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Indictment is unprecedented
The indictment of Donald Trump, the former president and current presidential candidate, on criminal charges related to his hush money payment to the adult film star Stormy Daniels, is historic.
No former president has ever been criminally indicted. We are waiting for details to emerge and for reactions from Trump or his legal team.
Daniels says she had a short affair with Trump in 2006. Trump denies that.
Trump also denies wrongdoing, despite admitting reimbursing the $130,000 payment made by his then lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, as election day approached in late 2016.
Trump claims to have been a victim of extortion, and says, via lawyers, he initially lied, saying he knew nothing of the payment, because it involved a non-disclosure agreement.
News of the Daniels payment broke in early 2018, when Trump was president. Cohen later pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations, contributing to a three-year custodial sentence.
We do not yet know what the charges are, the indictment, voted for by a grand jury late this afternoon in New York, is under seal. The Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, is in charge of this criminal case but we have not heard from him yet today.
Charges are likely to relate to falsification of business records, it’s unknown yet whether charges will be misdemeanors or a felony, if an additional crime is alleged, such as campaign finance violation.
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Prominent House Democrat Adam Schiff, who was the lead impeachment manager when Donald Trump was prosecuted in Congress in 2020 over his politically corrupt and extortionate dealings with Ukraine, has weighed on the unprecedented indictment of a US president, current or former.
The California congressman said: “A nation of laws must hold the rich and powerful accountable, even when they hold high office.”
Here’s the full tweet:
The indictment of a former president is unprecedented.
But so too is the unlawful conduct in which Trump has been engaged.
A nation of laws must hold the rich and powerful accountable, even when they hold high office.
Especially when they do.
To do otherwise is not democracy.
From the other side of the aisle, US Senator Ted Cruz, rightwinger of Texas, said: “The Democrat party’s hatred for Donald Trump knows no bounds.”
Donald Trump is saying he is “completely innocent”. This is from a statement the former president has put out in the wake of the news that a grand jury in New York has voted to indict him on criminal charges related to reimbursement of hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election campaign.
Trump attorney Alina Habba has said Trump is a victim of a corrupt and distorted version of the American justice system and history. He will be vindicated.
Stormy Daniels’s attorney Clark Brewster said Trump’s indictment is “no cause for joy, let truth and justice prevail”, Reuters reported.
The House of Representatives’ No 2 Republican Steve Scalise is calling the indictment a sham.
The sham New York indictment of President Donald Trump is one of the clearest examples of extremist Democrats weaponizing government to attack their political opponents.
Outrageous.
Trump claims indictment is "political persecution and election interference".
Donald Trump has put out a statement slamming his criminal indictment by a grand jury in New York.
TRUMP reacts in statement: “This is Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history”
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) March 30, 2023Trump further said in the statement that “ever since I came down the golden escalator at Trump Tower [referring to his announcement in New York in 2016 of his candidacy for president], and even before I was sworn in as your president of the United States, the radical left Democrats – the enemy of the hard-working men and women of this country – have been engaged in a witch hunt to destroy the Make American Great Again movement”.
There’s more, we’ll bring it to you in a moment.
Donald Trump previously said he would continue campaigning for the Republican party’s nomination even if charged with a crime.
The specific charges are not yet known and the indictment will likely be announced in the coming days, the New York Times reported and Reuters writes.
Trump will have to travel to Manhattan for fingerprinting and other processing at that point.
Susan Necheles, a lawyer representing Trump, said she was informed of the indictment but did not know when he would surrender. A law enforcement source, speaking on condition of anonymity, also confirmed the indictment.
Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg’s office, who is in charge of this case, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Trump, 76, sought re-election in 2020 but was defeated by Democrat Joe Biden. Trump has falsely claimed he lost to Biden due to widespread voting fraud and has called the investigation that led to his indictment a “political witch hunt.”
Bragg’s office last year won the criminal conviction of Trump’s real estate company for fraud, but Trump himself was not charged.
The Manhattan investigation is one of several legal challenges facing Trump, and the charges could hurt his presidential comeback attempt.
Some 44% of Republicans said he should drop out of the race if he is indicted, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released last week.
Michael Cohen has said Trump directed hush payments to Daniels and to a second woman, former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who also said she had a sexual relationship with him. Trump has denied having affairs with either woman.
Federal prosecutors examined the Daniels payoff in 2018, leading to a prison sentence for Cohen but no charges against Trump.
As a reminder: No former or sitting US president has ever faced criminal charges. Trump also faces two criminal investigations by a special counsel appointed by US Attorney General Merrick Garland and one by a local prosecutor in Georgia.
Here’s a great irony, given Trump’s love-hate relationship with the media. The former president learned about the indictment from the New York Times, according to my Guardian colleague Hugo Lowell.
New: Trump team learned about the Manhattan hush money indictment from NY Times — his team had not yet been informed when the news broke
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) March 30, 2023Here’s CNN’s Jeff Zeleny.
Former President Donald Trump was caught off guard by the grand jury’s decision to indict him, a person who spoke to him tells me. “Is this a shock today? Hell yes,” I'm told. Trump is poised to release a statement soon.
— Jeff Zeleny (@jeffzeleny) March 30, 2023"No one is above the law": Michael Cohen, Trump's former lawyer
Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former lawyer and fixer who ended up turning against his former boss, serving time in prison in relation to the Daniels case and testifying in front of this grand jury in New York, has issued a statement.
“This is the first time a president of the United States, current or former, has been indicted. I take no pride in issuing this statement and I would also like to remind everyone of the presumption of innocence, as provided by the due process clause.
“However, I do take solace in validating the adage that no one is above the law, even a former president. Today’s indictment is not the end of this chapter but rather just the beginning.
“Now that these charges have been filed it is better for the case to let the indictment speak for itself. The two things I wish to say at this time are that accountability matters and I stand by my testimony and the evidence I have provided to the district attorney in New York.”
Cohen paid Stormy Daniels $130,000 late in to the 2016 election campaign, to keep quiet about her account that she had sex with Trump in 2006, which Trump denies. Cohen was subsequently reimbursed by Trump, which was followed by allegations that this was not properly treated as a campaign expenditure and broke the law.
A lawyer for Donald Trump says the former president has been informed that he’s been indicted in New York on charges involving payments made during the 2016 presidential campaign to silence claims of an extramarital sexual encounter with adult film star Stormy Daniels.
This is a jolt to Trump’s bid to retake the White House in 2024, the Associated Press reports.
The grand jury in New York’s indictment of Trump, 76, is an extraordinary development after years of investigations into his business, political and personal dealings. It is likely to galvanize critics who say Trump lied and cheated his way to the top and embolden his base of devoted voters who believe the Republican former president and current candidate is being unfairly targeted by a Democratic prosecutor (who took over this case from a predecessor Democratic prosecutor).
But there is no doubt that almost everyone has been blindsided by tonight’s development after it was understood that the grand jury was not ready to vote yet on an indictment.
Donald Trump and his legal team were reportedly not given advance warning that an indictment was coming down.
But they have now been informed of the decision, the Associated Press has confirmed.
We have not heard yet from the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, whose office is in charge of that case.
A lawyer for Trump said moments ago that the former president has now been told that he’s been indicted. It has not been made public what the charges are or whether such charges will be of misdemeanor or felony status. The grand jury will have filed the indictment under seal.
Observers believe this has taken the president’s team, at least in the moment, by surprise, where they are gathered at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s residence in Palm Beach, Florida.
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the indictment of Donald Trump, the former president and current presidential candidate, on criminal charges related to his hush money payment to the adult film star Stormy Daniels.
It is a historic move. No former president has ever been criminally indicted. We are waiting for details to emerge and for reactions from Trump or his legal team.
Daniels says she had a short sexual affair with Trump in 2006. Trump denies that.
Trump also denies wrongdoing, despite admitting reimbursing the $130,000 payment made by his then lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, as election day approached in late 2016.
Trump claims to have been a victim of extortion, and says, via lawyers, he initially lied, saying he knew nothing of the payment, because it involved a non-disclosure agreement.
News of the Daniels payment broke in early 2018, when Trump was president. Cohen later pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations, contributing to a three-year custodial sentence.
Trump faces wide-ranging legal jeopardy, also including investigations of his election subversion at federal and state levels, a civil suit over his business affairs in New York and a defamation trial arising from a rape allegation by the writer E Jean Carroll.
He denies all wrongdoing. In the Manhattan hush money case, as in the investigation of his election subversion in Georgia, where an indictment is thought to be imminent, Trump claims to be the victim of prosecutorial racism.
According to Mark Pomerantz, a New York prosecutor who worked under Bragg, as the Manhattan DA continued an investigation begun by his predecessor, the Daniels payment came to be seen as a “zombie case” that simply would not die.
It has now risen to bite Trump, potentially roiling the race for the Republican nomination to face Joe Biden at the polls next year.
Stay with us for rolling coverage.
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