The indictment filed against Donald Trump was finally unsealed Tuesday, charging the ex-president with a stunning 34 felony counts tied to falsifying business records - claiming he orchestrated a scheme to “influence the 2016 presidential election” and continued to break the law after taking office, Trend reports citing New York Post.
Trump, 76, pleaded not guilty in court to the charges brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg in Manhattan Supreme Court, marking the first time a current or former US president has been indicted and arraigned for a crime.
If convicted, Trump is likely to face far less than the 136-year maximum sentence. Falsifying business records is a misdemeanor in New York, but can be upgraded to a felony if the action is done to hide other crimes.
A Manhattan grand jury hearing evidence and witness testimony in the DA’s “hush money” probe voted to indict Trump last Thursday, though the court document was sealed until the 2024 White House hopeful’s arraignment Tuesday.
In a statement following the arraignment Bragg said Trump “repeatedly and fraudulently falsified New York business records to conceal crimes that hid damaging information from the voting public during the 2016 presidential election.