That payment was made a few weeks before the 2016 presidential election, reportedly to prevent Daniels – whose real name is Stephanie Clifford – from speaking out about an affair she allegedly had with Trump years earlier. Trump himself denies this.
The former president writes about the alleged arrest on his own social media platform Truth Social and calls on his supporters to take action. “Demonstrate, take back our nation,” he writes.
Not confirmed
His post has not been confirmed by the public prosecutor, but according to America correspondent Erik Mouthaan, preparations for the trial in New York are almost complete. “During the past week, Daniels himself was in New York to talk. Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen also visited. This indicates that the prosecutor wants to indict Trump.”
A spokesman for Trump seems to want to water down the words of the former president. He says against ABC News that they have had no word that the prosecutor “wants to take his witch hunt to the next level.”
But what exactly is Trump accused of? Cohen paid Daniels $ 130,000 at the time and said he arranged it on behalf of Trump. Mouthaan: “Legal experts say that if proven, Trump could be prosecuted for violating election rules. It is illegal to bribe someone to influence the campaign.”
historical moment
“No former president has ever been taken to court by the prosecution,” says Mouthaan. “It would be a historic moment.” However, it is by no means certain that the former president will be prosecuted. “I have yet to see it. You have to be able to prove it all and that will be difficult, unless they have something up their sleeve. Until recently, Trump did not use email, SMS and WhatsApp. So there is no paper trail that can lead to him In this case.”
Should Trump not be convicted in this case, there are a number of other issues for which he could be prosecuted. In this video, Mouthaan explains what the former president is facing:
Find voices
According to Mouthaan, the case in Georgia, in which he pressured the state’s top election chief to “just find 11,780 votes,” has the best chance of success. “There are audio recordings of that. Four weeks ago, the prosecutor said a decision on prosecution is imminent. That was four weeks ago.”
If Trump is prosecuted in any of these cases, it should happen this year, according to Mouthaan. “Trump could not be prosecuted before because he was still president, but next year he will be a presidential candidate again. Then it will be more difficult.”
