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KUALA LUMPUR – Former US president Donald Trump has been charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records allegedly for the purpose of influencing the 2016 presidential election, including the use of hush money to keep a lid on extramarital affairs.
World media reported Trump, the first former US president to be charged, pleaded not guilty to the charges in a Manhattan court yesterday.
In court documents on the charges’ statement of facts now available online, Trump is accused of a scheme to influence the 2016 presidential election “by identifying and purchasing negative information about him to suppress its publication and benefit the defendant’s electoral prospects”.
These include payments to a former porn star and a Playboy model. The media reported these persons as Stormy Daniels, who claimed a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006, and Karen McDougal, who had wanted to go public about her affair with Trump ahead of the election.
Another person Trump is accused of having paid hush money to is a former doorman who worked at Trump Tower, who claims that the ex-president had fathered a child out of wedlock.
Trump has denied these claims and consistently called them “political persecution”.
The Guardian’s report described Trump arriving at the court looking visibly angry, escorted by two US secret service agents and state court officers.
Scores of supporters gathered to greet him and as well as opponents who were kept apart on separate sides of a park near the court building.
The court has set the next date of proceedings for December.
Trump, who has announced intentions to run for a second term as president in the 2024 elections, is also facing criminal investigations over the US Capitol attack on January 6, keeping classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence and alleged interference in the 2020 Georgia election.
Earlier yesterday, before arriving at the court, Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social, “Seems so SURREAL – WOW, they are going to ARREST ME. Can’t believe this is happening in America. MAGA!”. – The Vibes, April 5, 2023