A New York grand jury on Thursday indicted Donald Trump over hush money payments made to a porn star during his 2016 campaign, making him the first former US president to face criminal charges.
\nThe historic indictment of the 76-year-old Republican \u2014 who denies all wrongdoing in connection with the payments made ahead of the election that sent him to the White House \u2014 is certain to upend the current presidential race in which Trump hopes to regain office.
\nAnd it will forever mark the legacy of the former leader, who survived two impeachments and kept prosecutors at bay over everything from the US Capitol riot to missing classified files \u2014 only to land in court over a sex scandal involving Stormy Daniels, a 44-year-old adult movie actress.
\nManhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg\u2019s office confirmed that it had contacted Trump\u2019s lawyers Thursday evening to \u201ccoordinate his surrender\u201d for arraignment in New York \u2014 with the felony charges against him to be revealed at that point.
\nCNN reported he could face as many as 30 counts related to business fraud.
\nTrump slammed the indictment as \u201cpolitical persecution and election interference,\u201d raging against prosecutors and his Democratic opponents and vowing that it would backfire on his successor, President Joe Biden.
\nSurrendering for arraignment \u2014 which Trump\u2019s lawyers have said he would do if indicted \u2014 would normally involve him being fingerprinted and photographed, potentially even handcuffed.
\n\u201cI have so many messages coming in that I can\u2019t respond\u2026also don\u2019t want to spill my champagne,\u201d she tweeted while also plugging her #TeamStormy merchandise.
\nPossible protests
\nOn March 18, Trump had declared he expected to be arrested within days over the payment to Daniels \u2013 who received $130,000 weeks before the election that brought Trump to power, to stop her from going public about a tryst she claims they had a decade earlier.
\nIn predicting his indictment, Trump also issued a call for demonstrations and dark warnings that it could lead to \u201cpotential death & destruction\u201d that \u201ccould be catastrophic for our Country.\u201d
\nHis statement set New York on edge for possible protests but the prospect of a quick indictment appeared to recede as the grand jury panel continued to hear witnesses \u2013 until Thursday.
\nA media scrum quickly gathered outside the district attorney\u2019s office, along with a handful of anti-Trump protesters \u2014 but the situation was calm overall. Trump\u2019s ex-lawyer Michael Cohen, who has testified before the grand jury, told Congress in 2019 that he made the payment to Daniels on Trump\u2019s behalf and was later reimbursed.
\nProsecutors argued the checks were not properly registered, and the jury was asked to consider if there had been a cover-up, intended to benefit Trump\u2019s campaign by burying the scandal.
\nThe New York investigation is the first to reach a decision on charges out of three major probes into the former president.
\nTrump also faces felony investigations in Georgia relating to the 2020 election and in Washington over the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol by the ex-president\u2019s supporters, who hoped to keep him in office after his election loss to Joe Biden.
\nRepublican frontrunner
\nTrump, who is seen to be the frontrunner to be the Republican nominee in the 2024 election, has branded all of the investigations political persecution.
\nThe impact of an indictment on his election chances is unpredictable, with critics and adversaries alike voicing concerns about the legal merits of the hush money case.
\nDetractors worry that if Trump were cleared, it could make it easier to dismiss as a \u201cwitch hunt\u201d any future indictment in arguably more serious affairs \u2014 such as Trump\u2019s efforts to overturn Georgia\u2019s election results.
\nThe Manhattan charges will also likely juice turnout among Trump\u2019s base, boosting his chances in the party primary.
\nTrump staged his first presidential campaign rally in Texas on Saturday, addressing several thousand supporters \u2014 far fewer than the 15,000 he had expected \u2014 in the city of Waco, Texas.
\n\u201cThe innocence of people makes no difference whatsoever to these radical left maniacs,\u201d he told the fired-up crowd.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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