Unless you’ve been living under a rock, then you should know that former U.S. President Donald Trump has been under investigation recently. The former president has been accused of many things, especially since he lost the election. And what’s happening right now vis a vis his indictment is added to a list of things that the former president has been accused of.
On March 30, 2023, it was announced that Trump will become the first former US president to be indicted after the New York Grand Jury voted on his fate. In preparation for the announcement of these results, steel barricades were set up outside Manhattan Criminal Court in a form of crowd control, especially when Trump called for protests on the eve of his indictment result hearing.
Why was Donald Trump Indicted?
It was reported that during the 2016 U.S. election, Trump paid hush money to adult film star, Stormy Daniels, due to allegations that he had an affair with her in 2006. According to The Guardian, Trump paid $130,000 for Daniel’s silence before the 2016 Presidential election.
Daniels spoke out against the president in a 2018 interview on CBS’s 60 Minutes, where she claimed that “she needed to get the record straight” and shared details on what happened between the two, like how this alleged affair took place when Trump’s wife, Melania, had just given birth to their son. The whole alleged affair was consensual, and the two reportedly continued to stay in touch.
However, when Daniels was interviewed for a In Touch Weekly in 2011, Trump’s lawyers threatened to sue the publication if they ran the story and she later signed a non-disclosure agreement, or NDA, 11 days before the election. Trump denied the allegations. However, he admitted to telling his lawyer, Michael Cohen, to pay Daniels for her silence, and another $150,000 was paid to another Playboy model, Karen McDougal.
According to USA Today, this hush money was illegal because Cohen “admitted to violating are fundamental to the proper function of fair elections.” These two reported payments were made to “protect Trump’s election changes” and were seen as “in-kind contributions to the Trump campaign.” The lawyer violated the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA), which states that individuals are limited to sending $2,700 in donations per election. At the same time, in the eyes of the law, it was Trump who paid Daniels for her silence, not Cohen himself.
According to CNN, the actual charges for which Trump is under indictment will be announced to the public in the coming days.
Just because Trump has been indicted, doesn’t mean that an immediate arrest is forthcoming. Meanwhile, some are waiting to see if Trump will turn himself in. In preparation for the crowd of protesters and media, the New York Police Department has begun ramping up security. Meanwhile, Trump called the results of his recent indictment as “political persecution” and states on Truth Social that this “witch hunt” was caused by the “Radical Left Democrats.”
At the moment, it’s currently unknown if his indictment mean he will pull himself back from the 2024 elections. But at the meantime, he’s still eligible to run for president.
Published: Mar 30, 2023 06:19 pm