Trump Arrested, Charged With 34 Felony Counts Of Falsifying Business Records
After pleading "not guilty" to all counts, Trump went home and gave a dull, whiny (and surprisingly short) speech with the usual complaints about how everyone and everything is against him.
Donald Trump was arrested on Tuesday and arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court on 34 counts of falsifying business records, all in the first degree—felonies under New York law. He pleaded not guilty to all 34 counts.
The maximum penalty for each count is four years in prison, though a prison sentence is not mandatory (sadly).
Trump’s legal woes have only begun. Additional indictments should be coming soon from the Department of Justice and the state of Georgia.
Roger Sollenberger (The Daily Beast) writes:
[W]hat’s most notable about the indictment, Statement of Facts document, and press conference that Bragg delivered on Tuesday is that there is clear evidence of intent. Trump knew what he was paying for. He personally signed checks. He personally had conversations discussing the scheme. He even suggested delaying payments until after the election, dismantling the frequent argument that Trump wasn’t making these hush money payments because of his political ambitions. . . .
Trump pleaded not guilty to all of the counts. . . .
A trial date has not been set, but most don’t expect any action on the case for at least a year, as Trump’s legal team prepares for a discovery phase of the case that could push a trial into early 2024, when states would begin holding their presidential primaries.
The indictment can be read here (and downloaded) and the Statement of Facts can be found here.
Important Progrmaming Note:
Trump was offered the chance to stay home in Florida and have his arrest and arraignment done remotely, via Zoom. He rejected that, demanding a high-profile surrender, thus creating the circus in Manhattan.
No mug shot of Trump was taken, but the grift must go on, so . . . Team Trump made a fake one. The rubes can get one for FREE by donating $47. Look closely and you’ll notice Trump ois portrayed as being a bit over 6-5! Friend, when he’s not wearing his special high heels, he’s actionally under six feet tall, possibly as short as 5-9.
Marjorie Nazi Greene — fresh off a softball interview with “60 Minutes” in which her claim that Democrats are “pedophiles” received nothing more than a “Wow. Okay” from veteran (washed-up) journalist Leslie Stahl — served her Georgia constitutents by flying to New York and speaking at a pro-Trump rally. Her nonsense words were nearly inaudible and she fled, protected by security, after only 10 minutes because she was being heckled. In the clip below, Greene is being interviewed by her boyfriend, a fact not shared with RSBN viewers. (Not that they’d care.)
Speaking of Jesus, Trump was allowed to dictate the terms of his surrender — as most criminals are, of course, especially ones with black and brown skin — according to a report in Rolling Stone. He wanted a spectacle — so that’s what he got. According to one law enforcement official:
He wanted a perp walk; he wanted daylight hours. This is a nightmare for Secret Service, but they can only strongly suggest — not order — that Trump enter through the secure tunnels. Trump wants to greet the crowd. . . . It’s kind of a Jesus Christ thing. He is saying, “I’m absorbing all this pain from all around from everywhere so you don’t have to.”
All day, GQP members obediently “knelt at the altar of Trump”. One particular fascist was silent:
He should give this answer to every question.
Lady G bought a new wig, but he hasn’t stop crying and begging everyone to send $20 to the person he said (seven long years ago) was a “race-baiting, xenophobic religious bigot” who would destroy the Republican party:
Trump threw a temper tantrum on Monday when details were leaked about the nearly three dozen felonies with which he would be charged. He demanded that Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg “indict himself”. (or “indicated himself”, perhaps). The cult has been taking a similar cool and collected approach.
Why would anyone think this will keep a lid on Trump’s rants and threats and name-calling? Judge Juan Merchan:
stressed the importance of Trump’s rights under the First Amendment, especially because he is a candidate for president. But he disputed the defense’s argument that recent broadsides on social media simply reflect the former president's frustration.
Merchan advised Trump: “Please refrain from making statements that are likely to incite violence or civil unrest.” He asked the former president to avoid rhetoric that could “jeopardize the rule of law.”
Trump has warned of “potential death & destruction” resulting from the charges against him; called Bragg an “animal” backed by George Soros, the Jewish financier and bugbear of the far right; and suggested that Merchan, who also oversaw the tax fraud trial of Trump’s family business, “HATES” him.
The uselessness of this admonotion was proved only a few hours later, when both Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump tweeted a photograph of Judge Merchan’s daughter, thus showing any potentially violent MAGAs what she looked like and possibly exposing her to death threats. CNN reported that there are currently at least sixty active domestic terror threats against the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
Trump held a low-energy, whine-fest in the evening, during which he struggled to defend himself and signaled that the judge and his entire family are (wink wink) very bad people. Is this judge waiting until some idiot attacks his wife or daughter before he institutes the gag order he should have issued today? A total ban on any public communication — and the first time Trump violates it, send him to jail for the duration of the trial.
Trump Struggles To Defend Himself In Bizarre Post-Arrest Speech
The former president spoke to the nation from Mar-a-Lago hours after pleading not guilty to 34 felony counts. He didn't have much to say.
Tim Dickinson, Rolling Stone, April 4, 2023
After a day of historic indignity — spent getting booked and arraigned at a Manhattan courthouse — former president Donald Trump retreated to his safe space, Mar-a-Lago, where he delivered an embittered televised address to the nation. . . .
Trump’s delivery was drained as he rattled through an endless litany of conspiracy and complaint, not only about the day’s criminal proceedings but about the “onslaught of fraudulent investigations” he claims are unfairly targeting him . . . “The only crime I have committed is to fearlessly defend our nation from those who seek to destroy it.”
A key purpose of Trump’s speech seemed to be priming his faithful for additional prosecutions that may soon be incoming. He blasted the “local racist” prosecutor in Georgia who is investigating his election interference in that state. . . . Trump trashed the “radical-left lunatic bomb-thrower” Jack Smith, whom Attorney General Merrick Garland tapped to lead federal investigations into his document scandal and his efforts to subvert the 2020 election.
And despite a caution from the judge in his Manhattan case to lower the temperature, Trump specifically lashed out at the New York jurist: “I have a Trump-hating judge,” he insisted. He also bashed the Manhattan DA who just indicted him, calling him the “radical-left George Soros-backed prosecutor Alvin Bragg.” . . .
[H]e name checked the “Hunter Biden laptop from hell” and wove in references to Hillary Clinton’s emails . . .
[F]rom Trump’s perspective, he is blameless.
During his Mar-a-Lago address, Trump insisted, “There’s no case. There’s no case!” Retreating into projection, Trump claimed the prosecutor was the one who should be on trial: “The criminal is the district attorney,” Trump insisted . . .
Cutting his speech short after just half an hour, Trump seemed absorbed by the trauma of the day’s events. . . . [H]e seemed lost in the darkness, a lonely troubled man sunk in his own emotional well.
This gentlemen makes an interesting point.
