Donald Trump indicted in Stormy Daniels hush money case

A New York grand jury indicted Donald Trump today for paying hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels during his 2016 campaign, according to multiple media outlets. It is a development that the former president seized on to unite his supporters against prosecutors.

The message has been confirmed by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, Fox News and others.

The Manhattan attorney’s office, led by attorney Alvin Bragg, has not made an official announcement, which may be related to the office finalizing the details of Trump’s surrender to authorities, which is expected in the near future and in the coming days will occur, to a law enforcement source. The indictment is sealed but will be released if Trump is indicted.

How that will translate into the 2024 presidential race is unclear.

Trump, the twice-impeached one-term commander-in-chief who rose to national prominence as the longtime host of NBC’s reality show The intern, is the first former US president to be prosecuted and arrested. He dodged legal perils for decades, long before we descended the escalator of Trump Tower in September 2015 to announce his candidacy for the Republican nomination.

Read below for an overview of the April 2022 Manhattan Attorney’s Office case.

The charges stem from a $130,000 hush money payment made to Daniels by Trump’s then-lawyer Michael Cohen just weeks before the 2016 election. Trump has denied having an affair with Daniels, which she says took place in 2006.

Trump is expected to face charges of paying off Cohen and then falsifying company records – a way to circumvent election law. Cohen, who was sent to prison after pleading guilty to a number of charges including those related to the payments, testified before a grand jury. But the federal prosecutor’s office also investigated the payment and brought no charges.

“I think Donald is scared right now,” Cohen said in an MSNBC interview today. “It’s one of his biggest fears.”

The case may just be the first to be filed against him. Wall Street Journal and CNN reports that Manhattan prosecutors are also investigating another hush money scheme that ran before the 2016 campaign, with Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model, saying National Survey trying to turn her story of an alleged affair with Trump into a “catch and kill” ploy to prevent the story from going public. The National Enquirer’s parent company, A360 Media LLC, agreed to pay $187,500 in a 2021 settlement with the Federal Election Commission.

Prosecutors in Fulton County, GA, are also considering charges over Trump’s role in trying to overturn that state’s 2020 election results. Special counsel Jack Smith also investigated Trump to determine whether he could face criminal liability for his role in the Capitol Siege on January 6, 2021. Summer.

Earlier this month, Trump wrote on Truth Social, his social media platform, that he expected an arrest, but that has not happened yet. He also lashed out at Bragg when he called for protests over what he described as politically motivated charges.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy backed Trump and promised to launch an investigation into whether federal money was involved in the impeachment. Some of Trump’s potential rivals in 2024 have also criticized Bragg, but Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor who is said to be his strongest contender for the nomination, mocked the former president for it.

“I don’t know what it means to pay a porn star hush money to keep quiet about an alleged relationship,” DeSantis said last week. He also said he had “no interest” in participating in a “manufactured circus,” suggesting he would not interfere if Florida authorities became involved because of Trump’s residency there.

Here’s an overview of the case released by the Manhattan attorney’s office a year ago:

In recent weeks, the Manhattan attorney’s office has been repeatedly asked whether our investigations into former President Donald J. Trump, the Trump Organization and their leadership will continue.

It is.

There are also questions about the timing of the grand jury. As anyone who has worked criminal cases in New York knows, New York County has grand juries all the time.

There is no magic whatsoever to previously reported dates.

The team working on this investigation is made up of dedicated, experienced prosecutors. They go through documents, interview witnesses and examine evidence that has not been examined before. In the long and proud tradition of prosecuting business attorneys in the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, we investigate and investigate the facts thoroughly without fear or favor.

The team is led by Susan Hoffinger, head of the research department. Susan brings decades of experience as an Assistant District Attorney and District Attorney, including New York State grand jury and trial experience, which is critical to this investigation.

Spectacular, complex investigations have shaped my professional career.

As a prosecutor and federal attorney for the Southern District of New York, I have successfully prosecuted cases involving money laundering, witness tampering, mortgage fraud, misconduct and bribery. And I went where the facts took me, chasing down two mayors, a city councilman, an FBI agent, a former Senate majority leader, a district attorney and businessmen.

Indeed, I am no stranger to litigation involving the former President himself. As Deputy Chief Attorney General for the State of New York, I oversaw the successful prosecution of the former President, his family and the Trump Foundation.

These experiences shape my approach and the research steps on which the team is working at full speed. Prosecutors doing their duty can’t and won’t just bring cases that are slam dunks. On the contrary, every case must be brought for the right reason, namely that justice requires it. I have done this my entire career, no matter how easy or difficult the case.

I understand the public’s desire to know more about our investigative steps. But the law requires secrecy during an investigation. It is a criminal offense in New York for a prosecutor to disclose grand jury cases. And for a good reason.

This can create problems for cases and investigations, the people involved and the criminal justice system. This can influence witness statements or even lead to witness manipulation. Unauthorized public disclosures can also affect a suspect’s right to a fair trial.

While I am currently prohibited by law from commenting further, I promise that the Bureau will publicly announce the completion of our investigation — whether we end our work without charge or proceed with an indictment.

Meanwhile, we will not discuss our research steps. Nor will we discuss the grand jury matters.

Basically, as we said, the investigation is ongoing.