The Republican will be the first former US president to be criminally charged.
UA grand jury in a New York court voted to indict Donald Trump in a 2016 case of buying the silence of an adult film actress, an unprecedented move for a former president, reports Thursday American media.
The former tenant of the White House, who dreams of winning it back in 2024, should be formally charged in the coming days by the justice of the State of New York and his attorney for Manhattan, Alvin Bragg, for the payment of 130,000 dollars to the actress and director of pornographic films Stormy Daniels, say in particular the New York Times and CNN, citing sources familiar with the matter.
After having held America in suspense for ten days, this hypothetical criminal indictment of Donald Trump still seemed this Thursday not to occur before the end of April. The press was buzzing with rumors in early March of a possible indictment of the Republican billionaire.
Donald Trump had pulled off a political coup on March 18 by claiming without any evidence on his Truth Social network that he would be “arrested” and appear in New York court three days later to be charged. But nothing had happened. And the country waited 10 days for this possible indictment, a historic fact against a former American president.
Prosecutor challenged
The Washington Post, Politico and the New York Daily News said again on Wednesday, citing sources familiar with the matter, that justice should not decide before April 24. Since March 20, a grand jury – a panel of citizens with investigative powers that works alongside prosecutors and votes on indictments – has only met twice and no further calls were scheduled.
For his part, Donald Trump, who denies “any crime” and any connection with Stormy Daniels, had estimated on Sunday and Monday that the investigation was “dead”, a “scam” and “electoral interference” orchestrated by “thugs” before the 2024 presidential election.
For years, justice has sought to determine whether the 76-year-old former Republican president was guilty of misrepresentation, a minor offense, or breach of campaign finance laws, a criminal offense, by having paid money to porn actress Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, just before her presidential victory in November 2016. For what purpose? So that she keeps quiet about a supposed extramarital affair 10 years earlier.
Accused by Mr. Trump of being an “animal” and a “racist” and by Republicans of having a “political motive”, Prosecutor Bragg, an elected African-American Democrat, replied that the billionaire had “created a false expectation” media on his indictment and denounced an “interference” in the investigation.
