READ: Manhattan DA Releases Indictment Against Trump Alleging Hush Money Payments to Cover Up Three Scandals

AP Photo/Seth Wenig

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg released a 34-count indictment against former President Donald Trump Tuesday afternoon, shortly after the ex-president was arraigned.

Bragg had been investigating Trump over allegedly falsifying business records to hide a hush money payment to allegedly cover up an extramarital affair. Trump flew to New York Monday and surrendered himself to authorities Tuesday. He was charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records, which is a Class E Felony under New York law, and pled not guilty to all.

The indictment relates only to various hush money payments Trump allegedly directed to be made, not other financial improprieties within the Trump Organization, as some media observers had speculated could be the case.

In a press release posted on his office’s website, Bragg said that the indictment was for “falsifying New York business records in order to conceal damaging information and unlawful activity from American voters before and after the 2016 election,” accusing Trump of employing a “‘catch and kill’ scheme to identify, purchase, and bury negative information about him and boost his electoral prospects,” and going “to great lengths to hide this conduct, causing dozens of false entries in business records to conceal criminal activity, including attempts to violate state and federal election laws.”

The specific details include three alleged hush money payments made by a “Special Counsel,” presumably former Trump attorney Michael Cohen (the Statement of Facts for the indictment describes this attorney as having “since pleaded guilty to making an illegal campaign contribution and served time in prison,” which applies to Cohen):

In one instance, American Media Inc. (“AMI”), paid $30,000 to a former Trump Tower doorman, who claimed to have a story about a child TRUMP had out of wedlock.

In a second instance, AMI paid $150,000 to a woman who alleged she had a sexual relationship with TRUMP. When TRUMP explicitly directed a lawyer who then worked for the Trump Organization as TRUMP’s Special Counsel (“Special Counsel”) to reimburse AMI in cash, the Special Counsel indicated to TRUMP that the payment should be made via a shell company and not by cash. AMI ultimately declined to accept reimbursement after consulting their counsel. AMI, which later admitted its conduct was unlawful in an agreement with federal prosecutors, made false entries in its business records concerning the true purpose of the $150,000 payment.

In a third instance – 12 days before the presidential general election – the Special Counsel wired $130,000 to an attorney for an adult film actress. The Special Counsel, who has since pleaded guilty and served time in prison for making the illegal campaign contribution, made the payment through a shell corporation funded through a bank in Manhattan.

AMI is the parent company that owns the tabloid National Enquirer. The second alleged hush money payment made to the “woman who alleged she had a sexual relationship with TRUMP” appears to refer to former Playboy model Karen McDougal, and the third alleged hush money payment to “an adult film actress” appears to refer to Stormy Daniels.

Bragg’s statement also alleges that Trump reimbursed his Special Counsel “through a series of monthly checks,” a total of eleven checks — nine of which were personally signed by Trump — that “were issued for a phony purpose.”

“Each check was processed by the Trump Organization and illegally disguised as a payment for legal services rendered pursuant to a non-existent retainer agreement,” the statement continued. “In total, 34 false entries were made in New York business records to conceal the initial covert $130,000 payment. Further, participants in the scheme took steps that mischaracterized, for tax purposes, the true nature of the reimbursements.”

“Manhattan is home to the country’s most significant business market,” said Bragg. “We cannot allow New York businesses to manipulate their records to cover up criminal conduct. As the Statement of Facts describes, the trail of money and lies exposes a pattern that, the People allege, violates one of New York’s basic and fundamental business laws. As this office has done time and time again, we today uphold our solemn responsibility to ensure that everyone stands equal before the law.”

Read Bragg’s press release here, the 34-count indictment here, and the Statement of Facts here.

This article has been updated with additional information.