Your Indictment news for April 4, 2023
Hi there,
Holy cow, what a long day. I'm fresh (if you can call it that) off watching Trump's speech from Mar-a-Lago tonight—which was a bad decision—but today Trump really did get arrested and we learned the charges against him, and I got to watch a motorcade drive around New York City, so it wasn't all a loss.
Anyway, before we get to it, just a quick note that these updates are written by me, Dan Sinker (hello!). It's a one-person operation and is offered to you entirely free because, like I said, I make bad decisions. But! Tips are very welcome via PayPal, Venmo, or CashApp. Your support means a lot.
OK, here we go:
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Previously: On March 30th, former president Donald Trump was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury impaneled by New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Until today, however, we haven't known the specifics of the charges against him. Now we do...
Today, Tuesday, April 4, 2023
Donald Trump has been charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, marking the first time a US president has ever been charged with a crime. The large number of charges is due to each business record—we're talking check stubs, invoices, and accounting ledger entries—receiving its own count. The business records date back to 2017 and appear to all relate to the $130,000 hush-money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels by Trump's then-lawyer Michael Cohen and his subsequent reimbursement by the Trump Organization. The counts are nearly identical, each alleging that the records were falsified with "intent to commit another crime and aid and conceal the commission thereof." This part is crucial, because falsifying business records is only a misdemeanor in New York. To qualify as a felony, the falsifying needs to have been done in service of committing or concealing another crime. More on that in a second. (Source: original document)
Accompanying the charges was a Statement of Fact that built a larger narrative around the case than the narrow charges offered. In it, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg outlined a "scheme" Trump hatched "with others," including Michael Cohen and former American Media Inc CEO David Pecker, to purchase "negative information about him to suppress its publication and benefit the Defendant's electoral prospects." Bragg cited hush money payments made not only to Stormy Daniels, but also to a Trump Tower doorman and another woman. While the Statement of Fact outlines what amounts to a conspiracy between Trump, Cohen, Pecker, and others, it is important to note that conspiracy was not charged today, only falsifying business records. (Source: original document)
So OK that's all good, but no conspiracy was charged and falsifying business records on its own isn't a felony, so what were the crimes that these business records were falsified to conceal? At a press conference this afternoon, DA Bragg explained that, while the law does not require the charges to include that information, the potential crimes include violations of New York State election law, which Bragg said "makes it a crime to conspire to promote a candidacy by unlawful means," making false statements in misrepresenting things like the reimbursement of Michael Cohen to tax authorities as legal expenses, and breaking federal election law, which limits the total amount that can be donated to a campaign. (Source: NPR)
The charges were unsealed as part of Trump's Big Day at the Manhattan Criminal Courts Building, where he was arrested, booked, and fingerprinted on the 7th floor (no mugshot was taken, sorry) and then arraigned in the courtroom of state Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan on the 15th floor, where he plead not guilty to the 34 counts against him. Cameras were everywhere, following by air as his motorcade left Trump Tower and drove down Manhattan, perched on street corners as the entourage drove by, waiting in the hallway of the 15th floor—framed on a set of black double doors that Trump eventually walked through, looking dour, before entering the courtroom—and waiting from a distance at LaGuardia for Trump's quick exit from New York after the arraignment wrapped. Before the whole whirlwind began, en-route to the Criminal Courts Building, Trump posted to Truth Social that it was "SURREAL" and, honestly, it really was. (Source: CBS News)
Back at Mar-a-Lago this evening, Trump gave a prime-time speech where he devoted a short amount of time to decrying the indictment ("it never should have been brought"), DA Bragg ("racist"), and Judge Merchan ("a Trump-hating judge with a Trump-hating wife and family"), and a long amount of time playing whac-a-mole with a litany of grievances. CNN cut away after 40 minutes and I took that as my cue to jet as well. It had been a long day. (Source: Politico)
So what now? Mostly, we wait. Despite the high-profile nature of the defendent, this is a criminal trial in the New York court system and things will move at a very deliberate pace. The next procedural hearing is scheduled for December 4th—yes, you read that right—and, if the case is not dismissed at that hearing (which Trump's attorney's are certain to request) a trial won't happen until sometime next year. In the near term, the next thing that will happen is the discovery phase, where prosecutors will turn over the evidence they have amassed to the defense. After that point, which might take a month or two, Merchan says he will decide on a trail date. (Source: Insider)
What's coming next: There will likely be some short-term fall-out from the events of today and then some long-term waiting. There is also the possibility that other indictments in Georgia and at the federal level might drop before too long.
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OK! So it seems like things might start slowing down for a bit, so here is my promise to you: I'm not going to send out updates if there isn't something worth updating. That means these emails might be slightly less frequent than they've been, we'll have to see. However, I'm in this for the long haul—because, again, I make bad decisions—so I'm not really going anywhere. I've totally just jinxed all this haven't I?? This is my daily life for the next two years isn't it??? Oh god.
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I'm glad you're here,
Dan