Former President Donald Trump has been charged with 34 felony counts after surrendering to authorities on Tuesday. He entered a plea of not guilty before New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan on all counts.
Trump was released after a 56-minute hearing. He did not answer any questions from reporters.
All 34 counts are for falsifying business records in the first degree, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said.
SEE MORE: Read the Statement of Facts and the Indictment.
Video cameras were not allowed into the courtroom.
Trump was under investigation for alleged hush payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels through his attorney Michael Cohen. The payments were made in the leadup to the 2016 presidential election.
Bragg accused Trump of concealing damaging information and unlawful activity from American voters before and after the 2016 election.
His office alleged three instances of Trump employing catch and kill schemes to conceal information. Those payments, according to Bragg, became illegal by allegedly making false entries in business records.
One of the payments was allegedly made by American Media Inc., the publishers of the National Enquirer, to a former Trump Tower doorman.
A second alleged payment AMI made was to a woman who alleged she had a sexual relationship with Trump.
A third alleged payment was made by a Trump lawyer just days before the presidential election for $130,000. Trump attorney Michael Cohen has previously confirmed that he facilitated a $130,000 payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
The People of the State of New York allege that Donald J. 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, Bragg said in a statement. Manhattan is home to the countrys most significant business market. We cannot allow New York businesses to manipulate their records to cover up criminal conduct.
Bragg took evidence to a grand jury. The grand jury consisted of 23 members who met in secret.
After previously expressing reservations about the case, Bragg said new evidence and witnesses gave him what he needed to pursue an indictment.
At least 12 of the 23 grand jurors agreed that there was probable cause meaning it was likely but not certain that a crime was committed.
Grand jurors are required to keep proceedings a secret. Most of what has been revealed about Trump’s grand jury proceeding came from witnesses, who aren’t under the same obligation to remain quiet.
It could take months, if not over a year, for Trump to go to trial.
Getting convicted is a much higher bar than being charged.
Grand jurors can still vote for an indictment even if they believe there is reasonable doubt so long they believe it is likely a crime was committed.
While its unknown whether Trumps case will be decided by a jury or a judge, prosecutors must prove Trump committed a crime beyond a reasonable doubt.
Michael Scotto, who previously led the Manhattan District Attorneys racketeering bureau, previously said the case against Trump is not a slam-dunk.
I’m not being critical of the prosecutions case, but there certainly are issues here that would cause a judge to take some time and review the evidence and the nature of the charges and the applicable law, Scotto said. If I had to say, we will not have this case go to trial for another year just on the basis of motions.