Former President Donald Trump clarified at a press conference Friday morning that there were no “slush funds” or “hush payments” in connection with his business records trial in New York.
Trump addressed the nation after a Manhattan jury convicted him on all 34 charges in his business records trial, and he spoke about as many aspects of the case as he could under a gag order from Judge Juan Marchand.
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“Those were not crimes. Paying money under an NDA is not a crime. That’s why we have NDAs, non-disclosure agreements. NDAs are a big deal. Totally honorable, totally good, totally acceptable,” Trump said, explaining that virtually all companies have non-disclosure agreements.
“Everybody has them. Every company has non-disclosure agreements. But the press calls them slush funds and stuff. Hush money, hush money. This is not hush money. It’s called a non-disclosure agreement and most of the people in this room have a non-disclosure agreement with their company,” Trump said, calling the situation a “disgrace.”
“This is not hush money. This is a non-disclosure agreement. It’s completely legal. It’s completely common. Everybody has one. And what happened is, he signed a non-disclosure agreement… but it was completely honest. You can pay. You don’t have to pay. You can pay however you want. This is a non-disclosure agreement. And he signed it, and there was no problem signing it. And this was not supposed to be an affair, and everybody said it was not an affair, [Alvin] “Mr. Bragg pointed out that the prosecutors conveniently changed their mind once Mr. Trump decided to run for president and his popularity began to take hold,” Trump said.
Former president and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump raises his fist as he returns to Trump Tower after being convicted in his criminal trial in New York City on May 30, 2024. (Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images)
“And they looked at the polls. I was leading the Republicans. I was leading the Democrats … I was leading every party. And then all of a sudden they turned it back. It’s very sad what’s going on in our country,” Trump said, explaining that he was honored to be tasked with navigating chaos for the country.
“It’s an honor in a way. It’s not a fun thing to do. It’s very bad for the family. It’s very bad for the friends and the business, but somebody’s got to do it and I’m honored to be a part of it,” Trump said.
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“And I will always be one of those people. But I’m very honored to be a part of it because we’re fighting for the Constitution,” Trump added, emphasizing that “the money that was paid was paid legally, there’s nothing illegal about it.”
“In fact, the lawyer who wrote the NDA was a fully qualified lawyer at the time. Not a fixer,” Trump added, presumably referring to his own disgraced former lawyer, Michael Cohen, without mentioning him by name.
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