 2023. (Photo: EPA-EFE / Justin Lane)
Demonstrators protest against Donald Trump at Collect Pond Park near the courthouse ahead of his arraignment hearing on 4 April 2023 in New York City. (Photo: Michael M Santiago / Getty Images)
Demonstrators protest against former Donald Trump at Collect Pond Park near the courthouse ahead of his arraignment hearing on 4 April 2023 in New York City. (Photo: Michael M Santiago / Getty Images)
A protester holds a sign while gathering outside the courthouse where Donald Trump was to arrive later in the day for his arraignment on 4 April 2023 in New York City. (Photo: Drew Angerer / Getty Images)
Donald Trump waves as he arrives at the Manhattan Criminal Court on 4 April 2023 in New York. (Photo: Kena Betancur / Getty Images)
Donald Trump sits in the courtroom for his arraignment in New York Criminal Court in New York City on 4 April 2023. (Photo: EPA-EFE / Curtis Means / Pool)
A Trump impersonator takes a ride past Trump Tower in New York City on 4 April 2023. (Photo: EPA-EFE / Peter Foley)
A small photo of Donald Trump outside Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City on 4 April 2023. (Photo: EPA-EFE / Justin Lane)