A Manhattan grand jury has issued an indictment against Donald Trump, who was previously the President

 

Image Source npr.org

According to several sources close to him, a Manhattan grand jury has indicted former President Donald Trump, making him the first former president in U.S. history to be criminally indicted. The charges, which are expected to be released in the coming days, are related to hush-money payments that Trump's former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in 2016. The payments were made in exchange for her silence about her alleged affair with Trump, which he has denied having.

The indictment is expected to be unsealed soon, and a spokesperson for the Manhattan District Attorney's Office has said that they have contacted Trump's attorney to arrange his surrender for arraignment once the date is selected. In response to the indictment, Trump has called it political persecution and election interference at the highest level in history.

Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to multiple federal charges, including making illegal campaign contributions by buying women's silence about their alleged relationships with Trump. In his plea, Cohen outlined the scheme he had orchestrated to pay off Daniels, which involved using a home equity line of credit and arranging to be reimbursed by Trump over a year. Some of the checks came from the Trump trust, while others were signed by Trump himself, according to Cohen.

Falsifying business records could be a felony under New York law, if it was done in furtherance of another crime, such as a campaign finance violation. Cohen even discussed the checks with Trump inside the White House, according to his account. Trump had earlier urged his supporters to mount large protests in anticipation of charges being filed.

The investigation into Donald Trump's business practices began in 2018 under then-District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. and quickly expanded into a broad probe. In 2019, Vance subpoenaed Trump for his tax returns spanning eight years, but Trump contested the request all the way to the Supreme Court, which ruled in Vance's favor, allowing him to obtain the records in early 2021.

By the end of that year, Vance's team was preparing to indict Trump for possible misrepresentations to banks and tax authorities over many years about property valuations. However, when a new district attorney, Alvin Bragg Jr., was sworn in in 2022, he decided against seeking an indictment for a wide-ranging fraud scheme.

This decision led to the resignation of the two lead prosecutors on the case. One of them expressed his disagreement with the decision in his resignation letter, stating that the decision not to prosecute Trump was misguided and completely contrary to the public interest.

Bragg Insisted He Did Not Drop the Investigation Into Trump

This year, Alvin Bragg Jr.'s team began presenting witnesses, including Michael Cohen, to a grand jury. Recently, Trump was also invited to testify, which was seen as a critical step before a potential indictment. However, the former president has dismissed the invitation, labeling it a "political witch-hunt" aimed at taking down the Republican Party's leading candidate. Trump and his legal team have repeatedly accused the investigation of being politically motivated and have accused Bragg, who is Black, of being "racist."

What legal questions does the case involve?

According to legal experts, the criminal case that Bragg is expected to bring against Trump may be difficult to prove in court. Although Cohen was convicted under federal law, the alleged crimes may not perfectly align with New York state statutes.

Trump is accused of breaking New York law, as per Mark Pomerantz, a seasoned prosecutor who played a leading role in the DA office's investigation that began under Vance and later resigned. "The money wasn't meant for legal services," Pomerantz said in an interview with NPR's Fresh Air last month. "Although payments were documented as such. This implies that the reimbursement records were created falsely, which is against New York law and a criminal offense." Pomerantz further said that such a crime could be classified as a felony if it is carried out to commit or conceal another crime.

In 2019, during his testimony to Congress, Michael Cohen stated that he and Trump had discussed the payments in the White House when Cohen visited the Oval Office just one month after Trump became president.

"He gave me a tour of the place and showed me various paintings," Cohen recounted. "He then told me something like, 'Don't worry, Michael. Your reimbursement checks for January and February are on their way. They were FedEx'd from New York, and it takes some time to go through the White House system.'

"True to his word, I soon received the first payment for $70,000, which covered both monthly installments," Cohen stated, referring to the payment in question.