humorous as other people can. nations made wealthy from oil and gas now balanced the green obligations with the rights of indigenous people. you can't choose solutions at for us in the snow for future voices from the optic, the one it talks, money winds on it just either we understand the differences and similarities of cultures across the world. so no matter how you take it will bring you the news and current affairs that matter to you. it's a $1000000000.00, money, no drink operation for coal. marsha is bigger than the covenant with financial institutions, regulators and governments complicit. i'm always offering with it. right. i've described that in a 4 part series. algio 0 is investigative unit, goes on the cover in southern africa, pittsburgh, we control 90 percent, who doesn't. once it's recalling, it's perfectly brandon. good. pop 3 on archers era. ah,

former u. s. president donald trump pleads not guilty to $34.00 felony criminal charges are falsifying business records. these are felony crimes in new york state. no matter who you are. ah no, i'm fully back savoy, you're watching. al jazeera ly from doha form of president trump landed in florida a short while ago were expecting to hear from him from his residence at mark lago. oh, bring that to you live as it happens. also coming up on al jazeera, finland officially becomes a 31st member of nato military alliance in a major policy shift prompted by russia's invasion of ukraine.

ah thank you very much for joining. as donald trump has pleaded not guilty to $34.00 criminal charges in a manhattan court room, the 1st sitting or former u. s. president to do so. the charges relate to claims. he falsified business records in 3 hush. money payments made to $3.00 people, including an adult film star during the 2016 presidential campaign prosecutor c. the payments are part of a so called catch him kill scheme to suppress negative information about trump and r a conspiracy to undermine the integrity of the 2016 election. in the last few hours, the manhattan district attorney arvin brag outlined the charges against donald trump. under new york state law is a felony to falsify business records with intensity fraud, an intent to conceal another crime. that is exactly what this case is about.

34 false statements made to cover up other crimes. these are felony crimes in new york state. no matter who you are, we cannot and will not normalize serious criminal conduct. and this is what donald trump's lawyer, joe, taco pina had to say to reporters after the court hearing. i mean, really. right. alright. if you wait with from a political campbell that the meeting for i don't know really what, what do you think the time? absolutely. again donald trump's private jet has just landed in west palm beach, florida. his supporters have lined the streets to his private residence in my la go, they're expecting to hear from him. we're expecting to hear from him as well. in

the coming hours again, live pictures there from outside. president trump for president trump's residence in my lago. he landed a short while ago in florida in west palm beach, and he will address his supporters who are gathered inside a ball room there at my local. let's bringing out his ear is john henderson, who's been covering the day's events from new york john a day for, for the history books? no doubt. the mystery about the charges is finally over and there's a lot to digestion. clearly talk to us about how this day unfolded. first we write about that it was his a historic day. busy and an unprecedented indictment presented. donald trump learned that he had been indicted on 34 felony counts of lying on business records . all of them related to 3 hush money payments, $1.00 to a former porn star, one to a former playboy playmate. and then one to adore man who claimed he had

a story about donald trump having an out of wedlock child. and all of those payments were legal. the prosecutor alvin bragg said, because they were all made ahead of the 2016 election. and therefore, they counted as a campaign contribution in excess of what was allowable. so you can tell here people get worked out about trump on either side a little earlier. there were hundreds of people out here. many of them were pro trumped. many of them were anti trump, there was a line of police. if you can see the barricades right here at my hands, those were used to separate the people who were out here because in this case, as in everything with donald trump since 2016, you are either with him or you're against them. he has divided the nation and we talk to some of the people who are out here protesting. this is what they had to say. well, it's about time because no one above the law. i'm in

a great law are mere barbara the law and they are go to jail, a human being like me. so the break the law, you need to be held accountable for what i think is absolutely ridiculous. because if they can do this to him, they can do it to anybody. and for such a stupid, why am i come? i pay off our prices for an illicit affair that we don't even know labrenz or whatnot. there is so many other crimes that can be taken care of and even crimes that other politicians have committed. yeah, definitely trying to solve them for, you know, being president and you know, messing with the election in 2024. yeah. john, there were concerns about protests in new york. there was a lot of security in anticipation. now talk to us about the next step of the process here. it doesn't happen until december. that's when we're expecting the next hearing. what is going to happen between now and december?

well, president trump strategy, remember he, his had suits against his business for many decades. so we have a lot of information about how he approaches these legal issues and his basically attack and delay. and that's what we expect him to do here. he'll obviously try to delay it, pass the election if he can do that. that's in november 2024 though. that's an awfully long time. and in the meantime, as we wait for this trial to go forward and it could take years, could be, could end up in the supreme court because this in many ways is an unprecedented situation. but he faces legal. busy powell and other cases as well in washington dc . there is a special prosecutor looking into his use of classified documents. remember that people on his team at mar, lagossi said that they had returned all of the classified documents, the f. b i rated that place, found thousands of papers including a 100 marked classified that special prosecutor is also looking into. trump's

actions on january 6th, 2021 after the election that he lost, and whether he contributed to the uprising in which his supporters took over. capitol hill, also in georgia. there is another local product prosecutor in fulton county that a grand jury that grand jury recommended charges against a number of people. and we, we don't know, we don't know whether trump is among them. but one of the jury members said that we would record of recognize the names. so he faces at a lot of legal peril and a lot of cases and forgive me, i've just lost the sound in my ear. so if you have another question, i won't hear it, but the bottom line is that trump faces a number of legal cases. many of them possibly worse than what he faces here. and this one could take a long time. john, thank you very much for that. john hendrick, live there in new york as we continue to watch pictures, sorta where president trump former president trump has just arrived. he arrived

after his hearing in new york earlier. these are life pictures from west palm beach . as you can see, some of his supporters lying the streets there as his moral cade heads towards his private residence at my lago, the former president will be delivering remarks from mar lago in an hour or so i understand, after again, pleading not guilty to 34 felony counts. we will hear from donald trump for the 1st time after the charges were unveiled to date. well, let's discuss all this further now with bruce fine who is a constitutional lawyer and a former us associate deputy attorney general is live from us in washington. d. c, thank you. is live with us from washington d. c. thank you very much both for being with us. and i know you're gonna break all this down for us. 34 counts of falsifying business records in the 1st degree. first of all, how serious are these charges and how strong do you think the prosecution's cases

i think we need to evaluate to charges in 2 different scales. if you're just looking at the moral turpitude, the danger to the united states itself or to the new york, this probably is the weakest charge of the ones under investigation that concerned the integrity of the process by which we peacefully transfer a presidential power. this is basically a hush money payment to influence the outcome of the election. it's perhaps mr. trump's worst investment because. 3 given his reputation as hollywood access tape that was known in the public, is not at all clear that if all these mistresses were known to the public, he would have lost a single vote. he may have even game votes. so this is not showing mr. trump, as a wise businessman, but putting aside the fact that the, the seriousness of the crime in the content is not all that great. what is the evidence? well, the reason why there are 34 accounts as opposed to a lesser numbers, because each time they business record was recorded to

a different agency. the i r. s. the secretary of commerce at new york on the profit loss statements that are distributed to owners to in the i r s. each time that there was a record ation of legal fees that were hush money. that was fraudulent misrepresentation . i think it's kind of questioned right now with regard to how persuasive it will be to the jury. they have to find beyond a reasonable doubt. and the accusers here, michael cohen is convicted felonies got contradictions in this past stormy daniel's a pornography, a person that's not a person who instantly comes with a great discredit ability, but that's why we have a jury in the rule of law. all right, a little bit more on the seriousness of the case. just to unpack this for international audience, it's not an everyday kind of case is, is the case that will resonate with the american people. is this a serious, for example, as the january 6 in direction?

it's not even close to january 6. so you ask, well, with this resonate with the american people, 1st of all, even if he's convicted, he could still run for office. and we can try to take at least some kind of extrapolation as i was involved day to day in the bill clinton impeachment and monica gate. bill clinton basically was accused of something similar. it wasn't to influence the outcome of the election, but taking advantage of a young staff member and engaged in something would call it moral conduct. but that didn't really him impede his credibility with the public whatsoever. and in fact, once he left the office, he really didn't lose favor. so i don't think that this, this conviction on its own is going to say, well, i have a whole new understanding of mr. trump, that goes to a different level and talk about january 6, or is if audiotape saying, find 11700 new votes for me in georgia, or even the obstruction of justice at bar lago. those would be game changers. this

one probably not. so this one you'd face the least consequential of the other of all the cases see is potentially facing that is absolutely correct. i'm not even close. ok now bruce, a lot of people may not be aware of this, especially outside of the us. this is a 7 year old case, i understand what's changed and you have federal crimes being brought at the state level in new york. why now? and what's different now from when the justice department decided to take a pass on this case? well, that may be a little incomplete. remember that the statute limitations is told all the time when mr. trump was outside of of new york went i think became a resident or florida. so he didn't have to pay income taxes in 2016, and you have to remember that, well, president trump was in office, the justice department policy for bade indictment or prosecution of

a sitting president. so they couldn't possibly prosecute him for this crime, even violating federal election law until he left office. so the argument that it's all that stale, i think, is vastly exaggerated. you may recall that in the muller report, which is kind of a tandem one, trying to find evidence of the trump campaign collusion with the russians influence the election of muller report found 10 instances of credible obstruction of justice didn't prosecute any of them or indict any of them because of the policy, the department of justice that a president is new and well, he's a sitting president. so that explains the delay. the difference between then and now is the president is no longer in the oval office. but as you know, president comes supporter is saying that the timing is conspicuous that, you know, people are saying he's support is anyway saying that this is an effort to keep him off the ballad in 2024 that donald trump is being charged with this because he's

donald trump. well, that may even be true. we know that the district attorney is an elected official in new york. we have a democrat there, so he has to run for a democratic based to be elected the office. but that does just because you have a political motivation, doesn't mean it's illegal or unconstitutional. they've been political motivations in the law enforcement system for at least 80 or more years. going back to robert jackson then attorney general, 1940 say that we have so many technical laws on the book. any prosecutor can find somebody fines of noxious and go scour. busy the dependent offense on them. and so, yes, there is a problem of political prosecutions, but they're not illegal and they're not going to be a defense for mr. trump. all right. all right, so that there's a legal dimension, of course, in the political dimension. as you mentioned, given everything that we know now, it seems that we're still a long way from a trial. do you think they'll even be a trial?

i do think that there will be a trial. i do think that there's not going to be a, a guilty plea. there's been a huge investment, i think on both sides. and it will ultimately go to a jury and i'm. 4 not gonna for deign what the jury may decide, because we haven't seen all the evidence. i think what sacred about this is the process. make certain that mr. trump has all of his rights, scrupulously protected, the presumption of innocence cross examination of we'll have mr. cohen and stormy daniels and others are unanimous, he and the jury even are veneer of impartial members to be selected. a judge who is fair and, and a right to appeal, the system will survive if it's open and we follow the process. even a case like o j. simpson, that got televised, and i didn't agree with the verdict. it didn't mean that the system collapsed because mr. simpson was acquitted. we did how supposed to operate that way?

it's a human institution. so it's going to stumble on occasion for we're not going to abandon the institution in the process, simply because it's not perfect because it's better than all the alternatives. bruce, very good to talk to you about this. thank you so much for your insight. bruce bruce find joining as they live from washington, d. c. and as he can see on the right hand side of the screen in full nar, president trump supporters waiting for his arrival at his mar local residence in florida. he arrived shortly a short while ago in west palm beach, after spending or the day actually even last night in new york city. present, trump support his wearing their, their trademark. ah, make america great hat, say, red hat's waiting for him to speak for the 1st time since his indictment earlier today in new york city will bring that to you live on al jazeera, and still ahead on the program. peruse, president, survive and impeachment paid over the crowd town on protest. ah, ah,

here's your headlines for the americas. this is your forecast for wednesday, the 5th of april and look at this. pushing into the great lakes. severe weather threat will now be here. those blizzard conditions through the northern plains, but i think for the lower great lakes, we're going to see a bit of everything, some freezing rain, rain, and even some snow as well. when you consider temperatures and ottawa, montreal, just a few degrees above freezing like a d. c though 2829 for you. on wednesday, the storms extend right through to the u. s. call state. so not good news because of course this area is still trying to recover from that tornado outbreak that we saw california. it's quiet. temperature is coming up in colorado and kansas, and then our next push of what, whether into the pacific northwest. so showers creeping into portland with a high of 9 degrees. got some exceptional heat in mexico city, you know,

the highest temperature ever recorded here. about $3233.00 and we've got yen for 30 degrees on wednesday. south america looks like this bursts of rain to the east of the pay ruffian and bolivian, and he's pushing into the northwest of brazil. and we've got some storms of rumbling across paraguay assaults we on has a hive 26 degrees, not a bad day. and by a blanca sun cloud combo there. 24. that sure weather update. we'll see you soon. ah, a

hulu. ah, ah, they're watching al jazeera live from doha reminder of our main story this. our donald trump spotted jack ties just landed in west palm beach, florida after the former u. s. president pleaded not guilty earlier in new york to 34 criminal charges. the 1st city or former u. s. president. to do so under new york state law is a felony to falsify business records with intent to defraud it intent to conceal another crime. that is exactly what this case is about. 34

false statements made to cover up other crocker's fees or felony crimes in new york state. no matter who you are. we cannot and will not normalize serious criminal conduct. well, let's take a closer look at the case against the former president. the manhattan district attorney ivan bragg says, trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the 1st degree in order to conceal damaging information and unlawful activity before and after the 2016 election. the unseal indictment accuses trump of directing 3 different instances of hush money payments to cover up alleged affairs. a statement from the district attorney's office said from august 2015 to december 2017. trump orchestrated his couch and kill scheme through a series of payments that he then concealed through months of false business

entries. in one instance, the dia ledges. $30000.00 was paid to a former trump tower, dorman, who claimed to have a story about a child tromp had out of wedlock. in a 2nd and since $150000.00 was paid to a woman who alleged, she had a sexual relationship with donald trump. and in her 3rd incense, 12 days before the presidential general election, a $130000.00 was wired to an attorney for an adult film actress. while that spring in mat mckenzie acts, now he's the founder and chairman of the potomac stress strategy group is also a former aide to the bush administration. joining us live from austin, texas. thank you, matt for being with us. first of all, what, what is your view of the case? how strong do you think this is? yeah, the substance of the indictment that was finally revealed today, i think, was weaker than i expected. it's obviously a pretty significant decision for a local prosecutor to charge for president states with

a felony in this case with several felonies on a $34.00 accounting department. the challenge she has here is he has 2 things that he hasn't connected at all based on the indictment. he has the so called state crime which is misrepresenting business filings. and then he has the federal crime of whether this was a campaign finance violation by not listing it as a campaign expenditure in order to get around the statute limitations, which is 2 years. he has to connect that state crime to the federal crime and he doesn't do that in the indictment possible. he'll do that, you know, in the trial itself. if it gets to that stage, i think the odds that the trump legal team can actually get this thrown out based on a motion to dismiss increase today, i think they're higher than they were before the date was released. right. what do you need? maybe what, what do you expect the defensive strategy to be? well i think you're going to see them file several, pre trial motions and my lawyer. but based on everything i've watched and learned

today and read today, i think they'll fall several pre trial motions think the 1st is you'll see a motion to dismiss on the basis that the 2 crowns are not, quote unquote, crowns are not connected. and that connection is pivotal because you can't get around the statute limitations unless you're connected to a federal crime. so that's number one. i think number 2, you may see them secret cusack of either the da who, who promised to go after to promise to go after the president when he ran for de 8 or the judge who has other trump related matters beforehand, both in the past and the present think you'll also see them probably consider seeking a new venue on the belief that that they may not be able to get a fair trial in manhattan. all those are going to plan over time and we don't have another hearing until december, 4th, 6 months from now. so a lot is a lot going to happen over the next 6 months. yeah, we're a long way from the next carrying. we're looking at pictures, right. now matter of mar lago present trumps for residence is private residence in florida. his support is waiting for him to speak for the 1st time since this

indictment to day. as a republican strategists, what would you advise trump to, to say or do at this stage? well, it's interesting because the communication strategy and the legal strategy oftentimes diverge. generally, lawyers don't want their clients strictly their criminal defense clients saying anything publicly because can be used against them. in this case, he's a candidate for president, he's a for president states and he talks a lot. so i think trying to control him or limit am, is, is a fools errand. he will be defiant in these remarks. i'm sure going after the da, arguing that this is a political prosecution, many of the same i think, must just, he had before. and, you know, we'll see how that plays. there's certainly been a rallying effect among republican voters and republican officials around trump in the last 10 days. whether that sustains or the next few weeks or few months, i think is a huge question. yeah, it's interesting that you mentioned the rallying of the republican party because even mitt romney, his harshest republican critic has been defending him after today's indictment.

there's of course, illegal dimension magic. and then there's a political dimension. and trump said that since this indictment is actually raised $10000000.00 in campaign funds, how do you see this affecting the 2020 for presidential election and the campaign? do you think it will reinvigorate his campaign? yeah, it clearly has already raised $70000000.00 in the last few days, i'm told roughly a 3rd of those donations are from new donors. so that's significant. those are people that can donate time and time and time again. it shows their significant engagement among his support asian among people that think this is wrong. look if we don't have a lot of developments between now and december, 4th, when the next hearing is i don't know that this is going to sustain that intensity . that said, he has at least 3 other jurisdictions that are considering pursuing criminal charges against him. sam, georgia, the state of new york and the federal government. so any of those jurisdictions could take action in the next 6 months. and that could change things significantly of the 1st televised debate on the republican side in august in milwaukee. i think

that would be a key moment as the campaign gets going, if he does become the republican nominee, how will that impact you think the general election? yeah, that's the interesting thing here is i think this indictment probably increases the odds. he's the republican nominee for president 2024. but i think it either li, leaves even the chance that he can win, or perhaps even reduces that chance. an independent voters where they be suburban, mom's straight independence. that switch between parties are going to look at this . they're going to say, this is chaos. it's. it's, you're on predictable, it's drama, it doesn't really affect my life. and so unless he's able to persuade people that haven't support him the past to support him now, he's not gonna be in a better position november of next year if he's of nominee ravenously several lifetimes. in american politics away from that up but, but if this campaign ends up being about this issue, i don't see that as being helpful to him. the general action might very good to talk to you and have asked about this mat mccovie acts. joining us there from

austin in texas, we'll have continuing coverage of course of this historic day as that we wait for former president trump to addresses supporters at his private residence in my lack of florida that gathered in their hundreds. it looks like a few 100 people gathered there to hear the president speak for the 1st time since his environment earlier in new york. today, we will bring that to you live as it happens here on out here. in the meantime, we'll move on to some of the other news and from breaking use at this hour is really forces i stole the alex a mos compound in fi t a gas in stand renee's during ramadan. prayers fair video show women and children cry for help. as israel forces worshippers with the fan 100 to be removed from the site. during the whole, the month of ramadan $1010.00 prayers everyday at alex cuts in peru present. disabled, why has survived and impeachment bade over

a handling of anti government protests. congress has rejected a motion to remove a watt. a young race broke out in december after the removal of her left, his predecessor pedro castillo, dozens of demonstrators calling for new elections. died in confrontations with security forces. finland has formerly joined nato in a ceremony at its headquarters in brussels. it comes less than a year after helsinki asked to join the military lines following russia's invasion of ukraine. moscow has warned of counter measures to address what is the security threat created by finance membership. hurry force at we force this was one things, let me approach and said he was fighting to reverse when he ordered the invasion of ukraine last year. the expansion towards russia of nieto philip has today become the 31st member of nato. the era of military known alignment. you know, history has gone to an end. new era big it's,

sin is safer, and nato is stronger with finland as an ally. we stand together, we protect and defend each other, all for $1.00 and $1.00 for all. a year ago, finland and sweden joined nato exercises in norway. russia's invasion of ukraine fronting both to seek the guaranteed protection of nato membership. until now nato's eastern border with russia included poland, the through ania, latvia, estonia and norway. in total, a frontier running more than 1200 kilometers, finland joining nato more than doubles russia's land border with the alliance. later says no non finish troops will be stationed in finland without helsinki permission. but russia has already vowed to increase its military presence near the border. the kremlin promise encounter measures to what it calls a threat to its security and national interests.