Trump indicted over hush money paid to porn star, first US ex-president to face criminal charges
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Mr Trump has denied the relationship with Stormy Daniels and has said the payment was made to stop her “false and extortionist accusations”.
PHOTO: AFP
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NEW YORK - Donald Trump, the former president and front runner to be the Republican nominee in 2024, is set to face a mugshot, fingerprinting and court appearance next week after being indicted over a probe into hush money paid to a porn star
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.
Trump is seeking the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden in 2024
The first US president to have tried to overthrow an election defeat, and whose false claims of election fraud deadly US Capitol assault on Jan 6, 2021
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 claimed in a social media post on March 18 that he would be arrested in days, Trump’s first reaction at the news was “shock”, said one of his attorneys, Mr 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,” Mr 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.
Trump claims political motivations for all four criminal investigations he is known to face – including federal probes into his retention of classified documents and attempts to overturn his election defeat, and a separate Georgia probe into his attempt to overturn his loss in that state.
He has also accused Mr Bragg, who is black, of racial bias.
‘Let the process proceed’
Shortly after news of his indictment broke, Trump appealed to supporters to provide money for a legal defence.
As news of Trump’s indictment flashed across a news ticker on a Times Square skyscraper on Thursday evening, New York City resident Elizabeth Blaise welcomed the news.
“It shows that democracy is finally at a place where it is supposed to be,” she said.
Trump earlier in March called for nationwide protests, recalling his charged rhetoric ahead of the Jan 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol by his supporters.
Neither the White House nor Mr Biden, a Democrat who is widely expected to seek re-election, commented.
Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer, called for calm: “I encourage both Mr Trump’s critics and supporters to let the process proceed peacefully and according to the law.”
Tuesday surrender
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.
The grand jury indictment follows months of hearing evidence about an alleged US$130,000 (S$173,000) 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.
Trump lawyer Susan Necheles said he will “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,” Mr Pence said.
Mr 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.”
Among Trump’s faithful outside his Mar-a-Lago property, Ms Jill Cohen, 57, said the indictment would only bolster him.
“Do you really think that they are going to take President Trump out of the running for president because of some old horse-face story? No! I don’t believe that for a second,” said Ms Cohen. “What they are doing to him right now is only strengthening his base.”
Other Republican voters might tire of the drama, though.
Some 44 per cent of Republicans said he should drop out of the race if he is indicted, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released last week.
How much the case affects the election could have profound implications beyond US borders.
While president between 2017 and 2021, Trump regularly clashed with allies over trade and defence, and a return to the Oval Office could weaken US support for Ukraine.
Affairs alleged
Trump has escaped legal peril numerous times.
In the White House, he weathered two attempts by Congress to remove him from office
The Manhattan District Attorney’s office successfully prosecuted Trump’s business on tax-fraud charges last year
The presiding judge in that case, New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, is expected to oversee the Daniels case as well, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The investigation by Mr Bragg’s office concerns whether Trump and his company falsified records to conceal payments on the eve of the 2016 election to Ms Daniels, intended to keep her from going public about her alleged affair with Trump. Trump has denied the affair.
Former Trump lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen, a key player in the alleged scheme, admitted he facilitated payments and was reimbursed by the Trump Organisation for advancing the money to Ms Daniels.
Mr Cohen pleaded guilty to federal campaign finance charges and other violations in 2018 and was sentenced to three years in prison. He implicated Trump in his plea – which referred to Trump as “Individual-1” – but federal prosecutors decided not to bring charges against someone who was then the sitting president.
Legal experts say Mr Bragg is expected to argue Trump falsified business records to cover up another crime, such as violating federal campaign-finance law, which makes it a felony. REUTERS, BLOOMBERG
