Donald Trump lashes out at ‘crooked Biden henchmen’ on eve of his NYC hush money trial as he lashes out at lawyer Alvin Bragg for ‘rigging the election’
Donald Trump has lashed out at ‘crooked Joe Biden henchmen’ as the former president prepares to start his Stormy Daniels hush money trial in NYC.
In a post on his Truth Social page, the 77-year-old said: ‘Tomorrow morning I’m in criminal court, before a totally conflicted judge, a corrupt prosecutor, a legal system in CHAOS.
‘A state overrun with violent crime and corruption and Crooked Joe Biden’s henchmen ‘Rigging the System’ against his political opponent, ME!
‘I will fight for myself, but much more importantly, I will fight for our country.
– Election interference like this has never happened in the United States before and hopefully will never happen again. We are now a nation in serious decline, a failing nation, but we will soon be a great nation again.’
Trump faces 34 felony charges stemming from allegations that he falsified business records in an attempt to cover up an alleged sexual encounter with the porn star that took place a decade before he ran for president in 2016.
The case focuses on about $130,000 paid to Daniels prior to the presidential election to keep her quiet about their alleged affair
In his post, Trump said New York state was run by ‘Biden’s henchmen’ who are ‘rigging the system’ against him
Stormy Daniels with Donald Trump in 2006, at the time of the alleged affair
The trial against the former president could be the first of four criminal cases against Trump to go to trial this year as he runs for a second term in the White House.
The case focuses on about $130,000 paid to Daniels prior to the presidential election to keep her quiet about their alleged affair.
In the indictment first filed against Trump in April 2023, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg accused the former president of falsifying New York business records to hide damaging information and illegal activity from voters.
Bragg alleges that Trump and others engaged in a ‘catch and kill’ scheme to bury negative information about him and went to great lengths to conceal his conduct, including making dozens of false entries in business records to hide criminal activity.
Trump pleaded not guilty to all 34 counts last spring.
While prosecutors have not released an official list of potential witnesses to take the stand, some of the people in Trump’s former circuit who are expected to testify at trial include his lawyer Michael Cohen.
Cohen, Trump’s longtime personal lawyer and fixer turned fierce critic, is expected to take the stand as his activities are at the center of the hush money case.
Trump claimed he paid Cohen for legal services performed in 2017 in payments over nine months, but the Manhattan district attorney’s office claims the former president reimbursed Cohen for the $130,000 payments he ordered Cohen to make to Daniels ahead of the 2016 election.
Prosecutors allege Cohen also coordinated with the National Enquirer’s publisher to pay former Playboy model Karen McDougal $150,000 to suppress her accounts of sexual encounters with Trump in a practice known as catch-and-kill.
New York DA Alvin Bragg speaks after Trump appears at the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse following his indictment following an investigation into hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels
Daniels, alias Stephanie Clifford, is also expected to testify in the trial as the woman at the center of the hush money payment case.
Trump’s namesake then repaid Cohen $420,000 in a handful of installments, prosecutors said.
Last month, Trump’s legal team tried to block Cohen from testifying. Trump’s lawyer claimed Cohen had a history of lying and would lie again during the trial, according to the court document.
In 2018, Cohen pleaded guilty to violating campaign finance laws regarding the Daniels payments and lying to Congress.
He was sentenced to prison in December and served thirteen and a half months behind bars and a year and a half in the home.
Ahead of the hush money trial, Cohen told the Playbook Deep Dive podcast that he thinks people will be surprised by the corroborating evidence brought forward in the case
Daniels, alias Stephanie Clifford, is also expected to testify in the trial as the woman at the center of the hush money payment case.
Daniels, 45, claims that in 2006 she had a sexual encounter with Trump, who at the time was already married to Melania Trump.
Michael Cohen arrives at New York Supreme Court on October 25, 2023 in New York
Trump (L) awaits the start of a hearing at the New York Criminal Court in New York, New York, USA, March 25, 2024
Daniels in 2018 told 60 Minutes she met Trump at an event in Nevada in 2006 and he invited her to dinner.
She said she met him in his hotel suite where they had sex. Daniels said Trump later invited her to other events in New York and California.
Prosecutors allege that in October 2016, just before the election, Trump’s fixer Michael Cohen awarded Daniels’ lawyer $130,000 to keep her quiet about their meetings out of concern that it could hurt his chances of winning the presidency.
Trump denies having an affair with Daniels. At a news conference at Mar-a-Lago on Friday, he said: ”It’s a scam. It’s not a lawsuit. It’s a scam’.’
He said he would testify, even as the judge declined to postpone the trial because of the huge amount of publicity surrounding the case.
His legal team has consistently argued that there is no way the prominent Republican can get a fair trial because the majority of the city leans Democratic.
If convicted, Trump could face up to four years in prison for each of the 34 charges against him.
However, the 77-year-old is more likely to face probation due to being a first-time offender in the state.