Donald Trump Indicted: Here’s Why the Ex-Prez Criminally Charged and What Will Happen to His Election Race

A New York grand jury indicted Donald Trump on Thursday over hush money payments made to a porn star during his 2016 presidential campaign, making him the first former US president to face criminal charges.

Trump faces more than 30 counts related to business fraud in an indictment from a Manhattan grand jury. The indictment, that comes after years of investigations into Trump’s business, political and personal dealings, injects a local district attorney’s office into the heart of a national presidential race and ushers in criminal proceedings in a city that the ex-president for decades called home.

WHY IS TRUMP INDICTED?

The New York grand jury indicted Donald Trump over hush money payments made to the pornographic film actress known as Stormy Daniels.

Prior to the 2016 election, intense behind-the-scenes negotiations occurred to prevent the leak of an embarrassing revelation that Trump had a relationship with Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, in 2006 — a year after he married his current wife.

Late in the campaign, Trump lawyer Michael Cohen arranged a payment of $130,000 to Daniels in exchange for her pledge of confidentiality.

After US media broke the story, Cohen cooperated with prosecutors and pleaded guilty in 2018 to charges of tax and bank fraud, as well as violating federal campaign financing laws.

Cohen testified that the Trump Organization reimbursed Cohen for his payment to Daniels, which prosecutors said amounted to an undeclared campaign gift in violation of election financing laws.

WHAT HAS TRUMP SAID?

Trump has denied any wrongdoing and has repeatedly assailed the investigation and called the indictment “political persecution”.

In a statement confirming the charges, defense lawyers Susan Necheles and Joseph Tacopina said Trump “did not commit any crime. We will vigorously fight this political prosecution in court.”

WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO TRUMP’S PRESIDENTIAL BID?

Trump, a frontrunner to be the Republican nominee in the 2024 election, has branded all of the investigations political persecution.

The indictment comes as the former president has sought to reassert control of the Republican Party and stave off a slew of one-time allies who may threaten his bid for the presidential nomination. An expected leading rival in the race, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, called the indictment “un-American” in a statement Thursday night that pointedly did not mention Trump’s name.

The impact of an indictment on his election chances is unpredictable, with critics and adversaries alike voicing concerns about the legal merits of the hush money case.

Detractors worry that if Trump were cleared, it could make it easier to dismiss as a “witch hunt” any future indictment in arguably more serious affairs — such as Trump’s efforts to overturn Georgia’s election results.

Trump staged his first presidential campaign rally in Texas on Saturday, addressing several thousand supporters — far fewer than the 15,000 he had expected — in the city of Waco, Texas.

HERE’S WHAT THE REPUBLICANS SAID

In the Republican camp, Trump’s allies and sons denounced what they see as a vendetta aimed at derailing his 2024 campaign — while his expected challenger for the party nomination, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, slammed the indictment as “un-American.”

Kevin McCarthy, the top Republican in the House of Representatives, said the indictment had “irreparably damaged” the country.

But the top Democrat Adam Schiff — lead prosecutor of Trump’s first impeachment in 2019 — called it “a sobering and unprecedented development.”

WILL THE INDICTMENT LEAD TO PROTESTS?

Trump had declared earlier this month that he expected to be arrested within days over the payment to Daniels — who received $130,000 weeks before the election that brought Trump to power, to stop her from going public about a tryst she claims they had a decade earlier.

In predicting his indictment, Trump also issued a call for demonstrations and dark warnings that it could lead to “potential death & destruction” that “could be catastrophic for our Country.”

His statement set New York on edge for possible protests but the prospect of a quick indictment appeared to recede as the grand jury panel continued to hear witnesses — until Thursday.

A media scrum quickly gathered outside the district attorney’s office, along with a handful of anti-Trump protesters — but the situation was calm overall.

(With inputs from agencies)

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