Donald Trump Slams Criminal Charges As An Insult To United States

At a dramatic hearing in New York hours earlier, the 76-year-old former president of the United States entered a not guilty plea to 34 felony counts, captivating the country and starting the countdown to the first-ever criminal trial of an American president.

The front-runner in the battle for the Republican nomination in 2024, Mr. Trump, declared that "radical left" prosecutors were out to get him "at any cost" from a platform draped in American flags within a sumptuous gold-and-cream ballroom.

While Mr. Trump repeated applause lines that his followers hear frequently at his rallies, they responded with the same raucous cheering and applauding, which appeared at odds with the seriousness of the day's events in Manhattan. In order to cover up an alleged sexual encounter that occurred ten years ago, Mr Trump is being sued by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg for falsifying the financial records of his corporation to conceal payments he made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels days before the 2016 election.

Trump was warned about using inflammatory language hours before, but in his statement, he continued to criticise the prosecution and the prosecutor as well as the judge overseeing the case. Trump also directed his address into a broadside at a second Justice Department investigation into the improper handling of sensitive documents, indicating that other investigations are weighing on him.

After arriving at Mar-a-Lago, his beachside resort in southern Florida, Trump addressed a crowd of several hundred fundraisers, friends, and other supporters, "I never thought anything like this could happen in America -- never thought it could happen. The only crime that I've committed is to fearlessly defend our nation from those who seek to destroy it... It's an insult to our country, " reported

The News Indian Express.

Allen Weisselberg, the former chief financial officer of Mr. Trump, was found guilty of the same allegation of fabricating financial documents and was sentenced to five months in prison.

Each count of fabricating business documents in the New York case has a maximum sentence of four years in jail, though it's unclear if a court would sentence Trump to any time behind bars if found guilty. Two months before Republicans officially start their nomination process, on December 4, there will be another court date, and this time, Trump is anticipated to show up.