Former President Donald Trump held a press conference following his recent conviction in Manhattan on felony charges of falsifying business records. However, instead of addressing the trial, Trump delivered a speech filled with false claims covering various topics from immigration to tax policy. Some of the inaccurate or unsubstantiated claims related to his trial were fact-checked during the conference.
One of Trump’s claims during the conference was regarding crime in New York City, where he stated that there were record-high levels of violent crime. However, this claim is untrue as violent crime in New York City, particularly in Manhattan, has decreased significantly since the early 1990s and is nowhere near record levels. Statistics show a substantial reduction in murders, rapes, and robberies compared to numbers from 1990.
Trump criticized key prosecution witness Michael Cohen during the conference, claiming that Cohen got into trouble due to non-Trump-related activities related to taxicabs and loans. However, Cohen’s case was referred by special counsel Robert Mueller and his prison sentence in 2018 was for multiple crimes, some directly related to Trump, including campaign finance offenses and lying to Congress about Trump’s involvement in a Moscow tower project.
During the conference, Trump once again claimed that the Manhattan case was orchestrated by President Joe Biden and the DOJ, with Biden’s people closely involved. However, there is no evidence to support this claim as Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, led the prosecution independently, with a grand jury approving the indictment. The involvement of a lawyer on Bragg’s team who had previous dealings with Trump is not indicative of a federal conspiracy.
Trump also accused Judge Juan Merchan of preventing his team from presenting their election expert as a witness during the trial. However, Merchan did not prohibit the witness from testifying but limited the scope of their testimony to background information about the FEC and certain definitions, excluding opinions on Trump’s alleged election law violations. The defense chose not to call the witness due to these restrictions, despite Trump’s claims.
Overall, Trump’s press conference following his conviction in Manhattan was filled with false claims and misinformation on various topics. From inaccurate statements about crime rates in New York City to baseless accusations against key witnesses and unjustified conspiracy theories involving President Biden, the conference painted a misleading picture of the trial and its outcomes. The fact-checks conducted during the conference revealed the lack of credibility in Trump’s assertions and the need for accurate information in public discourse.
