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Donald Trump has gained the dubious honour of becoming the first former United States president to be charged with a crime.
The grand jury in New York has indicted Trump after a lengthy probe into his alleged role in covering up hush money payments to an “adult entertainer” ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
According to the US Department of Justice, an indictment is the process when a person receives a formal notice that it is believed that they have committed a crime and informs the person of the charges against them.
It takes place after a grand jury examines all potential evidence to decide whether a crime was committed. If the jury decides there is enough evidence, an indictment will come.
In this case, the grand jury in New York City, which has been meeting since January, indicted Trump after hearing testimony from a number of witnesses.
The specific charges are not yet known as the indictment remains under seal. Trump is expected to be arraigned on Tuesday.
After months of hearing evidence concerning the $130,000 payment to adult entertainer Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential campaign, the grand jury voted to charge trump. The money was reportedly meant to buy her silence about the encounter she says they had years before.
Trump’s former personal lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, has said he coordinated with Trump on the payments to Daniels and to a second woman, Karen Dougal.
The former president has denied the affair and any wrongdoing. He said the payment wants to protect his reputation from a false accusation.
While the specifics of the allegations were not disclosed, multiple US media outlets speculated prior to Thursday’s indictment that the probable charges pertain to Trump’s reimbursement of Cohen, with prosecutors charging that he falsely labeled the payments as legal expenditures.
The accusation, which is ordinarily a misdemeanor, could be elevated to a felony if prosecutors link the payments to violations of election law which limits individual payments to political candidates to $2,700 and requires them to be made public.
The payment to Daniels right before the 2016 vote could be considered an illegal campaign contribution. Trump also faces felony investigations related to the 2020 election and over the January 6th 2021 attack on the capital by his supporters.
Trump has rejected the claim and his lawyer has accused Daniels of extortion, calling himself a completely innocent person.
Trump described the indictment as the latest in a series of steps aimed at destroying his Make America Great Again movement. The former president also accused the Democrat who conducted the probe, Manhattan District Attorney, Alvin Bragg, of trying to hurt his electoral chances.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing describing the measure as political persecution and election interference at the highest level in history.
A judge is anticipated to unseal the charges in the coming days and Trump will be required to turn himself in to the pertinent authorities. He will then appear in front of a judge and be formally charged, after which a decision will be made as to whether he should be freed on bond or taken into custody.
Legal experts say that any potential trial is more than a year away raising the possibility that the former US president could face a Jury in a Manhattan courtroom during, or even after, the 2024 presidential campaign as he seeks to return to the White House.
After his indictment, Trump’s supporters gathered outside his Palm Beach Mar-a-Lago property in Florida to show their support for the former president.
You’ve heard of a witch hunt? It’s not going to stop here. We have got to continue fighting for Trump because they’re going to continue going after Trump, because they know that he can beat any democrat they put out there, so they’re gonna play dirty, they’re gonna do all they can to get rid of Trump.
Tommy Jemieson, Trump Supporter
Meanwhile, Republican Florida Governor, Ron DeSantis, who is thought to be strongly considering a 2024 presidential run, called the indictment “an un-American move”. In a tweet he asserts that the weaponization of the legal system to advance a political agenda turns the rule of law on its head. He also announced that Florida will not assist in an extradition request.
In reaction to the indictment Trump’s former Vice President, Mike Pence, said in an interview that the indictment was an outrage.
Well, I think the unprecedented indictment of a former president of the United States on a campaign finance issue is an outrage. And it appears that millions of Americans mean nothing more than a political prosecution that’s driven by a prosecutor who literally ran for office on a pledge to indict the former president,
Mike Pence, Former US Vice President
Elsewhere Trump’s former United Nations ambassador and candidate for the Republican nomination, Nikki Haley, said in an interview that the indictment was more a political move than a search for justice.
You know, from everything I’ve seen from this New York District Attorney, this would be something he’d be doing for political points.
And I think what we know is when you get into political prosecutions like this, it’s more about revenge than it is about justice.
And you know, I think the country would be better off talking about things that the American public cares about than sit there and have to deal with some revenge by some political people in New York.
Nikki Haley, Presidential Candidate
Political analysts say that the indictment would put Trump in the spotlight once more and could potentially boost his election chances by focusing all the public attention back on the former president. They say Trump will try to turn his indictment to his advantage by stoking anger among core supporters over what they see as the weaponization of the justice system.
