Former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty in New York City court Tuesday after being charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree.
The charges came out of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s years-long investigation.
Trump surrendered to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and was arraigned in court Tuesday afternoon after being indicted by a Manhattan grand jury last week.
The indictment was unsealed in court during Trump’s arraignment Tuesday. Trump was charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree.
Trump pleaded not guilty.
The former president of the United States, and the leading Republican presidential candidate for 2024, was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury Thursday after a years-long investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
The indictment was unsealed in court Tuesday before Judge Juan Merchan, the trial judge presiding over the case.
Trump was not handcuffed, as some are during an arraignment, after making arrangements with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. Detectives within the office handled the arrest of the former president.
The unprecedented arraignment and indictment of the former president comes after Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has been investigating Trump for hush money payments made leading up to the 2016 presidential election.
These include the $130,000 payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, and the $150,000 payment made to former Playboy model Karen McDougal. Both women were paid for their silence on alleged affairs with Trump — affairs Trump has repeatedly denied.
Those payments had been investigated by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York and by the Federal Election Commission.
Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York opted out of charging Trump related to the Daniels payment in 2019. The Federal Election Commission also tossed its investigation into the matter in 2021.
Trump has slammed the DA’s investigation and the indictment as “Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history.”