Updates: Trump refutes hush-money charges in Mar-a-Lago remarks
All the updates from Trump’s Manhattan arraignment on April 4 in which he faced charges of falsifying business records.
This blog is now closed. Thanks for joining us. These were the updates on former United States President Donald Trump’s arraignment and subsequent remarks on Tuesday, April 4.
This blog is now closed. Thanks for joining us. These were the updates on former United States President Donald Trump’s arraignment and subsequent remarks on Tuesday, April 4.
- Donald Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts in a New York City court.
- The indictment against the former president centres on allegations he falsified business records to conceal hush-money payments, including one to adult film star Stormy Daniels, ahead of the 2016 vote.
- New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg said Trump’s conduct constitutes a crime in New York “no matter who you are”.
- Trump rallied support from his residence at Mar-a-Lago, refuting the allegations against him.
Arraignment has given Trump a ‘boost’: former US ambassador
A former US ambassador to NATO, Kurt Volker, said there was “uncertainty” over the long-term impact of today’s arraignment.
“In the short term, it has definitely given Trump a boost among his supporters and even those who were on the fence in the Republican Party,” Volker told Al Jazeera in a television interview.
“What happens in the long term though, we still don’t know. We need to see whether there are more serious charges brought. The ones that were brought today, I think a lot of people will look at as rather frivolous.”
Volker, who also served as the US special representative for Ukraine negotiations, said Trump’s claim that the war in Ukraine would never have happened if he had remained president was “completely unknowable”.
Crowd waves goodbye after call to ‘make America great again’
After sounding a dark note about the state of the country, Trump said he had “no doubt, nevertheless, that we will make America great again”, signalling he hopes to return to the White House following the 2024 presidential election.
The former president raised a fist as he stepped away from the podium, with his supporters waving and holding up signs that read, “I stand with Trump”, as he exited the room.
Trump ends speech saying ‘USA is a mess’
Trump finished his speech on a dark note, stating that “the USA is a mess, our economy is crashing, inflation is out of control, Russia has joined with China. Can you believe that? Saudi Arabia has joined with Iran.”
“It would never have happened if I were your president,” he added.
Trump calls on Alvin Bragg to resign
Trump said that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg was a “criminal” who should resign or be prosecuted.
“The DA’s office even had a webpage [to] ‘meet the team of executives who have done this to President Trump’,” Trump alleged.
He said that the judge in the hush-money case, Juan Merchan, was also biased against him. “I have a Trump-hating judge, with a Trump-hating wife and family,” Trump said.
Trump defends himself from other investigations
As he spoke at Mar-a-Lago, Trump touched on the other criminal investigations he faces, including one in Georgia where he is being accused of interfering in the 2020 election.
The former president said he has no regrets about a phone call in which he asked for officials in Georgia to “find” him extra votes.
Trump repeats false 2020 election claims
The former president says he has been attacked with an “onslaught” of investigations, lashing out at numerous investigations against him and decrying his two previous impeachments.
“The only crime that I’ve committed is to fearlessly defend our nation from those who seek to destroy it,” he said.
“From the beginning, the Democrats spied on my campaign. Remember, they attacked me with an onslaught of fraudulent investigations – Russia, Russia, Russia, Ukraine. Ukraine. Ukraine impeachment hoax, number one. Impeachment hoax, number two.”
He also repeated false claims that widespread fraud had robbed him of reelection in 2020 when he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.
Trump takes stage at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida
The former president slowly walks through a crowd of supporters gathered in the Mar-a-Lago ballroom as he approaches the stage to speak.
He stops to shake hands and pose for mobile phone photos as the song “God Bless the USA” plays in the background.
Crowds gather in Mar-a-Lago before Trump speech
Trump supporters have filled the ballroom of the Mar-a-Lago resort, awaiting the former president’s first public remarks of the day, in a speech expected to begin shortly.
While Trump has not spoken since his arraignment in Manhattan earlier today, he has been active on the social media site Truth Social, where he shared videos of Republican figures declaring their support for him in interviews with Fox News.
‘Chaos’ of legal issues could hurt Trump election bid: Former Republican aide
An aide to the administration of Former President George W Bush, Matt Mackowiak, believes that Trump’s legal issues could become a rallying cry for voters in the Republican Party.
But, he warns, they could also alienate independent voters who see his legal troubles as a distraction from more substantive issues.
“There’s certainly been a rallying effect among Republican voters and Republican elected officials around Trump in the last 10 days. Whether that sustains in the next few weeks or few months is a huge question,” Mackowiak told Al Jazeera in a television interview.
“I think independent voters … are going to look at this and say, ‘This is chaos. It’s unpredictable. It’s drama, it doesn’t really affect my life.’ So unless he’s able to persuade people who haven’t supported him in the past to support him now, he’s not going to be in a better position November of next year if he’s the nominee.”
Other Trump investigations more serious than hush-money case: Expert
Bruce Fein, a former US associate deputy attorney general, told Al Jazeera he doubts the criminal charges in the hush-money case will significantly shift public opinion towards Trump.
“It’s not even close to January 6,” Fein said, referring to the 2021 storming of the US Capitol, led by Trump supporters.“I don’t think that this conviction on its own is going to say, ‘Well I have a whole new understanding of Mr Trump’.”
Fein does believe other criminal probes into Trump’s behaviour, including allegations of election meddling in Georgia, hold higher stakes for the ex-president.
“The stakes go to a different level when you talk about January 6 or the audio tape saying ‘Find 11,700 new votes for me’ in Georgia,” he said. “Those would be game-changers. This one? Probably not.”
Trump returns to Florida residence
Trump has arrived back in south Florida from New York.
He is scheduled to give a speech from the Mar-a-Lago resort at 8:15pm Eastern Standard Time (00:15 GMT).
The former president is likely to double down on claims that the charges against him are politically motivated as he tries to rally supporters to his side.
In posts on Truth Social over the last several days, Trump asked for donations and posted pictures of polls showing him leading Florida Governor Ron DeSantis among Republican voters who will decide on their party’s nomination later this year.
Senior New York Democrat defends Alvin Bragg
Jerrold Nadler, a senior House of Representatives Democrat from New York, has come to the defence of the Manhattan district attorney against what he called “political stunts” by Trump’s allies in Congress, saying that Alvin Bragg will not be intimidated.
“On its face, this indictment seems methodical and well-reasoned,” Nadler said in a statement.
Top House Republicans, including the chair of the judiciary panel Jim Jordan, have requested Bragg’s testimony and information about the Trump case.
“I do not know how this case will be decided but I do know DA Bragg will not be deterred or intimidated by the political stunts Jim Jordan and Kevin McCarthy throw at him,” Nadler said.
Read my statement on former President Trump's Indictment: pic.twitter.com/zYnGcBzeSr
— Rep. Nadler (@RepJerryNadler) April 4, 2023
Republican House speaker promises to hold prosecutor ‘accountable’
Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has dismissed the Manhattan district attorney’s assertion that Congress does not have the right to interfere in a local case in New York.
“Alvin Bragg is attempting to interfere in our democratic process by invoking federal law to bring politicized charges against President Trump, admittedly using federal funds, while at the same time arguing that the peoples’ representatives in Congress lack jurisdiction to investigate this farce,” McCarthy wrote on Twitter.
“Not so. Bragg’s weaponization of the federal justice process will be held accountable by Congress.”
Trump critic questions charges
Justin Amash, a Trump critic and former congressman who left the Republican Party in 2019, has questioned the charges against the former president, saying he was “stunned” that prosecutors moved forward with the case.
“It’s even flimsier than we were led to believe. Thirty-four stacked counts, bootstrapped to an unstated crime, to manufacture felony charges,” Amash said in a tweet.
Prosecutors are linking charges of falsifying business records to alleged election law violations centring on hush money payments to suppress embarrassing information about Trump ahead of the 2016 vote.
After reading DA Bragg’s indictment of Trump and accompanying statement of facts, I’m stunned any prosecutor would move forward with this. It’s even flimsier than we were led to believe. Thirty-four stacked counts, bootstrapped to an unstated crime, to manufacture felony charges.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) April 4, 2023
Manhattan District Attorney Bragg lays out case against Trump
‘There was nothing done illegally,’ Trump says
In his first public remarks after he was presented with criminal charges, Trump reiterated that he did nothing illegal.
“The hearing was shocking to many in that they had no ‘surprises,’ and therefore, no case,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social website.
“Virtually every legal pundit has said that there is no case here. There was nothing done illegally!”
Legal experts, including several interviewed by Al Jazeera, have expressed varying opinions about the case. Some have said it is winnable, while others predicted that prosecutors may have a hard time proving their complex allegations.
Trump ‘is in a lot of trouble’, says legal expert
Alan Baron, a prominent lawyer and former US prosecutor, has said that Trump “is in a lot of trouble”, stressing that the case against the former president is a strong one.
“It’s a very winnable case,” Baron told Al Jazeera, noting that the allegations against Trump do not entirely hang on the credibility of his former lawyer Michael Cohen.
Trump has tried to discredit Cohen, who served time in jail over the hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels, often calling him a liar.
Baron said Trump could “easily end up with a jail sentence”.
The law ‘finally caught up’ with Trump: Rashida Tlaib
Democratic Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib has slammed Trump, noting that the former president set another historic first with his arraignment.
“History will remember Donald Trump not only as the first president to be impeached twice, but the first president to be indicted on criminal charges,” Tlaib said in a statement.
Trump has previously directed bigoted attacks against Tlaib, telling the Palestinian-American congresswoman and her progressive colleagues in 2019 that they should “go back” to where they came from.
“Today, the law has finally caught up with Donald Trump and his corrupt and reckless behavior. No one is above the law, no matter how rich or powerful they are,” Tlaib said in her statement.
Trump says his campaign raised $10m since indictment
In an email to supporters after his court appearance, Trump said his campaign raised $10m since news of the indictment became public.
“While we are living through the darkest hours of American history, I can say that at least for this moment right now, I am in great spirits,” Trump said in the email.
‘I just hope he goes to jail’: Protester
Retired carpenter John Lee, 69, left Tuesday’s demonstrations on a motorbike outfitted with a US flag and a large sign that read, “Lock him up!”
Lee said he felt good about how the day unfolded outside the Manhattan Criminal Court.
“I just hope he goes to jail,” Lee said, adding: “I’m pretty sure he’s going to go to jail because, look, everybody else around him went to jail. So why can’t he go to jail? His lawyer went to jail. I mean, no one’s above the law.”
Alvin Bragg says Trump violated election laws
While Trump is being charged with falsifying business records, the offence is being tied to other alleged crimes related to the 2016 elections.
The links between the two sets of alleged offences make falsifying business records a felony, rather than a misdemeanor in New York.
And so, Trump is being accused of mischaracterising reimbursements for a payment made to porn star Stormy Daniels as part of a broader effort to hide embarrassing stories ahead of the elections, which prosecutors say is illegal.
“The scheme violated New York election law, which makes it a crime to conspire to promote a candidacy by unlawful means. The $130,000 wire payment exceeded the federal campaign contribution cap,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said.
Protesters start to leave lower Manhattan after Trump court proceedings
An hour after former President Trump’s motorcade departed lower Manhattan in New York City, hundreds of people have departed the area surrounding the courthouse.
Only a handful of protesters remain. Cable news crews are disassembling mountains of gear.
NYPD officers, many wearing expressions of exhaustion, look relieved that the heavy foot traffic in the area appears to be winding down. One officer in Foley Square tells Al Jazeera he hasn’t seen any arrests or violent outbreaks as of yet.
As police in Foley Square disassembled the barricades that separated Trump supporters from those backing his prosecution, a Black woman chanted “Trump is not above the law” while waving a flag. It’s harder than before to spot those in Trump’s camp.
Why now? Bragg says investigation was finally ready
District Attorney Bragg repeatedly faced questions about why Trump was indicted now, despite the investigation stretching on for years, and at times, appearing to be completely stalled.
“I’ve been doing this for 42 years, I’m no stranger to rigorous, complex investigations,” Bragg said. “Having now conducted a thorough, vigorous investigation, the case was ready to be brought, and it was brought”
However, he added, “We have had available to the office additional evidence that was not in the office’s possession prior to my time here.”
‘No matter who you are’: Prosecutor says Trump committed crimes
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has said the case is about Trump’s committing crimes in New York – namely falsifying business records to conceal payments that were made hide embarrassing information about Trump before the 2016 elections.
“These are felony crimes in New York State, no matter who you are. We cannot and will not normalise serious criminal conduct,” Bragg told reporters in his first public remarks after Trump’s arraignment.
Bragg stressed that the falsification of business records was done to hide another crime: violations of election campaign laws.
Cheques reimbursing Stormy Daniels payment signed by Trump: Prosecutors
Most of the cheques to reimburse Trump’s personal lawyer for the hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 elections were signed by Trump himself, prosecutors have said.
The reimbursements were mischaracterised as legal expenses to conceal their “true nature”, the Manhattan district attorney’s office said in a statement.
“In total, 11 checks were issued for a phony purpose. Nine of those checks were signed by TRUMP,” the office said.
“Each check was processed by the Trump Organization and illegally disguised as a payment for legal services rendered pursuant to a non-existent retainer agreement.”