Trump indicted over hush money, 1st ex-US Prez to face criminal charges

New York, March 31

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Donald Trump, former President and front runner to be the Republican nominee in 2024, is set to face a mug shot, fingerprinting and court appearance next week after being indicted over a probe into hush money paid to a porn star in a historic US first.

Editorial: Trump’s Indictment

The possible spectacle of Trump’s appearance in Manhattan on Tuesday before a judge as the first sitting or former President to face criminal charges could further divide the world’s most powerful country.

Likely charges against Trump

• Trump’s aide Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to federal campaign finance crimes involving hush money
• He alleged it was Trump who told him to pay off Daniels & was later reimbursed by him
• Trump’s company ‘falsely accounted’ for payments to Cohen as legal expenses
• Falsifying records can amount to crime; prosecutors trying to elevate it to felony
• Will have to show Trump’s ‘intent to defraud’ included intent to commit/conceal ‘violation’ of election law
• Hush money not inherently illegal, but prosecutors could argue it benefited Trump’s candidacy as it silenced Daniels

Porn star ‘paid’ to keep silent

$130,000 allegedly paid to porn star in the waning days of the 2016 campaign

Daniels received money for keeping silent about a sexual encounter she had with Trump

IT’S sheer revenge

When you get into political prosecutions like this, it’s more about revenge than it is about justice. Nikki Haley, Republican leader

About prosecutor

Alvin Bragg, the man who could send Trump to prison, is the first Black person elected Manhattan District Attorney

Trump is seeking the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden next year. Even before news of the indictment broke, he had been seeking to use the legal threats to raise money and rally his most faithful supporters.

The first US President to have tried to overthrow an election defeat, whose false claims of election fraud inspired the deadly US Capitol assault on January 6, 2021, signalled that he will continue to campaign even as he faces charges.

Those specific charges have not yet been made public as the indictment remains under seal, but CNN on Thursday reported that Trump faced more than 30 counts related to business fraud. While Trump recently claimed that he would be arrested in days, his first reaction at the news was “shock”, said one of his attorneys, Joe Tacopina, in a Friday interview on ABC. “We’ll go in there and we’ll proceed to see a judge at some point, plead not guilty, start talking about filing motions, which we will do immediately and very aggressively,” Tacopina said.

Trump (76) said he was “completely innocent” and accused Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, the Democrat who led the investigation, of trying to hurt his electoral chances.

“This is political persecution and election interference at the highest level in history,” Trump said in a statement.

Neither the White House nor Biden, a Democrat who is widely expected to seek re-election, commented.

The Manhattan charges will likely be unsealed by a judge in the coming days and Trump will have to travel there to be photographed, fingerprinted and appear in court, which a court official said was expected on Tuesday. Trump lawyer Susan Necheles confirmed the Tuesday surrender date and said she did not expect charges to be unsealed until that day.

The grand jury indictment follows months of hearing evidence about an alleged $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels in the waning days of the 2016 campaign.

But any potential trial is still at least more than a year away, legal experts said, meaning it could occur during or after the presidential campaign. Necheles said Trump would “vigorously fight” the charges.

Trump received support from a number of potential challengers for the Republican nomination, including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former Vice-President Mike Pence. “This will only further serve to divide our country,” Pence said.

DeSantis wrote on Twitter: “The weaponisation of the legal system to advance a political agenda turns the rule of law on its head. It is un-American.” — Reuters