Trump becomes 1st current or former president to be indicted

 

Former President Donald Trump is now the first sitting or former president to be charged with a crime after a Manhattan grand jury indicted him.

It was unclear at away how the indictment related to anything and what charges Trump will be facing. The indictment has a seal around it.

A representative for the Manhattan district attorney's office stated on Thursday night: "We got in touch with Mr. Trump's lawyer this evening to arrange his delivery to the Manhattan District Attorney's Office for arraignment on a Supreme Court indictment, which is still under seal. When the date for the arraignment is chosen, advice will be given."

According to people with knowledge of the situation, Trump is anticipated to give up in New York at the start of the following week.

Trump described the indictment as "political persecution" and "an attack on our country" in an interview with ABC News.

Trump, who plans to run for president in 2024, claimed that "they are trying to influence an election."

Trump later said, "The Radical Left Democrats — the enemy of the hard-working men and women of this Country — have been engaged in a Witch-Hunt to destroy the Make America Great Again movement from the time I came down the golden escalator at Trump Tower, and even before I was sworn in as your President of the United States.

"It has never happened before to use our legal system as a weapon to punish a political rival who also happens to be the current president of the United States and the overwhelming favorite to win the presidency. Ever."

The Manhattan District Attorney's office has been looking into the $130,000 in hush money paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels, who has claimed she had an affair with Trump, a claim he has long denied.

In the last weeks of the 2016 election, Michael Cohen, Trump's former attorney, gave Daniels a check. According to court documents, federal prosecutors felt that the payment amounted to an illegal campaign donation.

According to Trump and court records from Cohen's later plea deal, when Trump reimbursed Cohen for the payment, his business recorded the payments as a "monthly retainer" for Cohen's legal services. According to sources, prosecutors were debating whether to prosecute Trump with fabricating financial documents.

As Cohen appeared to give testimony earlier this month before a Manhattan grand jury, he told reporters, "This is all about responsibility." "He needs to be held accountable for his nasty crimes," he stated of Trump.

Trump has consistently maintained that he did "absolutely nothing wrong" and has decried the investigation as an effort by a Democratic prosecutor to "witch hunt" him. According to a Trump attorney, the money was made to safeguard Trump's family, not the campaign.

Joe Tacopina, the defense attorney, said to George Stephanopoulos on ABC's Good Morning America two weeks ago, "He made this with personal monies to prevent something coming out, fictitious, but embarrassing to himself, his family, and his young son."

Trump's eponymous firm was found guilty of tax fraud last year, and its former finance director, Allen Weisselberg, entered a plea of guilty to tax evasion — but up until this point, Trump had never been charged with a crime.