Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is being called to resign by former President Donald Trump for supposedly leaking the points of indictment to the media. According to a source who knows about the procedures for the arraignment of the former president, he has been charged with 34 felony counts for falsification of business records, as per an exclusive report from Yahoo News on Monday.
In New York state, the charge of falsification of business records is typically considered a misdemeanor. However, Bragg’s office decided to increase the charges to Class E felonies, which is the lowest level of felony in New York’s penal code. The reason for the increase was that the behavior was meant to hide another illegal activity, as reported by the source.
According to the New York State penal code, falsifying business records is a Class E felony and can lead to a maximum prison sentence of four years. Nonetheless, it appears improbable that a first-time offender would receive jail time for this offense, as per a New York law enforcement official.
It is currently unclear what specific evidence led to Trump’s alleged misdemeanors being upgraded to felonies. The indictment, which will be revealed on Tuesday, is expected to shed light on the matter. However, it is believed that the charges are related to the payment of $130,000 in hush money to Stormy Daniels in the final weeks of the 2016 election. The payment was made to keep Daniels from revealing her extramarital affair with Trump.
After the report was published, President Trump took to his Truth Social account to express that Bragg had leaked the indictment unlawfully and demanded her resignation.
“Wow! District Attorney Bragg just illegally LEAKED the various points, and complete information, on the pathetic Indictment against me. I know the reporter and so, unfortunately, does he,” the former president wrote. “This means that he MUST BE IMMEDIATELY INDICTED. Now, if he wants to really clean up his reputation, he will do the honorable thing and, as District Attorney, INDICT HIMSELF. He will go down in Judicial history, and his Trump Hating wife will be, I am sure, very proud of him!”
“D.A. BRAGG JUST ILLEGALLY LEAKED THE 33 points of Indictment. There are no changes or surprises from those he leaked days ago directly out of the Grand Jury. No Crime by Trump. What a MESS. Bragg should resign, NOW!” he said in a subsequent post.
The former president is expected to appear in court without handcuffs for a perp walk and mugshot, which is likely to attract a lot of attention.
“Trump was offered a chance to surrender ‘quietly’ and be arraigned over Zoom, according to a law enforcement official involved with some of the planning, told Rolling Stone; however, the former president instead wanted to have a ‘midday, high-profile’ at the Manhattan courthouse,” said the report.
“The law enforcement official acknowledged that this would be a ‘nightmare’ for the Secret Service because they could only strongly suggest what the former president should do at his arraignment and not order him around,” it added.
EXCLUSIVE: Trump is demanding a high-profile surrender to NY authorities. “He wanted a perp walk, he wanted daylight hours,” one source tells @RollingStone . “He wants to get out of the vehicle and walk up the stairs.”https://t.co/CxcFY16W96
— Noah Shachtman (@NoahShachtman) April 3, 2023