Manhattan Grand Jury Votes To Indict Trump

Former US President Donald Trump has been indicted by a Manhattan grand jury for his alleged involvement in paying hush money to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. He has become the first former US president to be charged with criminal charges, while simultaneously making another run for the White House, according to the New York Times.

The charges have come after an investigation led by Democratic Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and could have the potential to reshape the 2024 presidential race. Trump has previously claimed that he would continue to run for the Republican Party’s nomination even if he were charged with a crime.

Trump, who is 76, sought reelection in 2020, but was defeated by Democrat Joe Biden. He has falsely claimed that he lost the election due to widespread voting fraud and has dismissed the investigation that led to his indictment as a “political witch hunt.” Last year, Bragg’s office won a criminal conviction of Trump’s real estate company.

A grand jury convened by Bragg in January began hearing evidence about Trump’s alleged role in the payment to Stormy Daniels days before the 2016 presidential election that he ended up winning. Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, states that she received the money in exchange for keeping silent about a sexual encounter she had with Trump in 2006.

It was Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen who stated that Trump directed the hush payments to Daniels and a second woman, former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who also claimed to have had a sexual relationship with him. Trump, however, has denied having any affairs with either women. Federal prosecutors examined the Daniels payoff in 2018, leading to a prison sentence for Cohen, but no charges were brought against Trump.

No sitting or previous U.S. president has ever faced criminal charges. Trump is also currently facing two criminal investigations, one by a special counsel and one by a local prosecutor in Georgia.

On March 18, Trump has written on social media that he expected to be arrested on March 21 and urged his supporters to protest and “take our nation back,” stating similarities to his previous exhortations ahead of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Republicans ahead of the indictment accused Bragg of selective prosecution with political motivations. Some leading officials called it an “outrageous abuse of power by a radical DA.” House Republican committee chairmen had asked Bragg to provide communications, documents, and testimony about the investigation.

In 2018, Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance law violations for his role in orchestrating the payments to Daniels and McDougal and was sentenced to three years in prison. He testified that Trump directed him to make the payments. Cohen also testified before the Manhattan grand jury investigating Trump on March 13. The grand jury also heard from David Pecker, the former publisher of the National Enquirer.

The US Supreme Court rejected Stormy Daniels’ bid to revive a defamation lawsuit against Trump regarding a Twitter post in which he accused her of a “con job” after she described being threatened over publicizing her account of a sexual relationship with him.

In the case that led to Trump’s Organization’s conviction on tax fraud charges, Bragg declined to charge Trump himself with financial crimes related to his business practices, resulting in two prosecutors who worked on the case to resign. Among Trump’s ongoing legal issues are a criminal investigation led by Fani Willis, the Democratic district attorney in Georgia’s Fulton County, into whether he unlawfully tried to overturn his 2020 election defeat in that state. Special counsel Jack Smith is separately investigating Trump’s handling of classified government documents after leaving office and his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Donald Trump is a divisive figure in US politics, with support particularly among white blue-collar and conservative Christian voters. He served as president from 2017 to 2021, governing as a right-wing populist. He was impeached twice by the House of Representatives, in 2019 over his conduct regarding Ukraine and again in 2021 over the attack on the US Capitol by his supporters, but was acquitted by the Senate both times. According to a February Reuters/Ipsos poll, out of his early rivals for his party’s nomination, he leads with 43% of Republican support, while the nearest rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who has yet to announce his candidacy, has 31%.