Prosecutors detail Trump's alleged hush money 'scheme' to influence 2016 election
Last edited Tue Apr 4, 2023, 07:27 PM - Edit history (1)
Source: ABC News
Former President Donald Trump engaged in a "scheme" to boost his election chances during the 2016 presidential race through a series of hush money payments made by others to help his campaign, and then "repeatedly and fraudulently falsified New York business records" to conceal that criminal conduct, Manhattan prosecutors alleged as part of their charges against the former president Tuesday.
A "statement of facts" accompanying the 34-count indictment alleges that Trump discussed the scheme while he was in the Oval Office and made reimbursement payments to his lawyer for a year while he was in office.
Trump, who has denied all wrongdoing, entered a plea of not guilty to all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to one of those 2016 hush money payments.
Prosecutors said the efforts began in 2015 with an agreement with the CEO of National Enquirer publisher AMI to suppress damaging information, and included payments to two women who claimed to have had long-denied affairs with Trump, as well as a former Trump Tower doorman who claimed to have a story about a child Trump had out of wedlock that was untrue.
Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/US/trump-charged-34-felony-counts-falsifying-business-records/story?id=98330688
Copy of the indictment is here (PDF) - https://manhattanda.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Donald-J.-Trump-Indictment.pdf
Statement of Facts (PDF) - https://manhattanda.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Donald-J.-Trump-SOF.pdf
Was streaming ABC and caught some snapshots of the event including going to the courtroom -
Article updated.
Original article/headline -
Former President Donald Trump was formally charged in New York City Tuesday with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to 2016 hush money payments, according to the Manhattan district attorney's office.
Michael Cohen, Trump's former personal attorney, paid $130,000 to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in the closing days of the 2016 presidential campaign to keep her quiet about an affair she claimed to have had with Trump, which Trump has long denied.
Prosecutors with the Manhattan district attorney's office say that Trump illegally falsified business records when his reimbursement of the funds to Cohen was logged in the Trump Organization's books as a "monthly retainer" for Cohen's legal services. The former president, who has denied all wrongdoing, entered a plea of not guilty to all charges.
In a statement, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said that Trump was accused of "falsifying New York business records in order to conceal damaging information and unlawful activity from American voters before and after the 2016 election."
= new reply since forum marked as read
Enjoy fatboy!
but this was basically every "faked" record that justified a check that was written out, became a charge.
When he was reimbursing Cohen, he didn't do it in one big check, he did it "monthly" over about a year, with approx. the same amount of a check each month (~$30,000 each and the total had a little markup of "extra" at the end). Similar apparently happened with reimbursing Weisselberg. In both of those cases, it was associated with paying off women who had contact with 45. And what was also confirmed was the doorman who was also paid off. I remember a long time ago (I guess right around the 2016 election) some story about a "doorman" and Melania, if that is the same one! 
He must have thought it was a competition. 
So he had to out do every crooked President and he's been charged with falsifying tax records before.
SUCCESS!!!
But actually the REASON the counts are separated:
Is so that (in general) if a defendant had some expenses that were legit and only some were illegal, only the bad ones would be counted against them and that might reduce the severity of the crime and go towards a more lenient sentence.
Say for instance a regular employee got paid weekly for 3 years, but one time a "bonus" was given to him to go pay someone off, only the actual instance that was illegal and not all the other checks written for 3 years would be considered in this charge.
If on the other hand, the employee was hired for the specific purpose of doing this activity and every check had an overage that went somewhere illegal, each count could spell 4 years of jail time.
FALSIFYING BUSINESS RECORDS IN THE FIRST DEGREE, well it's a start to his downfall. 
LOL
(the branding of that platform is as tacky as he is )
I would rather hear from any other former president - and it doesn't help that his attorneys (as Rachel is reading right now) still refer to this impeached disgraced criminal as "president." 
as she read from the transcript. Will have to see if he does whatever remarks "live" or maybe records a video to air at the supposed scheduled time ( "8:15 pm" ) or later, where everything is coiffed and controlled. 
She usually has some cooking channel on, but she handed me the remote control, LOL. I filled her in and she was aggravated that there as no gag order. The judge gave him a warning, but we also heard that he not only threatened the DA, the judge, but also their wives - and children! He really is asking for it, still believes he's above the law.
talking about his sojourn through the 45 supporters outside the courthouse where he said one guy recognized him and started yelling at him and tried to get his buddies to do the same and didn't get any response. I laughed to myself saying that this is because all they do is watch Faux all day. 
45 is about to speak now - CNN has it but thankfully MSNBC is ignoring it.
My friend had three who her daughter rescued, so gave me one at Christmas, think I mentioned that. 
And thanks for the good news, just heard Rachel say that they don't broadcast "untruths," and I sure couldn't stand to hear him. I discussed with my dentist that it's been years since we got international news (Ukraine, earthquakes, elections), it's still TFG all the time! 
And I like how Rachel put it regarding their decision not to cover 45. Agree that they have given him too many hours of "free" campaign air time. Whenever anyone shows him, I hit the mute.
I imagine you saw it, too - just a still pic of TFG looking bored (sitting with his table of attorneys) on most of the time - and she has a very large TV screen. 
And this kitty is a real sweetheart, he was the only boy and very large (he just turned 5 last week) and my friend said he intimidated the littlest kitty so she talked her daughter into letting me take him. I'd made a fuss over him before since he looks so much like the kitty I knew and loved at my grandmother's house when I was really little. He really belonged to my Dad's youngest brother who had him since he was a kitten, but he was away at school at the time. The difference is that this cat likes me! 
I did hear the young reporter from the Guardian - Hugo Lowell describe how fearful and depressed 45 looked and he had never seen him like that during all the time he has covered him.
And I bet your little guy is feeling the love! 
It might be easier at that age because he should already be litter trained and is not jumping and leaping around as much as a tiny kitten.
And they had reporters on the phone and others apparently in the studio - I've watched often enough that I could recognize voices, Ari Melber, Andrew Weissmann and Neal Katyal.
And this is not a little kitty, he must weigh almost as much as my dog, LOL. But he's settled in, has his "spots," though his first night was a nightmare, he hid and I couldn't find him! And it didn't help that my friend's husband initially put the wrong cat in my carrier by mistake! 
and noticed the blip that MSNBC did show while indicating that they wouldn't be showing the rest, had him looking pretty lethargic.
And I have found that cats are good at "hiding" in the most inconvenient places when getting adjusted to a new home. I have had to dig both of my sisters' cats out of some wild places although the tuxie is good about not going under the sofa (at least so far).
And that's funny about the cat being almost the same size as your little doggy. I wouldn't be surprised if they start "sharing" food. My sis texted a pic of her cat eating out of her dog's bowl and mentioned how the dog will take the cat's food bowl and hide it under a table.
He rarely makes sense when he's in "top form" - for him...
And that cat hiding issue has happened before. I once "cat sat" for a friend who was away. Amos completely disappeared and I looked everywhere! My mother was terrified that he got out - but how?? And then at about 2am I finally found him, just sitting under a chair like he'd been there all night! And cats can squish into small spaces. That's where Nicky (that's his name) was, under a sofa with only an inch or two of clearance! We had to lift it to get him out. But fortunately he's discovered his favorite "spots," one of them is looking out at the back yard where we occasionally have wildlife (mostly bunnies) and now he has a light out there so he can watch them at night.
