TRUMP PLEADS NOT GUILTY TO 34 CRIMINAL CHARGES IN NEW YORK

Former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty in a historic moment for the United States on Tuesday to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, as prosecutors accused him of paying two women to suppress their accounts of sexual encounters with him.

The indictment, unsealed after Trump’s court appearance along with a statement of facts, alleged that Trump and others violated election laws through a scheme to suppress the publication of negative information about him ahead of the 2016 U.S. election. The two women were adult film actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal.

Wearing a dark blue suit and red tie, Trump, the first sitting or former U.S. president to face criminal charges, sat with his hands folded at the defense table as he entered his plea flanked by his lawyers.