Washington
CNN
—
Former President Donald Trump, now the main candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, made false and evidence-free claims to reporters on Thursday earlier than and after he attended a Manhattan court hearing within the hush cash legal case in opposition to him.
Here’s a reality verify of a few of Trump’s remarks.
Trump’s court docket attendance and marketing campaign schedule
Earlier than getting into the courtroom, Trump claimed that the hush cash case in opposition to him is “election interference.” He additionally argued that it’s actually interfering together with his potential to marketing campaign in South Carolina prematurely of the February 24 Republican presidential main there.
“How are you going to run for election and be sitting in a courthouse in Manhattan all day lengthy? I’m alleged to be in South Carolina proper now, the place different persons are, and the place, once more – that is the place I needs to be. I shouldn’t be in a courthouse,” Trump mentioned.
Trump was much more express in feedback after leaving the courtroom later within the morning, saying, “So as a substitute of being in South Carolina and different states, campaigning, I’m caught right here.”
Info First: Trump wasn’t “caught” within the courthouse in New York on Thursday. In reality, he was not required to attend any a part of the listening to, since Choose Juan Merchan had waived his pretrial appearances in the hush money case. Slightly, Trump voluntarily selected to seem on the listening to after considering instead attending a Thursday hearing in Georgia that is related to the charges he faces there. And he had not been scheduled to be in South Carolina on Thursday even earlier than he made the choice to attend the New York listening to; his subsequent scheduled marketing campaign look within the state is subsequent week. His subsequent rally after the Thursday listening to is a Saturday event in Michigan.
Trump was not planning to fly to South Carolina after the New York listening to. He was planning to fly again to Florida, the place he lives.
Although he has appeared solely often at court docket hearings, Trump has spent little time campaigning in South Carolina up to now within the 2024 marketing campaign. His two rallies within the state prior to now week had been his first there in 2024.
Biden and the hush cash case
Earlier than getting into the courtroom, Trump claimed that President Joe Biden’s White Home is working the hush cash case that was brought against him by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
“What it’s, is election interference. It’s being run by Joe Biden’s White Home. His prime individual was positioned right here so as to be sure that every thing goes proper,” Trump mentioned. He continued, “His prime individual, Colangelo, and a few others have been positioned into the DA’s workplace to verify they do an excellent job of election interference.”
Info First: There isn’t a foundation for Trump’s claims. First, there is no such thing as a proof that Biden’s White Home has any function in working the Manhattan district lawyer’s case. Second, there is no such thing as a proof that the White Home nor the Biden administration had something to do with senior Justice Division official Matthew Colangelo’s decision to leave the department and join the district attorney’s office in 2022 as senior counsel to Bragg. Colangelo and Bragg knew one another earlier than Bragg was elected Manhattan district lawyer.
Colangelo and Bragg beforehand labored on the identical time within the workplace of New York’s state lawyer common, the place Colangelo investigated Trump’s charity and Trump’s monetary practices and was involved in bringing various lawsuits in opposition to the Trump administration.
On a minor level, Colangelo was by no means Biden’s very prime official on the Justice Division. Colangelo served as performing affiliate lawyer common within the first months of the Biden administration in early 2021 and then as principal deputy affiliate lawyer common. As performing affiliate lawyer common, he was third answerable for the division.
Justice Division prosecutors declined each within the center and on the finish of Trump’s presidential time period to pursue federal prices in opposition to Trump over the hush cash case, CNN senior authorized analyst Elie Honig reported in a 2023 book.
Honig reported that federal prosecutors in New York determined in opposition to pursuing prices in 2018 on account of longstanding Justice Division steerage {that a} sitting president can’t be indicted. Honig reported that in January 2021, simply earlier than Trump left workplace that month, federal prosecutors in New York held discussions about presumably reviving the case however once more determined to not search an indictment.
Earlier than getting into the courtroom Trump denounced the hush cash case in opposition to him and mentioned, “This isn’t against the law. And once you look what’s happening outdoors [inaudible; in or on] the streets, the place violent crime is at an all-time excessive, I believe it’s a really, very – it’s an important double customary.”
Trump has made comparable claims about crime ranges in New York Metropolis on varied earlier events whereas attacking the instances he faces in New York – and CNN has repeatedly debunked them.
Info First: Trump’s declare stays false. Violent crime is nowhere close to a file excessive in both Manhattan specifically or New York Metropolis as a complete. Each Manhattan and New York Metropolis have skilled huge declines in crime for the reason that file ranges of the early Nineties.
New York Metropolis publishes crime statistics on its web site, so the information are straightforward to seek out. In 1990, when town set its all-time file for murders, there have been 503 recorded murders in Manhattan, which is without doubt one of the metropolis’s 5 boroughs. In 2023, Manhattan recorded 73 murders – a decline of about 85% from 1990.
Manhattan can be manner beneath file ranges for different kinds of violent crime. For instance, Manhattan recorded 252 rapes in 2023, down about 63% from the 689 in 1990, and three,841 robberies in 2023, down about 86% from the 26,907 in 1990.
The declines are equally giant for New York City as a whole. The town recorded 391 murders in 2023, down about 83% from the two,262 in 1990; 1,455 rapes in 2023, down about 53% from the three,126 in 1990; and 16,910 robberies in 2023, down about 83% from the 100,280 in 1990.