“Trump Indicted” was emblazoned in capital letters on the front pages of major US newspapers such as the Washington Post and the New York Times on Friday morning. The Republican is the first former US president ever to face criminal charges. The case involves money that Trump is said to have paid former porn star Daniels during the 2016 election campaign. The US TV broadcaster CNN called the charges against Trump “historic”.
The prosecutor’s office in Manhattan (New York) has not yet given any more detailed information on the indictment, the document was still “sealed”, it said on Thursday. The deliberations of the 23-person grand jury are secret. A decision was not expected until the end of April. According to CNN, the indictment could total 30 counts.
What will happen?
According to his attorney Susan Necheles, Trump is likely to appear in court for charges as early as Tuesday. “We expect it to take place on Tuesday,” the defense attorney was quoted as saying on Friday. Media such as the “New York Times” and “Washington Post” wondered in advance how that could work. Trump is scheduled to face the court.
The “New York Times” speculated on Friday under the headline “This will happen if Donald Trump is arrested” about the course of events on Tuesday. Trump is expected to go through “standard procedure,” fingerprints, photo, etc. The question is whether he will appear in court in handcuffs. In any case, according to the US newspaper, the procedure for a former president is “anything but routine”. If he turns himself in, he will be spared arrest.
Nervous about possible riots
Another question looking ahead to Tuesday is what will happen on the streets. Trump had called on supporters to protest more than a week ago, New York tightened security measures, fences were erected and surveillance cameras installed in front of the Manhattan courthouse, and the authorities are monitoring social networks. According to the Ö1 morning journal, the entire New York police force – 36,000 men and women – was put on alert for Friday.
“test case” in several ways
Finally, a big question is the political consequences, not only with a view to the 2024 presidential election, in which Trump wants to run again, but for the whole country. The indictment is “a historic development that will rock the 2024 presidential race,” wrote the New York Times. The Washington Post called the indictment a “test case” for further proceedings, such as after the storming of the Capitol by Trump supporters on January 6, 2021.
Payment per se not illegal
The investigation against Trump is about a hush money payment of $ 130,000 (around 120,000 euros) to the former porn actress Daniels before the 2016 presidential election. The porn star, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, stated that she had an affair with Trump in 2006, which he denies.
Trump’s lawyer at the time, Michael Cohen, who has since renounced his former client, says he paid them hush money on Trump’s behalf during the election campaign in order to avert political damage shortly before the election. Trump’s company later reimbursed him for the expenses in several installments. In December 2018, Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison.
The payment itself is not illegal, but charges could include falsifying business documents and illegal campaign finance. Finally, the prosecutors could argue that the hush money benefited the candidacy directly. Trump and his attorneys have also conceded payment. However, the Republican denies having an affair with the porn actress and insists that the payment had nothing to do with campaign funds.
“lunatics” and “scum”
Trump called the charges “political persecution and electoral interference” in a statement released Thursday, saying he was the victim of a “witch hunt” by “the far-left Democrats.” “Impeaching a perfectly innocent person is an act of blatant electoral interference,” Trump said.
At a recent event, Trump berated authorities that the New York District Attorney was “investigating something against me, under the aegis of the ‘Department of Justice’ in Washington, that is not a crime, not a wrongdoing, not an affair,” Trump said. Behind it were “radical left-wing lunatics”. The plaintiffs described Trump as “scum”.
Trump wants to run for the White House again in 2024. A trial and potential conviction that could see the Republican face several years in prison could politically jeopardize his plans to run for president again — in terms of support from his party and the Republican base. In purely legal terms, on the other hand, Trump could theoretically also stand as a convicted criminal in the 2024 presidential election.
Leading Republicans outraged
Various Republicans reacted with outrage to the charges and saw them as an attack on democracy. Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy attacked New York State Attorney Alvin Bragg.
“While he routinely releases violent criminals to terrorize the public, he has used our sacred legal system against President Donald Trump,” McCarthy wrote on Twitter. McCarthy is considered a Trump ally.
Even Trump’s biggest internal party competitor Ron DeSantis criticized the approach: “When the legal system is used as a weapon to advance a political agenda, the rule of law is turned on its head.” Former US Vice President Mike Pence described the charges as a “scandal”.
