A potentially troubling new chapter in American politics has begun with the former president’s arraignment in New York on 34 criminal counts.
As the first former US president to be detained on criminal charges on Tuesday, Donald Trump made history. To enter a not guilty plea to 34 charges of falsifying business documents, the former reality TV star came to New York City.
What transpired?
When a grand jury decided last week to indict him for allegedly fabricating company documents, the 76-year-old Trump turned himself in for arrest at a courthouse in Lower Manhattan. He was led into the courtroom by Judge Juan Merchan for his arraignment after being fingerprinted. He firmly responded “not guilty” when asked how he pled, flanked by his attorneys and with little emotion.
After that, Trump was freed, and as he left the courthouse, he paid little attention to the queries of the media. In order to keep demonstrators, who were confined to a park across the street, from seeing him, they took him in and out of a building through a door. According to reports, Trump took a flight back to Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, where he was scheduled to address supporters on Tuesday night.
What comes after that?
On December 4, Trump will appear in court again, and Merchan might make a decision about one or more legal motions. For instance, it is quite likely that a move to dismiss the lawsuit will be submitted by Trump’s attorneys. It’s unclear if the former president will have to show up to the subsequent session.
Trump will still be a candidate for president in 2024. About two months after his subsequent court appearance, the GOP primary season begins. Although the law does not forbid him from running for president, the case may derail his candidature even though he is charged with a crime. Polling suggests that, at least momentarily, the indictment will increase his support among Republican voters. Elon Musk, the owner of Twitter, asserted last month that if the Democrats were to dare to charge Trump, he would triumph “by a landslide” in the 2024 election.
What is the case’s premise?
The charge is related to a $130,000 hush money payment made to porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016, just as Trump was about to win the election. In and of itself, the payment was lawful. The Federal Election Commission and the US Department of Justice declined to investigate the case as a campaign finance violation, which would have been predicated on the theory that the gift was made exclusively to benefit Trump’s electoral chances.
Yet, the case has been pursued based on claims that Trump failed to properly disclose the hush money cost on his business records, according to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who ran for office on a promise to prosecute Trump. Trump has been charged by the DA with misrepresenting the expense as payment for legal services. Tuesday’s statement from Bragg was that “the evidence will prove he did so to cover up crimes pertaining to the 2016 election.” These are presumably the same alleged violations that federal officials decided against investigating.
A $30,000 payment to a doorman at Trump Tower who claimed that the billionaire developer had fathered a kid out of wedlock, as well as a $150,000 payment to a Playboy model who claimed to have an affair with Trump, were also alleged in the indictment. The former president has asserted his innocence and referred to the investigation into him as a political “witch hunt.”
What effects are there?
The indictment ushers in a new age of politics in the United States. In addition to being the first indictment of a former president, this case involves the current front-runner for the presidency of the opposition party. Several analysts have asserted that arresting political opponents is a practise reserved for banana republics.
Senator Marco Rubio, a Republican from Florida, declared on Tuesday that “this is a dreadful day for all of us, and we are all going to regret it for a very long time.” Today’s American politics have crossed a boundary from which they can never return. He foresaw that in order to gain notoriety, the indictment would inspire prosecutors across the nation to target rival politicians. Democrats, including the current president Joe Biden, won’t be exempt from such strategies.
In addition to saying that he “can’t believe this is happening in America,” Trump described his detention as “surreal.” Even more legal issues might arise for him, such as potential prosecutions by Biden’s Department of Justice for his handling of secret information and his alleged encouragement of the disturbance at the US Capitol. In Georgia, he is also being looked at for allegedly tampering with the 2020 election results in Fulton County.
RT
