TRUMP INDICTED
From
VegasJerry@21:1/5 to
All on Thu Mar 30 17:25:29 2023
THE WASHINGTON POST
Trump indicted by N.Y. grand jury, first ex-president charged with crime
A Manhattan grand jury has voted to indict former
president Donald Trump following a long-running
investigation focused on hush-money payments to
adult film star Stormy Daniels, people briefed on
the matter say.
NEW YORK — A Manhattan grand jury has voted to indict former president Donald Trump, making him the first person in U.S. history to serve as commander in chief and then be charged with a crime — and setting the stage for a 2024 presidential contest
unlike any other.
The indictment was sealed, which means the specific charge or charges are not publicly known. But the grand jury had been hearing evidence about hush money paid to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, allegedly
to keep her from saying she’d had a sexual encounter with Trump years earlier. It comes after weeks of speculation about whether and when Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg might take such a step, setting the stage for a courthouse showdown
between one of the most combative politicians in modern American history and local prosecutors who have pursued him for years.
Trump, who is campaigning to return to the White House in 2024 and leading in most polls of Republican voters, is also the focus of criminal probes in Georgia and Washington, D.C., related to his efforts to overturn President Biden’s 2020 election
victory and his handling of classified material at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida home and private club.
Being charged with a crime does not disqualify him from running for office, but the indictment suggests a remarkable possibility: a person running for president while simultaneously seeking to beat a conviction.
A spokesperson for the Manhattan District Attorney said Thursday evening that the office had contacted Trump’s attorney to coordinate his surrender for arraignment “on an indictment, which remains under seal.” The spokesperson said more information
will be provided when an arraignment date is determined.
Bragg and his investigative team were probing whether Trump falsified business records connected to the payments in a way that could constitute a campaign-finance violation.
Trump was at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida home and private club, Thursday afternoon when his lawyers said he had been indicted. His legal team was surprised by the precise timing, according to people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of
anonymity to discuss it.
It was not immediately clear when the indictment will be unsealed, or how or when Trump would be brought to court in New York to answer the charges and be processed by law enforcement officials — including mug shots and fingerprints. Security will be a
concern, given that he has a significant Secret Service detail as a former president — a novel issue in a historic case.
The Secret Service is preparing for the possibility of Trump’s arraignment early next week but does not have a firm date on when that will happen, according to a law enforcement official familiar with the plans who spoke on the condition of anonymity
to discuss them. The special agent in charge of Trump’s security detail, Sean Curran, or Curran’s deputy, is likely to personally accompany Trump when he is processed on those charges.
Arrest warrants are typically issued automatically when an indictment is filed against a defendant who has not been previously charged in a criminal complaint. In this case, the indictment was filed behind closed doors at the Lower Manhattan courthouse
after the clerk’s office was closed for the day.
The former president has repeatedly denied all wrongdoing and maintained that those investigating him were making politically motivated accusations — a posture that energizes the most loyal segments of his base, even as some more mainstream Republicans
have expressed interest in finding a new party standard-bearer.
Trump, who has long railed against law enforcement officials, particularly when it comes to investigation of his conduct, quickly issued a statement condemning the indictment. Democrats, he charged, “have lied, cheated and stolen in their obsession
with trying to ‘Get Trump,’ but now they’ve done the unthinkable — indicting a completely innocent person in an act of blatant Election Interference. Never before in our Nation’s history has this been done.”
He vowed to rally his fellow Republicans to defeat Bragg, an elected Democrat. “And then we will defeat Joe Biden, and we are going to throw every last one of these Crooked Democrats out of office,” he said.
Susan Necheles and Joseph Tacopina, the lawyers who have been representing Trump in the Bragg case, confirmed in a statement that their client was indicted but said: “He did not commit any crime. We will vigorously fight this political prosecution in
Court.”
Legal experts have said that the apparent prosecution theory of the case is a novel application of state law, but that it isn’t necessarily fatal to the case. Trump’s legal team is expected to try to have the case tossed before it ever gets to trial �
�� arguing that, among other things, there was no crime committed because even the alleged conduct by Trump does not fit the meaning or application of the law.
In addition to any legal challenges for prosecutors, the case against Trump will face significant political head winds as well, as many Republican elected officials leaped to Trump’s defense, denouncing what they called the weaponization of the
criminal justice system.
Ronna McDaniel, the chairwoman of the Republican Party, called the indictment “a blatant abuse of power from a DA focused on political vengeance instead of keeping people safe.”
Bragg’s investigation appears to have focused on $130,000 paid by former Trump lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen, who has said he fronted the money involved in the Daniels transactions to ensure her silence ahead of the 2016 election, and was later
reimbursed by Trump. The reimbursement payments were erroneously classified as legal fees, previous investigations have found.
Cohen served time in prison after pleading guilty in two federal criminal cases — including one that involved campaign finance violations related to Daniels and another woman who alleged an affair with Trump. He also pleaded guilty to lying to Congress,
and his credibility has been attacked by Trump’s defenders, which could undermine his strength as a witness.
Bragg’s office already has won a conviction against Trump’s family business, successfully prosecuting the Trump Organization on tax fraud and related counts at a criminal trial in New York Supreme Court late last year. In that proceeding, longtime
Trump Organization executive Allen Weisselberg testified against the Trump family’s company under a plea agreement that called for him to serve five months in prison in exchange for his assistance at the trial. He had been facing up to 15 years in
prison after dodging taxes on $1.7 million in income.
As a result of the December conviction, the Trump Organization was ordered to pay a $1.6 million fine to the state, the largest amount allowable under New York law. Trump was not charged in the case.
The district attorney’s investigation of Trump began in 2019, under Bragg’s predecessor, Cyrus R. Vance Jr. It resulted in a Supreme Court legal battle over access to Trump’s tax returns and associated records, which were ultimately turned over to
Vance’s office.
At the start of Bragg’s tenure in 2022, he declined a push by senior prosecutors to ask a previous grand jury to indict Trump on charges that he defrauded lenders and insurance companies by lying about the true value of his properties and other assets.
Bragg said at the time that his office would continue to investigate the former president, and a fresh roster of lawyers got involved in the case.
Vance had earlier considered pursuing charges against Trump related to Daniels. But his office ruled that out as a viable option and moved on to other matters, including the Trump Organization’s tax practices and asset valuations.
Federal prosecutors also declined to prosecute Trump in connection with the Daniels payments, even though they did charge Cohen.
________________________________________
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)