Get the Facts: Debunking misinformation about Trump indictment
Fact-check shows some claims by former president and his supporters are false
Fact-check shows some claims by former president and his supporters are false
Fact-check shows some claims by former president and his supporters are false
The historic indictment handed up by a New York grand jury against Donald Trump is unique due to the defendant’s status as a former president. However, some of the actual counts themselves are not as novel as some critics of the indictment allege, the Hearst Television National Investigative Unit has found.
Carlos Singh, a lecturer at San José State University, said he has tried cases of falsifying business records during his time as a former federal prosecutor in Silicon Valley. The birthplace of the U.S. tech industry can generate unusual or novel cases as decades-old legal statutes are applied to cutting-edge tech.
"That was always the challenge in terms of: we were pushing the envelope in testing the law, because of a new medium upon which to commit sometimes fraud or older type of offenses,” Singh said in an interview.
Other questionable claims made by those critical of the indictment, including from the former president himself as well as a portion of a Twitter post by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), are false.
On Tuesday, Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts contained in the indictment during his arraignment in Manhattan Supreme Court.
Watch our story above to ‘Get the Facts’ on Donald Trump’s indictment.
- Watch our ‘Get the Facts’ story on how grand juries work.
- Watch our ‘Get the Facts’ story on the known criminal investigations into Donald Trump.
Mark Albert is the chief national investigative correspondent for the Hearst Television National Investigative Unit, based in Washington D.C. Tamika Cody, Wendy Wilk and David Barcenas contributed to this report.
If you know of election security concerns you want us to investigate, send confidential information and documents to the National Investigative Unit at investigate@hearst.com.