PALM BEACH: Donald Trump strongly defended his conduct in his first speech on Tuesday after he was arrested on charges of paying money to an adult film actor, calling the criminal prosecution “an insult to our country”.
Hours earlier, the 76-year-old former US president pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts in a dramatic New York hearing that transfixed the nation — and began the countdown to the first criminal trial against a US president. .
“I never thought anything like this could happen in America — never thought it could happen,” Trump told hundreds of donors after returning to his Mar-a-Lago beach mansion in South Florida. , addressed political allies and other supporters.
“The only crime I have committed is to fearlessly defend our nation from those who seek to destroy it… It is an insult to our country.”
Trump – the front-runner in the race for the 2024 Republican nomination – told a stage draped in American flags in the lavish gold and cream ballroom that prosecutors from the “radical left” were out to get him “at any cost”. are
The oddly celebratory mood in the room seemed at odds with the gravity of the day’s events in Manhattan, with Trump repeating lines of applause that his supporters regularly hear at his rallies — and the same enthusiastic cheers and applause. is awarded
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is suing Trump for hiding his company’s book-cooking payments he made days before the 2016 election to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, a To cover up an alleged sexual encounter decades ago.
Alan Weiselberg, Trump’s former chief financial officer, is serving a five-month prison sentence on the same charge of falsifying business records.
‘Darkest Hours’
Manhattan prosecutors say Trump “repeatedly and fraudulently falsified New York business records to conceal criminal conduct that concealed damaging information from the voting public during the 2016 presidential election.”
A “statement of facts” released with the indictment details payments to Daniels, Playboy model Karen McDougal and a former doorman at Trump Tower to support Trump’s illegitimate child. was claimed to be a story about
Daniels was paid $130,000 by former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, while McDougal and Dorman received $150,000 and $30,000, respectively, from AMI, publisher of the supermarket tabloid National Enquirer.
Bragg alleged that Trump and his allies “also took steps to misrepresent, for tax purposes, the true nature of the payments.”
Trump and his lawyers have accused Bragg of overreach in his characterization of the alleged misconduct.
The one-time reality TV star sent out a fundraising email before returning to Florida, saying his campaign had raised $10 million since news of his indictment broke. What has added more?
“While we are living through one of the darkest moments in American history, I can say that at least for this moment, I am very encouraged,” Trump said.
The twice-impeached Republican is the first current or former US president to be criminally indicted.
Earlier in a Manhattan courtroom, he answered “not guilty” to all charges in a flat voice, shrugged his shoulders and looked angry at times but mostly listened cooperatively.
‘Election interference’
Judge Joan Murchin said the trial could begin a month before the presidential primaries begin — possibly in January — even though Trump’s lawyers have indicated they want it pushed back to next spring. .
In a spectacle played on live television — with rival protesters rallying outside — the hearing marked a watershed moment for the American criminal and political system.
A crowd of hundreds gathered with pro-Trump protesters — wearing “MAGA” hats and clothing emblazoned with the American flag — chanting at their opponents.
Trump has reveled in his reputation as a playboy for years but has always denied an affair with Daniels, which would have happened shortly after the birth of his third wife, Melania.
In a conspiracy-theory-laced rant to his supporters, he described Murchan as a “Trump-hating judge” and blasted Bragg for what he called “massive election interference in our country first.” Never seen.”
But he spent much of his speech mocking the more serious investigations he faces, repeating previously dismissed allegations that former presidents were treated differently.
These include his attempts to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state of Georgia, his alleged misuse of classified documents taken from the White House and his involvement in the storming of the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
