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Former President Donald Trump is charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection with a scheme that directed hush money payments to two women before the 2016 presidential election.
The 16-page indictment was unsealed in New York court on Tuesday, where the 76-year-old Trump became the first former U.S. president ever to be arraigned on criminal charges.
The indictment says those payments were intended to suppress the claims by the women, porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal, claims that they had sex with Trump, in a bid to keep their stories from affecting Trump's chances against Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.
Prosecutors also said a Trump-friendly publishing company had paid $30,000 to a former Trump Tower doorman who claimed to have a story about Trump fathering a child out of wedlock.
All three payments were part of an alleged "catch and kill" scheme by Trump and others "to identify, purchase, and bury negative information about him and boost his electoral prospects."
Read the indictment against Trump
A prosecutor during the arraignment in Manhattan Supreme Court said that Trump's crimes had undermined the 2016 election.
"Not guilty," Trump said from his seat to Judge Juan Merchan.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg in a statement said, "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...
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