5 Things To Know About Trump’s Indictment, And What Comes Next

The full indictment against former President Donald Trump was announced Tuesday in a Manhattan courtroom, the first act in an ongoing legal threat and a watershed moment for the country.

In typical fashion, a shocked Trump appeared before supporters after his arraignment to deny the accusations were a witch hunt, saying he was innocent. Despite his anger, he is now the first American president to face criminal charges and could be tried in the middle of the 2024 presidential campaign.

Here’s what you need to know about fees:

All 34 crimes were linked to falsified business records in a $130,000 payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels, but prosecutors made a pattern of Trump buying the right to destroy stories about him.

34 of the charges related to the way payments to Daniels, made by Trump fixer Michael Cohen, were recorded. Prosecutors have accused Trump of falsifying business records in an attempt to cover up criminal acts, saying they were legal fees when Cohen had not actually done any legal work for him in that period of time.

The district attorney’s office also filed a statement of facts referencing Trump’s pattern of buying damaging stories in an effort to stop the publication. These include a $30,000 payment to a former Trump Tower doorman who claimed Trump had a child out of wedlock, and a $150,000 payment made by the National Enquirer to Karen McDougal, a Playboy playmate who said she had an affair with him.

Trump has pleaded not guilty. If convicted, each charge carries a maximum sentence of four years, although a judge could sentence the former president to probation.

Falsifying business records is usually a misdemeanor offense in New York, but prosecutors convinced a grand jury Trump’s behavior was based on “intent to deceive” to then commit or conceal a secondary crime, which bumped the charge up to a Class E felony.

Paying hush money is generally not a crime, but falsifying the records is. Bragg laid out the potential path prosecutors will go down during the trial, including arguing that Trump aimed to violate state and federal election laws and lie to tax authorities. The approach is novel and it may be difficult for Bragg to gain confidence.

Acting New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan sternly warned Trump against using his social media accounts to fire up his supporters. Justice said he was concerned that Trump would “incite violence or civil unrest” and specifically told him to avoid any language that could “endanger the rule of law.”

Those concerns were prescient. Hours later, Trump lashed out at Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg during a speech at Mar-a-Lago Tuesday night, saying he was a “criminal” for “getting him.” He also called Merchan a “Trump-hating judge with a Trump-hating wife.”

Merchan stopped issuing official gag orders during Trump’s arraignment.

Hours after the arraignment, Trump flew to the Mar-a-Lago resort to condemn the American state and assert his innocence.

“God bless you all. I never thought something like this could happen in America,” he said, adding that he was only trying to “defend our country from those who want to destroy it.”

He continued to attack Bragg, New York Attorney General Letitia James and special counsel Jack Smith, who is leading the US attorney general’s investigation into classified documents Trump kept after leaving the White House.

“Our country is going to hell,” he said.

Trump fired back during a speech in Florida on Tuesday night, leaning on a litany of old campaign fodder and attacking the investigation into his behavior as a witch hunt orchestrated by Democratic operatives.

But the ongoing investigation presents a real threat to the former president. Prosecutors are still investigating efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia as well as classified documents found at his Mar-a-Lago resort months after he left the White House.

Any trial in Manhattan could be months away, although prosecutors have called for an expedited schedule.