Former U.S. President Donald Trump arrives at an occasion Mar-a-Lago in West Palm Beach, Florida on Tuesday after pleading not responsible to 34 felony counts.

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Former U.S. President Donald Trump arrives at an occasion Mar-a-Lago in West Palm Beach, Florida on Tuesday after pleading not responsible to 34 felony counts.

Alex Wong/Getty Images

Former President Donald Trump has pleaded not responsible to 34 felony counts. The fees stem from an investigation led by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who alleges that Trump falsified enterprise data to hide damaging info from 2016 election voters.

Trump is the first former president to face criminal charges – and he is already turning the fees into narrative fodder for his re-election bid.

Here’s a information to what we all know.

What was Trump charged with?

The indictment unsealed Tuesday contains 34 counts of falsifying business records with “intent to commit another crime and aid and conceal the commission thereof.” That’s a Class E felony — the bottom stage of felony within the state of New York.

Each verify processed by the Trump Organization and disguised as a month-to-month fee for authorized companies below a retainer settlement, prosecutors say. “In truth, there was no retainer agreement,” reads a press release of undeniable fact that accompanied the fees.

“Manhattan is home to the country’s most significant business market,” Bragg mentioned in a press release on the charges. “We cannot allow New York businesses to manipulate their records to cover up criminal conduct.”

What do we all know in regards to the ‘catch and kill’ scheme?

Bragg’s case rests on the concept that Trump often employed a “catch and kill” scheme to bury unfavourable info.

Prosecutors cited three events wherein they are saying Trump “orchestrated” such a scheme with executives at American Media Inc., the corporate that publishes the National Enquirer. All three occurred after Trump introduced his candidacy for president in June of 2015.

The first occasion got here that fall, when AMI paid $30,000 to a former Trump Tower doorman who claimed to have a narrative a few little one that Trump had allegedly fathered outdoors of his marriage.

Even because the journal concluded that the story was not true, executives agreed to not launch the doorman from the settlement till after the election, prosecutors say, and the fee was “falsely characterized” in AMI’s books and data.

The second occasion occurred in June of 2016 when Karen McDougal, a former Playboy playmate, alleged that she had an affair with Trump whereas he was married. Trump, Cohen and AMI’s CEO David Pecker “had a series of discussions about who should pay off [MacDougal] to secure her silence,” prosecutors say.

Ultimately, AMI paid her $150,000 “on the understanding” from Cohen that Trump or his enterprise would reimburse the writer. (On the recommendation of AMI’s common counsel, that reimbursement by no means occurred.)

The last incident was the $130,000 fee to grownup movie actress Stormy Daniels in October 2016, simply earlier than the election, to suppress her allegations of an affair at a star golf match in 2006.

Trump has denied all three tales in regards to the affairs.

What will prosecutors must show?

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg speaks throughout a press convention outdoors the Manhattan Federal Court on Tuesday.

Angela Weiss/AFP through Getty Images

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Angela Weiss/AFP through Getty Images

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg speaks throughout a press convention outdoors the Manhattan Federal Court on Tuesday.

Angela Weiss/AFP through Getty Images

Under New York state legislation, the falsification of a enterprise report is simply a felony if it was achieved with the intent to hide or commit one other crime.

In a information convention held after Trump’s look in court docket on Tuesday afternoon, Bragg clarified what prosecutors view as two possible other crimes in the Trump case.

The first is New York state election legislation, “which makes it a crime to conspire to promote a candidacy by unlawful means,” Bragg mentioned. In this case, that “could include” false statements, just like the misrepresentation to tax authorities of the funds to Michael Cohen.

The second is federal election legislation, which caps the quantity that may be donated to candidates in federal elections.

The indictment doesn’t specify these different crimes. Bragg mentioned he views New York state legislation as not requiring prosecutors to take action.

How is Trump reacting?

Trump, who was twice impeached as president and nonetheless secured a record-breaking number of electoral votes, tried to capitalize on the narrative potential of his day in court docket.

He departed the courthouse in a motorcade that main cable information networks tracked with helicopter footage. His 2024 election marketing campaign started offering a T-shirt with a fake mug shot for a $47 donation.

And to shut out a full day of media consideration, Trump took the stage at Mar-a-Lago earlier than an viewers of his supporters to assault the fees as political persecution.

“I never thought anything like this would happen in America,” Trump mentioned to kick off his speech. “The only crime I have committed is to fearlessly defend our nation from those who seek to destroy it.”

In remarks that lasted simply round 25 minutes, Trump dismissed the opposite investigations he is dealing with, mentioned DA Bragg had “no case” and attacked Judge Juan Merchan and his household as “Trump-hating” individuals.

Despite being on high alert throughout the day, Manhattan noticed solely small gatherings of Trump supporters close to the courthouse, with reporters largely outnumbering the protestors.

But Trump’s supporters are clearly displaying him help in different methods. His marketing campaign had raised $10 million off the information of the indictment, in accordance with adviser Jason Miller.

Across the GOP, Trump’s allies and his critics adopted comparable messaging, with even Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, accusing Bragg of pushing “a political agenda.”

And as a measure of how that messaging lands, a Quinnipiac ballot launched Wednesday discovered that two-thirds of all respondents think that the charges in New York are not that serious. Six in 10 say the investigation is politically motivated.

What occurs subsequent?

It might be some time till the trial really will get underway.

Merchan set the subsequent main court docket date as Dec. 4. The prosecution is pushing for opening arguments to start someday in January 2024, however Trump’s protection requested for a number of extra months, perhaps someday in spring 2024. That’s proper within the coronary heart of major season, which might complicate the previous president’s reelection bid.

The protection could attempt to file motions to delay the case, together with shifting the venue out of Manhattan, the place voters overwhelmingly voted towards Trump within the 2020 presidential election.

And then there’s the timing problems that would come up if Trump is charged in one of many different three investigations he is dealing with.

Legal specialists anticipated the Manhattan DA case to be “potentially the weakest” of the investigations, studies NPR’s Justice Correspondent Carrie Johnson.

In Georgia’s Fulton County, prosecutors are inspecting Trump’s position in pressuring native officers to falsely overturn the 2020 election results.

And simply earlier than Tuesday’s listening to in New York, a federal appeals court docket in Washington, D.C., allowed a Department of Justice investigation into Trump to proceed. The court docket dominated that Special Counsel Jack Smith can query prime Trump aides on his actions in Jan. 6 and dealing with of labeled paperwork, Johnson studies.

NPR’s Washington Desk, National Desk, Ximena Bustillo and Rachel Treisman contributed reporting.

This reporting initially appeared in our live blog. Revisit how the news unfolded.