After years of investigations and weeks of suspense over possible legal charges, former president Donald Trump was formally indicted by a New York grand jury. The indictment by a grand jury, convened by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, is the latest development in a lingering affair scandal for Trump and one of several legal cases that the ex-president faces. The New York indictment sets up an unprecedented circumstance in which a former president will be taken into legal custody and could perhaps face jail time.
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The post Donald Trump Indicted In New York City, Setting Up An Unprecedented Circumstance appeared first on Blavity.
CNN reported Thursday evening that several sources had confirmed that a Manhattan grand jury had voted to criminally indict Trump. The news was later confirmed by Trump’s legal team. While the details of the indictment, including the specific crimes with which Trump is being charged, have not been made public, DA Bragg has been investigating Trump for a number of financial crimes, eventually honing in on the fallout of an alleged affair. Trump is suspected to have committed criminal offenses in attempting to cover up a $130,000 payoff made in 2016 to adult actress Stormy Daniels, who claims she had an affair with him years ago. Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, who was reported to serve as Trump’s “fixer” ‘for years, went to federal prison for a variety of violations that include the Stormy Daniels payment, which was seen as an illegal contribution to the Trump presidential campaign.
Bragg has reportedly been seeking to file felony charges against Trump, and the grand jury is believed to have returned one or more felony indictments. This is the first time that a sitting or former President of the United States has ever faced criminal charges.
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Trump remained defiant in the face of these charges. In a statement released Thursday, Trump lawyer Joe Tacopina said that Trump “did not commit any crime,” and labeled the charges a “political prosecution.” Trump, who is currently the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination for 2024, released an angry statement, calling the charges “Political Persecution and Election Interference” attacking DA Bragg, President Joe Biden, and Democratic donor George Soros, among others; his statement also brought up a number of other scandals, including his two impeachments and the raid of his Mar-a-Lago resort to recover classified documents.
Now that Trump has been indicted, it is expected that he will have to turn himself in for arraignment next week. As is the case with anyone else charged with felony offenses, Trump will be booked at the DA’s office, including having his fingerprints and mugshot taken. Given Trump’s high profile and the unique security situation surrounding a former president with Secret Service protection, it’s expected that Trump will be brought in through a private entrance, and he will probably not be handcuffed or put in a holding cell during the process. Trump’s team and the DA’s office will likely negotiate an exact time for these events to take place, and Trump will almost certainly be allowed to leave once he has been processed.
These New York charges may be the tip of the iceberg for Trump’s legal woes. Trump may be indicted in for election tampering in Georgia, which could result in RICO charges for organized crime, and he is being investigated for the Mar-a-Lago classified documents scandal and the Capitol Hill insurrection. But it looks like New York will have the first crack at holding Trump criminally responsible for his behavior, a case that has already made history and that will continue to send shockwaves across the political landscape for some time to come.
