A grand jury in a New York court has voted to indict Donald Trump, US media reported Thursday, March 30.
The former tenant of the White House, who dreams of winning it back in 2024, should be formally charged in the coming days by the justice of the State of New York and his attorney for Manhattan, Alvin Bragg, for the payment, during the presidential campaign in 2016, of 130,000 (about 119,000 euros) to the actress of pornographic films Stormy Daniels, in order to silence the allegations of an extramarital sexual relationship in 2006, report in particular the New York Times and CNN, citing sources familiar with the matter.
Donald Trump’s lawyer said he was made aware of the indictment, making his client the first former US president to be criminally charged.
Eric Trump, one of Mr. Donald Trump’s sons, quickly denounced the indictment, calling it, on Twitter, “an opportunistic act aimed at a political opponent in the middle of an election campaign”.
Donald Trump had pulled off a political stunt on March 18 by claiming without any evidence on his Truth Social network that he would be “arrested” and appear in a New York court three days later to be charged. Nothing had happened immediately, and the country waited ten days for this possible indictment.
Donald Trump denies ‘any wrongdoing’
Since March 20, a grand jury — a citizens’ panel with investigative powers that works alongside prosecutors and votes on indictments — has met only twice and no further calls were scheduled. For his part, Donald Trump, who denies “any crime” and any connection with Stormy Daniels, had estimated Sunday and Monday that the investigation was “dead”, a “swindle” and “election interference” orchestrated by “thugs” before the 2024 presidential election.
For years, the judiciary has sought to determine whether the 76-year-old former Republican president was guilty of misrepresentation, a minor offense, or breach of campaign finance laws, a criminal offense, by having paid money to porn actress Stormy Daniels, real name Stephanie Clifford, just before her November 2016 presidential victory.
Accused by Mr. Trump of being an “animal” and a “racist”, and by Republicans of being motivated by a “political motive”, Prosecutor Bragg, an elected African-American Democrat, had replied that the billionaire had “created a false expectation” in the media about his indictment and denounced “interference” in the investigation.
