Donald Trump will probably be the first US President to stand trial. A grand jury in New York decided on Thursday.
A grand jury in Manhattan has voted to indict former US President Donald Trump. It would be the first time in American history that a sitting or former president has been prosecuted. The exact charges are still unclear. So far, the relevant documents are under lock and key.
A spokesman for the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said: “Tonight we contacted Mr. Trump’s attorney to coordinate his transfer to the Manhattan Attorney’s office on a High Court indictment that remains classified.”
Trump’s attorney, Joe Tacopina, said his client is expected to show up at the Manhattan DA’s office early next week. Media reports speak of Tuesday. Fingerprints will probably be taken there and the typical “Mugshot” photos will be taken. Observers do not assume that Trump will be taken away in handcuffs. The situation around an ex-US president seems too delicate for that.
What exactly the content of the charges against Trump is remains unknown for the time being. According to media reports, however, there are more than 30 charges relating to business fraud.
Payment to porn star Stormy Daniels
What is known: Manhattan prosecutors have long been investigating the former president in connection with his alleged role in a hush-money payment scheme and a cover-up. It is about alleged payments to ex-porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election. There is a suspicion that the hush money payment violated a campaign financing law. Because the amount of more than 100,000 US dollars did not appear in the expense lists.
The payment was apparently intended to prevent the former erotic actress from going public, which could have harmed Trump in the election campaign. Trump’s private attorney at the time, Michael Cohen, reportedly paid Stormy Daniels $130,000 shortly before the 2016 presidential election. Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, says she had an affair with Trump years before the election, but Trump denies it.
For Cohen, the indictment of the former US President is “just the beginning”. Now you have to let the indictment speak for itself, Cohen said in a statement released to US media on Thursday. “However, I find it comforting to see the adage that no one is above the law, not even a former president,” Cohen said. He stands by his statement in the case. Cohen has since renounced his former client.
Trump is beside himself, his son is collecting donations
Trump himself reacted with outrage at the indictment. “This is political persecution and electoral interference at the highest level in history,” read a written statement on Thursday evening (local time) from the Republican, who wants to run again as his party’s presidential candidate in the 2024 election.
Trump sees the indictment against him as an “attack on our country”. It is also an attack on the “once” free elections, the US is now a “Third World country” and a nation in decline, wrote the Republican on the network and Twitter replacement Truth Social he co-founded.
His son, Donald Trump Jr., immediately used the upcoming charges against his father to solicit donations from Trump supporters. He described the prosecutors as “clowns”. Trump and his campaign team have been calling for financial support for him in this case for weeks.
DeSantis: Will refuse extradition requests
Ron DeSantis, Trump’s possible Republican opponent, has already offered help on Twitter. “Florida will not assist in an extradition request given the questionable circumstances surrounding this Soros-backed Manhattan attorney and his political agenda.” With Soros, he is alluding to the left-wing philanthropist George Soros, who is repeatedly seen by Republicans and the right as a financier of Democrats and a man in the background – without there being any evidence of this. DeSantis also spoke of an “arming” of the American legal system that was “un-American”.
