Updates from US correspondents Martha Kelner, Mark Stone and James Matthews. Live reporting by Guy Birchall, Bhvishya Patel and Lauren RussellDonald Trump has become the first current or former president to be charged with a crime - marking a new chapter in American history.Now the indictment - a formal charge - has been unsealed to the public, here are some of the charges facing Trump...
In the third instance, 12 days before the presidential general election Trump's special counsel allegedly wired $130,000 to an attorney for an adult film actress; Although the larger catch and kill scheme and the Karen McDougal payment is described, the actual charges appear to concern only those records intended to hide the payments to Michael Cohen for the Stormy Daniels settlement.Republican congressman Kevin McCarthy has accused New York district attorney Alvin Bragg of"weaponising the federal justice process" in brining these charges against Donald Trump.
"Virtually every legal pundit has said that there is no case here. There was nothing done illegally!"Our American partner network NBC reports that the judge said no parties were seeking a gag order and nor would he be granting one at this stage. Prosecutors say Donald Trump paid three people to keep quiet about affairs - in the so-called"catch and kill" scheme to bury negative information and boost election results.As Trump prepared to leave New York and head home to Florida this was the scene inside his Mar-a-Lago estate.
Setting out the case against Trump, he said the former president"repeatedly made false statements on New York business records" and caused others to make false statements. "Less than two weeks before the presidential election, Michael Cohen wired $130,000 to Stormy Daniels' lawyer," Mr Bragg continued."That is why Trump made false statements. He could not simply say the payments were a reimbursement for Mr Cohen's payments to Stormy Daniels. "Instead Trump said he was paying Mr Cohen for fictitious legal services in 2017, to cover up actual crime committed the prior year.
"I really believe this is politically motivated because what we have is a business recording crime which, even if were true, would be a misdemeanour and jumped it up to being a felony in a jurisdiction where 52% of violent felonies are reduced to misdemeanours. He added:"The problem here is that he is an anti-establishment figure who's taken on the two party duopoly.
Sky news, the British CNN
The. Most. Bigly. Awful. Coverage. Can. You. Keep. Spinning. This. Crap. Out. Until. Trump. Speaks. At. Mar. O. Lago? What a load of utter pish. 🙄😂
Is sky news going to tell us when he goes to the toilet? What is the point of following his plain in the sky wtf
FFS. Motorcade live. Will this free PR coverage ever end. Report when president fraud is in prison.
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Are sky still obsessing about this. Ffs there's stuff going on here in GB
Boris next
We all need a private jet
Trump is a great man indeed, may the good Lord be his strength Amen 🙏
Trump is the first criminal elected to the presidency.
Propaganda to get him reelected. Will probably use his 'mugshot' as part of his PR campaign. And the lemmings will lap it up. 'Hurray, the right butt cheek is going to oust the left butt cheek. That'll fix it!'
Starting to drag on a bit now, can we wrap this all up by the weekend maybe?
Stone_SkyNews And Four people who died at the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, and the five other law enforcement officers who died days, weeks and even months later - and the two civilians who died of natural causes were also 'genuinely affected' by the events incited by an unsympathetic Donald Trump.
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