Trump Indicted By NY Grand Jury - CNN
22:10 GMT 30.03.2023 (Updated: 16:55 GMT 03.04.2023)
© AP Photo / Alex Brandon / Former President Donald Trump speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC)
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CNN is reporting that Trump will appear in court on Tuesday, April 4, to be arraigned on his charges.
Former President Donald Trump has been indicted by a Manhattan grand jury, according to CNN who cites "multiple sources familiar with the matter."
This is the first time a current or former President of the United States has faced criminal charges. The indictment is under seal and will be announced in the coming days. The charges against Trump are not known at this time.
This is the first time a current or former President of the United States has faced criminal charges. The indictment is under seal and will be announced in the coming days. The charges against Trump are not known at this time.
The case centers around a $130,000 payment made by Attorney Michael Cohen to adult film star Stormy Daniels shorty before the 2016 election. Cohen, who was not Trump's lawyer at the time, was then allegedly paid by the Trump campaign. Those payments were labelled as legal expenses and were not included in the campaign's finance reports.
Cohen pled guilty in 2018 for charges related to tax fraud and campaign finance violations. He claimed that Trump ordered him to make the payments to Daniels and then reimbursed him in monthly installments and a bonus, in payments totaling $420,000.
The payments to Daniels were part of a non-disclosure agreement Daniels signed to prevent her from going public about accusations that she had a sexual relationship with Trump, something that Trump denies.
Trump has repeatedly dismissed the investigation, as well as the various other legal challenges he is facing, as politically motivated witch-hunts.
Legal observers say the charges will likely focus on falsifying business records, because the Trump campaign reported that the payments were for legal services that Cohen never rendered. That would only result in a misdemeanor, but it has been suggested that by showing it was done to cover up another crime, it could be bumped up to a felony, though that would depend on untested legal theory.
Trump attorney Alina Habba released a statement after the news broke, calling Trump a victim of a corrupt justice system.
"A former president, a current candidate and my friend President Donald J. Trump is a victim of a corrupt and distorted version of the American justice system and history. He will be vindicated," Habba said.
Trump released a statement on his social media site calling the indictment "blatant Election Interference [sic]"
Donald Trump Statement on Indictment
© Donald Trump / Truth Social
In a later post, Trump would say it was "THIS IS AN ATTACK ON OUR COUNTRY THE LIKES OF WHICH HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE. IT IS LIKEWISE A CONTINUING ATTACK ON OUR ONCE FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS. THE USA IS NOW A THIRD WORLD NATION, A NATION IN SERIOUS DECLINE. SO SAD!"
According to CNN, Trump's newest defense attorney, Joe Tacopina, said that Trump will likely be arraigned early next week. Earlier he issued a joint statement with Susan Necheles, another member of Trump's legal team, saying that they will "vigorously fight this political prosecution in Court."
Earlier this month, Trump said that he expected to be arrested on March 21. After that did not happen and reports said that the grand jury was on break until late April, Trump praised the grand jury and legal system.
Prior to this indictment, Trump had managed to avoid legal trouble. He settled several lawsuits out of court and while he was impeached twice as president, he managed to avoid convictions both times.
In December, the Trump Organization was convicted on multiple tax fraud charges but Trump, who had passed off the day to day operations of the organization to his children, was not charged in that case.
Trump is also under investigation in Georgia, where prosecutors are looking into his and his allies alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in that state. And there is a federal investigation underway looking into his handling of classified documents after leaving office. That case resulted in an FBI raid on his Mar-a-Lago estate, where authorities seized thousands of documents from Trump's home.
Trump, who declared his intention to run for President again in 2024, would not be prevented from running for President, even if convicted.
Since the initial CNN report, several media outlets have confirmed with their sources that the Manhattan grand jury have voted to indict Trump.
