Donald Trump court case as it happened: defiant ex-President says US is ‘going to hell’ as he attacks case
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A defiant Donald Trump has claimed to be the victim of election interference as he delivered an address in Florida just hours after his historic arraignment.
Trump flew back to Florida from New York after pleading not guilty to 34 felony charges of falsifying business records in the first degree in a Manhattan courthouse. The appearance marked the first time a former US President has faced criminal charges, which stem from hush money payments made ahead of his successful 2016 Presidential campaign to porn star Stormy Daniels.
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Hide AdThe 74-year-old made a rousing speech to a crowd of some 500 loyal supporters in his Mar-a-Lago estate ballroom on Tuesday night where he portrayed himself as a political martyr. The crowd at Mar-a-Lago included supporters like failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake and long-time ally Roger Stone. Trump’s wife, Melania, was absent from his side and was also not seen with him in New York.
Follow NationalWorld's live blog below for the latest updates, reaction and analysis on this extraordinary episode in US politics.
Donald Trump in court - live
Key Events
Third hush money payment in charges
It was widely reported ahead of the indictments being unsealed, that Donald Trump's charges related to hush money payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal. However there was a alleged payment, in the charges, which was not known about previously.
My colleague Imogen Howse writes that prosecutors said American Media Inc (AMI), publisher of The National Enquirer, the supermarket tabloid that was allied with Trump, was said to have paid $30,000 (£24,000) to a former doorman at Trump Tower, who claimed to have a story about Trump fathering a child out of wedlock.
More detail on alleged hush money payments to the doorman
One of the hush money agreements revealed in the indictment was of a $30,000 payment made to a former Trump Tower doorman, my colleague Imogen Howse reports. He who claimed to have a story about an out-of-wedlock child fathered by Trump.
It says the payment was made by America Media Inc (AMI), the publisher of The National Enquirer - the supermarket tabloid that was allied with Trump.
The indictment’s statement of facts read: “In or about October or November 2015, the AMI CEO learned that a former Trump Tower doorman, (the “Doorman”), was trying to sell information regarding a child that the defendant had allegedly fathered out of wedlock. At the direction of AMI’s CEO, AMI negotiated and signed an agreement to pay the Doorman $30,000 to acquire exclusive rights to the story.”
The document claimed that the information was purchased without “fully investigating the claims”, but that the AMI CEO “directed that the deal take place” because of his “agreement with the Defendant and Lawyer A.” Lawyer A is understood to be Trump’s former attorney, Michael Cohen.
AMI later came to believe that the story was not true, according to the statement of facts, but was “instructed” by Lawyer A (Cohen) “not to release the Doorman until after the [2016] presidential election”. The AMI CEO complied with that instruction, the document concluded.
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