Former President Donald Trump has been indicted by a Manhattan grand jury after an investigation into hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 campaign, becoming the first former U.S. president to face criminal charges even as he makes another run for the White House.
While there has been no formal announcement from the Manhattan prosecutor that he has been indicted, several media outlets reported on Thursday that the grand jury had voted to indict Trump on charges relating to hush money paid to a porn star.
Michael Cohen, the former lawyer for Trump, who handled the payment and was the key witness against Trump, issued a statement confirming the indictment.
Trump in a call to ABC TV said that the indictment was "an attack on our country" and an attempt to "impact an election". The exact charges were not immediately known as the grand jury hearings and its vote are secret.
Neither the alleged affair nor the payments are of themselves illegal and the potential charges he faces are falsifying business records for allegedly hiding the payments as lawyer's fees and illegally using the payments to further his election.
Under New York legal procedures, a grand jury - a panel made up of citizens - holds a secret preliminary hearing on allegations to determine whether there is a prima facie case to bring charges for trial.
Stormy Daniels, the porn star, alleged that she had an affair with Trump in 2016. On the eve of the election in 2016, Cohen paid her to buy her silence and he was himself convicted in relation to the payments.
2024 run for White House
Donald Trump will try to turn his indictment to his advantage by stoking anger among core supporters over what they see as the weaponization of the justice system, though many Republicans are getting tired of the drama around him, reports Reuters.
The prosecution of a former president is unprecedented in U.S. history. But his supporters view it as politically motivated, and it may only harden their resolve to back him in the 2024 Republican primary, rank-and-file Republican voters, party officials and political analysts told Reuters.
"They've done nothing but harass this guy," said Gregg Hough, chair of the Republican party in Belknap County, New Hampshire, predicting the prosecution will boost Trump support "to the moon" if it fails to deliver a convincing conviction.
Trump flagged the possibility of charges earlier this month and raised about $2 million off what he said was his imminent arrest. In a statement on Thursday, Trump called the indictment "Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history," without providing evidence.
John Feehery, a Republican strategist, described the Manhattan case as "silly" compared to the other probes hanging over Trump's campaign. Those include a special counsel investigating allegations he sought to overturn the 2020 election results, and prosecutors in Georgia examining his efforts to reverse his loss in the battleground state.
To win the party's nomination, Trump will likely have to broaden his support beyond the 25%-30% of the Republican electorate. An indictment could make it difficult for him to broaden his appeal.
Trump's campaign has accused the Manhattan District Attorney, Democrat Alvin Bragg, of doing the bidding of the Democratic Party in an effort to stop his White House run. At a campaign rally in Waco, Texas on Saturday, Trump likened the criminal investigations against him to a "Stalinist Russia horror show."
People close to Trump have said his campaign would seek to frame the indictment as proof that all prosecutions - including his two impeachments in Congress - are unjustified attempts by the "Deep State" to undermine him and his supporters.
(With inputs from agencies)
