Donald Trump is preparing to plead not guilty to charges against him for bribing a porn actress, in the first criminal indictment against a former US president, which he has called “surreal”.
The ex-president is accused of paying $130,000 to the porn star Stormy Daniels in the final stretch of the 2016 electoral campaign to keep quiet about an alleged extramarital relationship that occurred ten years earlier and that he has always denied.
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Trump, technically in court custody, first appeared at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, which is led by District Attorney Alvin Bragg, where he submitted to the usual protocol of any defendant: taking fingerprints and photos for the judicial record, although various media outlets have stated that the photographs will probably not be taken.
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Later, around 2:30 p.m. (6:30 p.m. GMT), with a serious face and without answering the journalists’ questions He went to the room where the judge of Colombian origin, Juan Merchán, read him the charges.until then sealed, which will make him the first president to sit on the bench for a criminal process.
The press speculates that there will be about thirty, related to falsification of commercial records. His then lawyer Michael Cohen was in charge of making the payment and the magnate reimbursed him the fractional sum allegedly passing it off as professional bills.
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Unbelievable humiliating images of a former President of the United States, candidate for the American Presidential Election, at arrest (sans menottes) puis déféré devant un juge… 😳#Trump pic.twitter.com/D17ZTIiwKv
— Strategieduchoc 🇫🇷 (@strategieduchoc) April 4, 2023
Both the Republican magnate and his lawyers have insisted on the nonsense of the cause. In full electoral campaign to get the nomination of the Republican Party For the 2024 elections, the 76-year-old tycoon denounces that he is the victim of a “witch hunt”.
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The historic judicial appearance of the former president “not a priority” for his successor Joe Biden, the White House spokeswoman said Tuesday. “Obviously he will follow some of the news when he has a moment to catch up on the news, but this is not a priority for him,” spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said.
AFP
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