America was plunged into an unprecedented political frenzy on Friday after Donald Trump was indicted by a grand jury following an investigation into hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels.
The bombshell legal move meant that he became the first former president to face criminal charges, further deepening the political chasm across the United States.
Mr Trump was expected to have to travel to New York, possibly on Tuesday, where he would have his mugshot and fingerprints taken, before entering a plea at an initial court hearing. But far from killing off his hopes of a White House comeback, the indictment was predicted to energise his diehard supporters and possibly boost his chances of becoming the Republican candidate at the presidential election next year. The specific charges were not yet known as the indictment remained under seal.
CNN claimed Mr Trump faces more than 30 counts related to business fraud, with other reports saying it would be a couple of dozen. He said he was “completely innocent” and indicated that he would not drop out of the presidential race.
Some legal experts believe Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg will argue Mr Trump falsified business records to cover up another crime, such as violating federal campaign-finance law, which makes it a felony, though none of this has been confirmed. Mr Bragg, who left his office yesterday flanked by security guards, said he was co-ordinating with Mr Trump’s office for his surrender and court appearance.
Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, has said she received money in exchange for keeping silent about a sexual encounter she had with Mr Trump in 2006.
The former president’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, has said he co-ordinated with Mr Trump on a $130,000 (£105,000) payment to Daniels and another one to a second woman, former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who also claimed she had a sexual relationship with him. Mr Trump has denied having affairs with either woman.
He initially disputed in 2018 knowing anything about the payment to Daniels but later acknowledged reimbursing Mr Cohen for the payment, which he called a “simple private transaction.”
“No one is above the law,” Daniels’ lawyer Clark Brewster said on Twitter.
Mr Cohen pleaded guilty to a campaign-finance violation in 2018 and served more than a year in prison. Federal prosecutors said he acted on Mr Trump’s direction.
Mr Cohen said he stood by his testimony and the evidence he provided to prosecutors. “Accountability matters,” he said in a statement.
Mr Trump’s lawyers Susan Necheles and Joseph Tacopina said they will “vigorously fight” the charges. The ex-president hit out, claiming the indictment was “political persecution and election interference at the highest level in history”.
Mr Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican nomination according to polling, swiftly received support from a number of his potential challengers including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former vice-president Mike Pence. “This will only further serve to divide our country,” Mr Pence said. The White House did not initially comment.
But Democrats claimed Mr Trump was not immune from the rule of law.
“I encourage both Mr Trump’s critics and supporters to let the process proceed peacefully and according to the law,” said the top Democrat in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, amid fears of pro-Trump violent protests.
Mr Trump is also linked to several other investigations, including into his alleged role in the attack on the US Capitol on January 6 2021 and government documents, some of them believed to be top secret, found at his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago after he left office.
Prosecutors have spent eight months investigating alleged attempts to overturn Mr Trump’s close loss in Georgia in the 2020 presidential election, though it is not clear if they are looking into any involvement by him.
Mr Bragg successfully prosecuted Mr Trump’s business last year on tax-fraud charges, leading to a
$1.61 million (£1.3 million) criminal penalty. Any potential trial is still at least a year away, legal experts said, raising the possibility that he could face a jury in a Manhattan court during the presidential campaign.
However, Mr Trump has escaped legal challenges numerous times. In the White House, he weathered two attempts by Congress to remove him from office, including over the assault on the Capitol, as well as a years-long probe into his campaign’s contacts with Russia in 2016. If Mr Trump decides not to appear voluntarily, prosecutors could seek to have him extradited from Florida. Mr DeSantis, as governor, would have to give formal approval.
